Am I Right In Thinking She's Wrong???

MaryDublin

Hi all,

I am hoping someone can give me an unbiased view on this stupid situation.
I have emailed threashold who said for me to contact the PRTB if I feel that the deductions are unjustified but that takes too long to get sorted no?

So here is the situation; I moved out of the property completely on Sunday July 1st 2012 after just over 2 years in residence, renting a room in the apartment - the other was rented out by a man who is still living there. I had given a months notice and was to move out on Friday 29th June but didnt get all moved out until Sunday 1st July.

On the day I moved I advised the land lady that I had gotten hair dye on the bedroom carpet and her reply was for me to move furniture over the stains and it would be fine which I did. She saw the room after I had removed my items, cleaned and hoovered it and never once said anything about it being in disrepair. I had also cleaned the bathroom and hoovered the hallway before I left. My ex housemate said that he would look after cleaning the sitting room and kitchen areas.

After 10 days and my threatening to take action, the land lady finally deposited an amount into my account, I was shocked to see that it was for €203. My deposit had been €430.

She stated the following as the reasons for her amount;
"Dear Mary,
Today I lodged E203 to your account by going personally to my AIB branch. The account number you supplied was incorrect, insofar as there was a digit missing. The cashier was able to look up your name and branch code and give me the correct number.

I have deducted the sum of E117 representing 8 days rent (E117.30 pro rata).

In addition I have made a deduction to cover repair, replacement or cleaning and misc. as follows:

* Contribution to general cleaning inc. kitchen appliances, presses and surfaces; bathroom corner unit and shower curtain, and particularly, removing cat hair from sitting room carpet - which alone took two hours; removing two buckets of ash from fireplace.
* Contribution to replacement of irreparably stained bedroom carpet; thorough vacuuming of bedroom, pending arrival of new tenant; I also note staining on the mattress; replacement of missing glass top on chest of drawers;
* Removal of numerous sacks of refuse from inside and outside the premises - which I brought to Ringsend Recycling where the charge is E4 per bag of domestic refuse.
* Removal of bags for charity shops (which burst and needed re bagging); No charge for my time and petrol.

As you will be aware, the kitchen sink outlet was completely blocked; I was not notified about this. I have not made any deduction for calling out Drain clearance people at E80 per hour to clear the blockage in pipe leading to external drain from kitchen which was also subject to subject to a minimum call out charge.

Insofar as there has been a delay in refunding your deposit, I apologise for any aspect of the delay that may have been attributable to me.

To cover the above I have deducted E110 + E117 from your E430 deposit giving a total of E203 by way of refund to you.

C.C"

With regards to this, I wish to point out the following from my side;
I have deducted the sum of E117 representing 8 days rent (E117.30 pro rata).
I moved in to the apartment on May 5th 2010. Rent was due on 23rd of the month, therefore I overpaid rent in that month by 11 days (if we are going to be picky!).
* Contribution to general cleaning inc. kitchen appliances, presses and surfaces; bathroom corner unit and shower curtain, and particularly, removing cat hair from sitting room carpet - which alone took two hours; removing two buckets of ash from fireplace.
As far as I am aware, I can not be denied my deposit because of this cleaning and especially as there is still another tenant in situ? Also, she got another tennent in to live within 5 days of my leaving so this shows that the area I was in was fine. She is witholding my deposit for common areas.

* Contribution to replacement of irreparably stained bedroom carpet; thorough vacuuming of bedroom, pending arrival of new tenant; I also note staining on the mattress; replacement of missing glass top on chest of drawers;
Carpet issue was discussed and agreed on furniture moving. Again, I can not be deined my deposit due to hovering!
Staining on mattress - I had requested purchase of new mattress which I would deduct from rent however Landlady advised me she had a mattress up in the house that I could have which was 2nd hand and was already stained. My housemate helped me carry it and can attest to the state it was in.
Missing glass is in the wardrobe.
* Removal of numerous sacks of refuse from inside and outside the premises - which I brought to Ringsend Recycling where the charge is E4 per bag of domestic refuse.
She advised me I would not be charged for this on the day I left and also, rubbish removal was always included in the rent.
* Removal of bags for charity shops (which burst and needed re bagging); No charge for my time and petrol.
I was to return for these bags, again my housemate can vouch for this as I had advised him I would return on Friday this week for same.

