Fair or unfair landlord treatment – We’re OUT!

Fair or unfair landlord treatment – We’re OUT!

10:56 AM, 19th March 2018, About 7 years ago 45

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It’s an absolute Joke – Unfair and UNJUST LEGISLATION on the Private Sector. The same as the Deposit Protection Service – I had £2,000 of repairs to address burned / damaged carpets / Ripped wallpaper / cleaning / etc.

All the carpets were brand new as was the wallpaper. I put in a claim against the £495 Bond, it went to the DPS to decide, we had pictures of the rooms before and after, but they said because we didn’t have specific close up photos from before, of the damaged area they would only give us £110 for the cleaning !

Who is going to take a photo of every square foot of carpet? Whenever we rented a property it was refurbished clean and presentable, we seen a documentary where Bristol council offered a premises to a young mum with black and mould on the walls and offered her £150 towards decorating. If that had been a private landlord he would have been fined and if he did not correct it – lose his License!

It is An Absolute Travesty of Justice – A Real Mockery of Fair Proceedings. With HMO and Renting Rules, It got to a stage where I was afraid to sneeze or operate because I feared Prosecution / fines! We have recently sold 3 of our properties, we no longer want to endure this nonsense, we were Landlords for 30 years and offered Good, very reasonably priced accommodation to many.

We NEVER had a Fine or Prosecution. It is becoming clearly evident that the system is BIASED in favour of Council and Tenants – And For that Reason ” We’re OUT ”

Joe


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Joey

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17:32 PM, 24th March 2018, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Kate Mellor at 21/03/2018 - 11:58
The carpets were brand new Kate, room photos were taken but not of every square foot of carpet ! receipts were available but not requested as the DPS did not even contact me but they were often in contact with the tenants encouraging them to defend their position and claim their bond back ! Inventories were signed by the tenants but the DPS ignored them ! - If it were down to the agents I'm sure I would have had my full deposit returned - In my opinion - Do NOT TRUST the DPS - I would avoid DPS as I thought they would have been fair but they are obviously ruling in favour of Tenants - I would take the court route if there was ever a next time !

M H

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21:42 PM, 24th March 2018, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Rod at 19/03/2018 - 14:40
Yes they are, I won a case against rouge DSS tenant, who turned house into drug factory. He was supported in court by CAB, who wanted him to sue me for none maintenance of the property - I provided years worth of printed out text messages proving that the tenant had not allowed access for years!
The judge asked CAB if they had bothered to read my evidence - thank god I keep everything.
It still took me a year to get the guy evicted - don't trust Citizens Advice Bureau - I'm a citizen but as a landlord I've been relegated to second class

alfie Rosso

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2:18 AM, 25th March 2018, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Ann Shaw at 19/03/2018 - 22:00
Hi Ann,

Extremely useful advice, thank you.

By the way, within your tenancy agreement, did you stated using the Court and NOT their arbitration system with the disputed deposit in advance? For my case I have the arbitration system with the disputed deposit already written into the tenancy agreement, too late to do anything?

Thanks again,

Alf

Ann Shaw

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12:35 PM, 25th March 2018, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by alfie Rosso at 25/03/2018 - 02:18
Hi Alf, you're welcome!!
That is a very good question. I'm afraid I don't know the answer. However, I do know that in all cases, statute law trumps contract. I use the RLA's AST, and it makes provision for the new ICO rules etc, but does not tie me into using the arbitration schemes of the Government-backed deposit companies. It is very thorough though with the wording with regards to the bond. I would definitely consider joining the RLA, it's only £80.00 per annum and you can use their legal bods FOC. All their templates are free and you can get help filling in the legal forms etc. It's been invaluable for me! 🙂
When a tenant leaves, I forward the out-going tenants a template (put together myself with some help from a lawyer friend), of the check-in report. This informs the out-going tenant that the property should be handed back as per the check-in report with fair wear and tear considered, of course! It also informs the out-going tenant, if any dispute arises with regards to the bond, and all measures of rectifying this have become exhausted, I will then seek to take the dispute to the County Court and not the Government backed deposit scheme, as is my right to do so.
Are there any legal bods on here who could clarify what the position would be here for Alf, please?

Ian Narbeth

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10:18 AM, 26th March 2018, About 7 years ago

Hi Joe and Blue Tranquil
I am sorry for your unhappy experiences with the DPS. Not considering the remainder of the £2000 claim looks like maladministration. I would write to them, pointing out that you don't have to prove every penny of the claim, only £600 worth. Tell them that you consider the case has been wrongly decided and demand that they compensate you by paying you the £600. Set out in FULL detail what happened.
This leads to my next point which was raised by Blue Tranquil. BT writes: "...receipts were available but not requested as the DPS did not even contact me...."
What you need to realise is that landlords get one shot at putting the case to justify keeping the tenant's money. If receipts were available you should have submitted them to the DPS with your claim. Just saying the carpets were brand new is not sufficient evidence.
BTW, you still can take the tenant to court but it is likely to prove uneconomic unless you have the legal skills and the time to do it yourself.

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