Here is a question to the blog clinic from Andrew who is a tenant:
I have, today, received an email telling me that the landlord wants to keep £110 of a £500 deposit to cover the cost of repainting a wall that is showing the effect of damp.
At the start of the tenancy the landlord told us that she had no money to put the damp problem right. She asked us to leave windows open to lessen the problem.
We had a new baby whilst in the house and so we were limited in how long we could leave the windows open for.
Prior to my leaving, the landlord sent somebody round to check the house and he informed us that we should paint over the damp that was showing.
This we did.
It was some weeks after we did the repair work at our expense, that the inspection happened. Hence the damp showing through again.
I am very unhappy about the £110 charge and feel it is completely unjustified.
What do I do?
First of all, read this post here. There are three main reasons for damp problems and the responsibility and rights differ depending on which one applies in your case.
However if you sorted the problem (or at least did what you were told) at the time you left, the landlord cannot blame you for something which happened after you vacated.
I would suggest you challenge the deduction and ask that the matter be referred to adjudication. All the tenancy deposit schemes have a free arbitration scheme you can use if there is a dispute about deductions from the deposit.
And if the landlord has failed to protect your deposit? Then she is not entitled to make ANY deductions and you can claim the whole sum back if you go to court. Sadly due to this case here you can’t claim the penalty payment but you can claim the actual deposit itself.