I am a European student studying in the UK and for the past year myself and two friends have rented a flat near uni. We are moving out next week and I wondered if someone could talk me through the process of what will happen in terms of our deposit.
Our agent said they go around the property once we have left so they can do the inventory but surely we should be going around with them so we don’t get unnecessarily charged for things?
How does the deposit get returned when there are three tenants? Does it go to the lead tenant and it is their responsibility to send it to the others?
Many thanks!
6 comments
The deposit will be returned to whoever paid it.
They will try and keep your deposit.
It depends if you had individual contracts or a joint contract.
Your deposit should have been placed in the Deposit Protection Scheme, by law. When I rented I was sent an online link to a portal, where the agent/landlord can put in what, if any, charges they want to make from the deposit, and you can then dispute it with an independent reviewer. If there were no charges, the portal then let you put in your bank details for where you want the deposit paying out. It’s been a while since I rented, but the system should be the same.
If you had a joint contract, one person may have paid the deposit and so one person may be be sent it back and you will need to arrange with them to get your share back. If you had indivudal contracts then you should get sent individual deposits back.
For example, my last student house share one of my housemates left their room a mess and there was damage to the paintwork. They were charged for repainting alone and the rest of us got our full deposit back. (Edit: as we had individual contracts)
If your deposit hasn’t been put in the Deposit Protection Scheme, this is illegal and you are potentially entitled to up to 3 times your deposit back. Ask in r/legaladviceuk about how to go about this of it hasn’t been put in the scheme.
If you can be there when the inventory is done, I would advise being there, but you don’t need to be. However, if they are dodgey and likely to exaggerate damage or the condition of the property if you are not there. Hopefully you took your own photos when you moved in of any existing damage. If not take photos before you leave for your own record of how you’ve left things.
The deposit will be protected in a scheme. If it hasn’t then you can sue them for compensation and are guaranteed to win (you will get your deposit back + compensation of 1-3x the same amount).
The landlord/agent will do a check-out check. They will take pictures and gather any other evidence, and if they believe that you are liable for any damage etc then the landlord/agency will get in touch with you and tell you (either directly or via the scheme, depending on which exact scheme they used).
You then have the chance to either agree (if they are legitimate things) or dispute. If you dispute, the deposit protection scheme will request evidence from the landlord to demonstrate that a) the damage exists and b) that you caused it (so e.g. showing comparison pictures from when you moved in). The burden is generally on the landlord to prove their case, rather than you to prove yours – so if they lack evidence the dispute should weigh in your favour. People’s experiences with the dispute mechanism are varied but in general they are seen as balanced and fair.
The basic principle is that you are responsible for fixing any damage that was caused through your misbehaviour or negligence (even if an accident). You are NOT responsible for general wear and tear. So if, say, you’ve cracked a mirror then you’d be expected to pay for a replacement. If, say, a seal on a tap has got old and broken then you would not be expected to pay. But LOTS of landlords will try it on and try to charge you for lots of things that aren’t your responsibility (hence the existence of the dispute schemes).
The landlord also has to factor in depreciation. So if you e.g. ruined a carpet and it needed replacing, they can’t charge you the full cost of a new carpet. If the carpet was e.g. 5 years old, then they could only charge you for a 5 year old equivalent carpet. The protection scheme will have general calculation formulas, but it’s easy to work out (it’s just how old it is / expected lifetime of item = proportion of the cost of new replacement that you pay).
In terms of what you should do now – I would STRONGLY encourage you to take your own detailed pictures and videos on your moving out day. Show every room, piece of furniture, wall, ceiling, floor, etc. This can help if the landlord is dodgy and tries to claim false damages – you can submit your pictures as evidence. Even better if you have pictures taken on the day you moved in so you can show before/after.
Once you have either agreed deductions with the landlord or a dispute has been decided by the protection scheme, they (or the landlord if they held the funds) will release the funds. If you are all on one tenancy agreement (joint tenants) this is normally paid to one “Lead” tenant who then has responsibility to share among everyone else. But this can vary – it depends how the deposit was registered. If you are all on separate tenancy agreements then each deposit should be registered and treated separately.
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Have a read of the contract – it probably has clauses in that require things like the curtains, windows, carpets, oven and paintwork etc to be cleaned prior to vacating. Hopefully you were given photos when you moved in as proof that these things had been cleaned prior to moving in. If these things need cleaning it might be cheaper to get your own contractors in, if you do retain the receipts as proof that the job has been done. Similarly there will be an inventory of furniture etc when you arrived so check that what you leave matches what was there when you moved in otherwise you will get billed.
Your deposit will be protected by the Deposit Protection Scheme – if the landlord/letting agents claim that you left the carpets dirty they can only take the amount of the cost to clean them off your deposit and provide proof if challenged. Then they will return the difference.
Most letting agents use a third party service to go through the inventory and check the condition of the house etc. The system isn’t as perfect as it could be but it was a lot better than the good old days when landlords would keep deposits and claim that departing tenants had left the place in a mess that inevitably required several hundred £ to restore.