As you will be aware, the kitchen sink outlet was completely blocked; I was not notified about this. I have not made any deduction for calling out Drain clearance people at E80 per hour to clear the blockage in pipe leading to external drain from kitchen which was also subject to subject to a minimum call out charge.
This year we had a power outage in the apartment. It turned out that mice had chewed through the wires and when it rained, water got onto the wires and blew the fuse. As the land lady was out of the country, I arranged to have it fixed. The charge was €100 but the gentleman who carried out the repairs (which took 2 hours) never asked me for the money thus I saved her €100.

To my mind, the land lady owes me my full deposit. Am I right at all??

**sorry for any spelling mistakes, typing fast as am annoyed**

djimi

Tell her that she must provide you full reciepts/invoices for any work/repairs which are carried out. Any work/repairs which she carries out herself cannot be deducted from the deposit.

If she has to replace the carpet in your room due to you spilling hair dye on it then Id say the amount she has deducted is about right. Again she must provide some kind of a reciept to back up the deduction; she cannot just pull some random number out of the air.

Have you got written proof of the various agreements you came to regarding the issues such as her saying you can move furniture to cover up the stain? Without something in writing Im afraid it your word against hers, and if she has pictures to back up the damage to the carpet then Im not really sure you have much to argue against her with.

listermint

She doesnt owe you a full deposit (that much is true) destroying the carpet with hair dye is not normal 'wear and tear'

The amount which you do owe is based on the receipted work. But tbh from the cost deducted it sounds reasonable.


Just be clear in the knowledge that you did damage the room, she may not have wanted confrontation but went about the deduction the wrong way.

MaryDublin

Thanks guys.

I know the dye wasn't normal wear and tear so I won't fight her on it but I am not lying down over the rest of it and especially as she is refusing to provide receipts. No, I stupidly did not get written agreement from her re furniture move etc, rookie mistake i'm afraid.

She gave me a reference for my new landlord and said how good I was at looking after the place etc etc and she was always in the apt so she knew how it was kept and how she would miss me as a tenant so all of this now is just blind sided me tbh.
I also have photos of my own of the state of the electrics/damp and flood threats we had to endure so I am prepared to use those too.

I am going to email her again now.

StillWaters

I don't think you would win at a PRTB hearing, sorry.
Of course you can try to negotiate, threaten PRTB etc, but the landlady has a good case.

djimi

Email her and tell her that legally you are entitled to a receipt to cover the amount which she is deducting, and if receipts/invoices are not forthcoming you either expect to have the remainder of your deposit lodged into your account, or you will be opening a case against he with the PRTB. This is not optional and she has no right to refuse you the receipts.

However, be prepared for what those reciepts might say. If the carpet is as bad as she makes out and needs to be replaced then you could be looking at as much, if not more, than she has already taken to have it replaced. You might need to do a little work yourself first to see how much the carpet will cost to replace, and if it is worth persuing this, or if you are better off saying nothing and letting her off with the amount that she has already deducted.

MaryDublin

Fair enough re the hair dye but honestly it's not all over the carpet like. I am not denying that I stained the carpet but I still think her deductions are a tad too steep. Also, does the fact that she has a tenant in the room already not show that the carpet can't be that bad?

djimi

She is entitled to find the place in the same state (less normal wear and tear) when you leave as it was when you moved in. The fact that she found another tenant to move in is irrelevant; she is still entitled to have the carpet sorted. If it cant be cleaned then she is entitled to have it replaced.

