Deposit

robertowjr

Hi guys, thanks for taking you time to read and help me here.


My lease ended on the 1st of november, still I didn't get my deposit after chasing them for 30 days I finally got the girl from Savills (my landlord) to confirm that she will transfer the deposit to my account.

The thing here is, now she's saying that she will take €331,00 of my deposit to replace the front glass of the oven, that has been broken for a year now, it simply cracked when I was two months in the lease.

Since then I was told many times that they would replace it, the oven was working perfectly but the front glass was cracked, well, so after a good few months they sent someone to take the serial number and model number, they never mentioned that I would need to pay for the parts or installation.

After another few weeks, the landlord company Rhatigan was taken over by Savills so they send an inspector to every apartment in the block, that guy was taking pictures and taking notes of everything, then I told him about the oven, he took a close up picture and said that he would look after that.

Now the girl from Savills just e-mailed me saying that she's taking €331 out of my deposit and is going to take another 7-10 business days to get the rest of the deposit back.

Can you please advise me in any way? Does she have the right to do it? Is there any way I can claim and dispute that?

Thanks again.

djimi

Have you anything in writing (preferably not email and definately not text) to show that you brought the problem to their attention and that they were going to fix it?

Rasmus

If you have your request for oven repair in writing, and their assurance that they would (also in writing) then they should not be withholding the money for it. Emails are ok in my opinion.

robertowjr

djimi wrote: »

Have you anything in writing (preferably not email and definately not text) to show that you brought the problem to their attention and that they were going to fix it?

Yes I have e-mails, I actually forwarded that, she simply ignored.

Rasmus

robertowjr wrote: »

Yes I have e-mails, I actually forwarded that, she simply ignored.

Ask for the prompt return in writing. In response to her claim, ask for the invoice for broken oven, in writing. They can't make you pay for it. Let them know you will be going to PRTB - they mightn't care, but you are not responsible for the broken appliance. Bear in mind, you can't file against the agent, so you need the LL details.

djimi

Rasmus wrote: »

Ask for the prompt return in writing. In response to her claim, ask for the invoice for broken oven, in writing. They can't make you pay for it. Let them know you will be going to PRTB - they mightn't care, but you are not responsible for the broken appliance. Bear in mind, you can't file against the agent, so you need the LL details.

Agree almost 100%, except for one potential pitfall:

OP are the agency trying to claim that you are responsible for the damage to the door, or have they accepted that it broke through simple wear and tear? If they are trying to say that the door breaking is your fault, and if they can prove this (doubtful tbf) then they are within their rights to expect you to pay for the damage.

However, the fact that you have been chasing them for months suggests that they did not think that you should be paying for repairs (otherwise they would have asked for the repair money from the start).

L1011

€331 is excessive for a door for an oven of the quality generally found in rental properties considering a new, entire freestanding cooker can be bought for significantly less than this, possibly 50%.

Rasmus

@ djimi, agreed. They should have said you were responsible for it from the get go. If there is nothing in their paperwork to prove they held you accountable from the beginning (especially after the assessor had been in) they don't really have a case.
If they fabricate paperwork you are in trouble, but hopefully it won't come to that. I'd imagine she ignored your email with proof of repair request because she knows they are in the wrong.

Rasmus

MYOB wrote: »

€331 is excessive for a door for an oven of the quality generally found in rental properties considering a new, entire freestanding cooker can be bought for significantly less than this, possibly 50%.

Too right.

D3PO

im sorry but oven doors dont just "crack" I think they are right to deduct for this from your deposit.

however €331 sounds excessive and you are entitled to a reciept to prove this was the cost to replace so Id be asking for that.

djimi

D3PO wrote: »

im sorry but oven doors dont just "crack" I think they are right to deduct for this from your deposit.

however €331 sounds excessive and you are entitled to a reciept to prove this was the cost to replace so Id be asking for that.

Depends; it there was a flaw/damage to it before the OP moved in then its not impossible that it broke without the OP knowing much about it.

Rasmus

D3PO wrote: »

im sorry but oven doors dont just "crack" I think they are right to deduct for this from your deposit.

however €331 sounds excessive and you are entitled to a reciept to prove this was the cost to replace so Id be asking for that.

