LL witholding deposit

[Sunflower]

Hello all,

I have recently moved out of a new build in which i rented a room in a house. I lived there for almost two years. The build is in England and was orignally signed for 6 months, and never extended, assuming an automatic extension until notice was served. The landlord orignally wanted to serve me one months notice, but according to the agreement, he had to serve me two months, which he accepted grugingly.

I ensured that the house was clean and tidy when i left, taking photos of the room as well as the communal areas. He has now come back to me to say that he is going to deduct money from my deposit for the cost of cleaning the oven and fridge in the kitchen, which in this sense is a communal area. I was the last person to leave the property and so i feel he is trying to take advantage of me and take as much money as he can from my deposit.

He is also saying that there were slight marks on the walls which he had to touch up with paint. - I was not given a head board for the bed (it was a furnished room) and so there is a dirt mark where the headboard would have been. All other marks on walls are small and would not require great cost to touch up.

He is also saying that he is going to rent the property out and that the agents who have come round require the place to be professionally clean (even after he has been around in the other rooms to clean them himself). I think he is trying to pass this cost on to me, which is over and above that which he would have himself accepted considering he cleaned the other rooms himself.

No inventory was taken at the beginning of the lease, and he has never had to ask me to pay my rent during the time i was in the room. I did take photos of the rooms and the house, but only to show family not in the country, so do not know how much these would help as evidence.

What rights do i have as a tennant of a room in a house, and can i dispute these cost he is wanting to deduct from my deposit, considering these are for the communal areas of the property?

Thank you for reading.

[mind the gap]

Is your deposit protected in a scheme?

[Sunflower]

Yes, it is registered with DPS.

[mind the gap]

Yes, it is registered with DPS.

If you cannot agree with your LL about his proposed deductions, raise a dispute with the DPS; let them arbitrate and decide who should pay for what. What does your tenancy agreement say about the cleaing etc of the communal areas?

To be honest though, if it was newly decorated when you moved in and you have left noticeable marks on walls with attempting to clean them off or touch up the paintwork yourself, you may well be liable for the cost of touching up.

You cannot however be charged for 'fair wear and tear'.

[Sunflower]

I have read through the agreement, and unfortunately it is just a normal post office one that assumes you are the only tenant in the house, so does not take communal areas into consideration.

There were two other tenants in the property when i entered the house, and had been living there for 6 months already. Hence, the house was not completely new when i began living there.

Could i offer to clean the fridage and oven myself, thereby not requiring the professional company do so? - if i did this and he refused due to the agency requiring the professional cleaning, could i dispute that he is not allowing me a fair chance to make good any disputes?

[mind the gap]

If the tenancy agreement lets the whole house to you with no mention of the demised area being your bedroom (but with shared use of the communal areas), I think the LL may come unstuck with this!

Did you agree an inventory/schedule of condition when you mved in - and did it include other people's bedrooms and the communal areas as well as your room, or what, exactly?

[Snorkerz]

The lack of inventory/condition report will make it very difficult for the landlord to win an arbitration claim from your deposit - for exactly the reason you state, the landlord can not prove what damage was caused by you and what was there when you moved in.

Can you clarify if your tenancy agreement covered the whole house or just a room?

[Sunflower]

Can you clarify if your tenancy agreement covered the whole house or just a room?

It is a standard post office tenancy agreement, which does not state that this is a houseshare. It assumes that i have exclusive access to all rooms in the property when i did not. It also has the clauses with regard to the paying of electricity etc bills, when my rent was inclusive of all bills except for the internet which i had to pay on top.

I did not have an inventory taken at either the beginning or the end of the tenancy.

[Snorkerz]

If you object to the landlords deductions when the DPS contact you, the decision will either be made by the DPS' independant arbitrator, or in the courts. Either way, the landlord is going to have to prove the condition of the place when you moved in. An inventory is the normal way of proving this, although if you were the first ever tenants he may have a chance of proving the condition without one.

It is a standard post office tenancy agreement, which does not state that this is a houseshare. It assumes that i have exclusive access to all rooms in the property when i did not.

What was the description of the property - was it just "flat X, Royal Mansions, London" or was it "room 2, flat X, Royal Mansions, London"?

Presuming the former, The following flight of fantasy, may give others food for thought...

If you were the first tenant, the tenancy agreement gave you exclusive occupation of the entire house. He then put other people in and collected rent for rooms that were already yours. As the rooms were yours, that rent should be yours.

Alternatively, if someone else was there before you, and thay had the same sort of agreement, then he had no right to let to you. You have paid him X months rent that he was not entitled to, and you want it back. In theory, that rent belongs to whomever got he first tenancy agreement for the whole house!