She is taking the piss with what she said in terms of the amount of things that she is deducting for, and you are well within your rights to questino them and request a receipt for each item, but Id be amazed if the end figure doesnt turn out to be much the same as she has already deduced by the time the carpet has been sorted.

StillWaters

And why did threshold tell you to contact PRTB? Threshold seem to be offering a shoddy service to tenants recently, are they using untrained volunteers or something?

odds_on

StillWaters wrote: »

And why did threshold tell you to contact PRTB? Threshold seem to be offering a shoddy service to tenants recently, are they using untrained volunteers or something?

Or possibly Threshold do not really believe that the OP has a good case.

The fact that the landlady got a replacement within 5 days does not mean that the apartment was left in a clean and tidy condition - there are many threads on boards complaining of the poor condition/uncleanliness when people have moved in.

So here is the situation; I moved out of the property completely on Sunday July 1st 2012 after just over 2 years in residence, renting a room in the apartment - the other was rented out by a man who is still living there. I had given a months notice and was to move out on Friday 29th June but didnt get all moved out until Sunday 1st July.

What type of lease did you have?
If you were in a Fixed term lease, you cannot just give notice and move out - the landlady could be entitled to keep you full deposit (though she should return on a pro rata basis if the vacancy is filled quickly, less any reasonable expenses (advertizing etc).

If you were on a Part 4 tenancy (if you had not signed a new fixed term lease at the end of the first term) you are required to give 56 days notice in writing because you have been in the property for more than two years.

StillWaters

That's my point odds on, threshold should have just told the OP she had no case, it is a waste of her time going to PRTB.

MaryDublin

What type of lease did you have?
If you were in a Fixed term lease, you cannot just give notice and move out - the landlady could be entitled to keep you full deposit (though she should return on a pro rata basis if the vacancy is filled quickly, less any reasonable expenses (advertizing etc).

If you were on a Part 4 tenancy (if you had not signed a new fixed term lease at the end of the first term) you are required to give 56 days notice in writing because you have been in the property for more than two years.[/QUOTE]

Hi,
Well I had the latter apparently but the fact that I was required to give 56 days notice is news to me and i'd say the LL too as it was never said.

bertie1

You had use of the whole place , you should have cleaned it before you left , all of it & properly.Then bring in the landlord & get them to sign off on it. Don't be using the excuse somebody else was living there , it sounds like a teenager trying to get out of cleaning their room. There is no way she could let the room again without doing the work she did, I would be appalled if somebody tried to let me a room with the rest of the house in that condition. If I had to do what she did , she didn't charge you half enough.

leeomurchu

seems like a reasonable charge to be fair she could've spent the whole deposit on replacing the carpet in the bedroom before the rest of the charges even being applied.

As others have said if you were on a fixed term contract and cut it short she could retain your full deposit and seek payment on the rest of the agreed contract period.

I think it's best to cut your loses as I don't think you'd have much of a case but as mentioned above next time you move out do all necessary work to leave your room or apartment whatever in the same condition less reasonable wear and tear then get LL to sign off on it.

She should provide you with receipts for work carried out though but as it's a small sum of money if you brought it to the prtb they most likely rule against you regardless of receipts being furnished.

odds_on

MaryDublin wrote: »

What type of lease did you have?
If you were in a Fixed term lease, you cannot just give notice and move out - the landlady could be entitled to keep you full deposit (though she should return on a pro rata basis if the vacancy is filled quickly, less any reasonable expenses (advertizing etc).

If you were on a Part 4 tenancy (if you had not signed a new fixed term lease at the end of the first term) you are required to give 56 days notice in writing because you have been in the property for more than two years.

Hi,
Well I had the latter apparently but the fact that I was required to give 56 days notice is news to me and i'd say the LL too as it was never said.

So, you may well owe her another month's rent. IMHO, leave it and put it down to experience.

MaryDublin

Thanks for all the replies guys, I appreciate it.