Actually this is not uncommon. If a fault occurs during the manafacture of tempered glass, it can cause the material to fissure or shatter at a later stage with normal oven use. Let's assume the OP is being truthful here.

D3PO

Rasmus wrote: »

Actually this is not uncommon. If a fault occurs during the manafacture of tempered glass, it can cause the material to fissure or shatter at a later stage with normal oven use. Let's assume the OP is being truthful here.

Im not saying their not truthful but I have never ever ever known anybody to have cracked the glass in their oven so clearly what your suggesting is rare. Perhaps the OP has been unfortunate but the most logical explanation is that it was damaged.

If this were to go to a PRTB adjudication theres no way they OP could prove they didnt damage it, and I think if anybody steps back and puts themselves in the landlords shoes including the OP they would all be of the opinion it was tennant damage and deduct for it as a result.

Rasmus

D3PO wrote: »

If this were to go to a PRTB adjudication theres no way they OP could prove they didnt damage it, .

How would a LL prove that he did damage it, and why didn't they suggest that in the first place? Most likely is that the glass in the oven ran out of warranty while the time passed not dealing with the repair - hence the sudden need for a hefty payout.

Ddad

D3PO wrote: »

im sorry but oven doors dont just "crack" I think they are right to deduct for this from your deposit.

however €331 sounds excessive and you are entitled to a reciept to prove this was the cost to replace so Id be asking for that.

I'm afraid they do. It happened to me. It's happened to a friend of mine. A small scratch in toughen glass like this can eventually break through no fault of the person using the appliance. Normal wear and tear .

djimi

D3PO wrote: »

Im not saying their not truthful but I have never ever ever known anybody to have cracked the glass in their oven so clearly what your suggesting is rare. Perhaps the OP has been unfortunate but the most logical explanation is that it was damaged.

If this were to go to a PRTB adjudication theres no way they OP could prove they didnt damage it, and I think if anybody steps back and puts themselves in the landlords shoes including the OP they would all be of the opinion it was tennant damage and deduct for it as a result.

Ive seen it happen on a couple of occasions; its not like its a one in a million occurance.

Also if it were to go to a PRTB hearing then surely it would be up to the landlord to prove that the tenant did cause the damage, not the other way around?

D3PO

djimi wrote: »

Ive seen it happen on a couple of occasions; its not like its a one in a million occurance.

Also if it were to go to a PRTB hearing then surely it would be up to the landlord to prove that the tenant did cause the damage, not the other way around?

it wasnt damaged when the OP moved in. It is now damaged and the OP accepts it happened during their tennancy. Why do you think it would be up to the landlord to prove it was damaged ?

If that were the case then no damage could ever be attributed to a tennant. I know the PRTB are a useless shower for both tennants and landlords but I do believe they apply some albeit a small amount of common sense when dealing with cases.

robertowjr

Firstly I'd like to thank you all for your comments.

Secondly I want to clarify few things, when I moved in I didn't notice anything wrong with the oven at all, when it happened I was taking some frozen food (pizza or wedges) from the freezer and when I grabbed the handle to open the oven I heard a crack, unsure how serious it was I opened and then it cracked really badly and the handle became dodgy, so I immediately sent an email to the girl from the management office explaing the situation.
She was very nice and helpful, but she ended up never sending the new part but she did send someone to take the S/N and model, now when I asked for my deposit she came with that €331,00 excuse.

So I'll try to do what @Rasmus and @djimi suggested.
I will update you when I talk to her next monday.

Once again I'd like to thank everyone of you.

Amouar

robertowjr wrote: »

Firstly I'd like to thank you all for your comments.

Secondly I want to clarify few things, when I moved in I didn't notice anything wrong with the oven at all, when it happened I was taking some frozen food (pizza or wedges) from the freezer and when I grabbed the handle to open the oven I heard a crack, unsure how serious it was I opened and then it cracked really badly and the handle became dodgy, so I immediately sent an email to the girl from the management office explaing the situation.
She was very nice and helpful, but she ended up never sending the new part but she did send someone to take the S/N and model, now when I asked for my deposit she came with that €331,00 excuse.

So I'll try to do what @Rasmus and @djimi suggested.
I will update you when I talk to her next monday.

Once again I'd like to thank everyone of you.

Hey,

How did you sort out this issue?

Thanks