Letting Agencies - Lady Gardens

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Is it private let, or are you using a letting agency? Who is holding your deposit, because if it's not the government accounts then they're in contravention of the letting laws - this was aimed to stop unscrupulous landlords seizing deposits unlawfully. Do you have a copy of the master inventory? Does it detail flat condition when you moved in?

I rented 3 times, and each was drastically different from the other.

First was a flat in Peterborough for 6 months, which was advertised through an agency. Got a call after my application to say that the landlady wanted to hold the deposit privately, turned out she was the manageress of the letting agency. I did an inspection, noting things like the stairway carpet was filthy, kitchen floor was ripped where someone had moved a fridge out etc. At the end the woman took the piss, bringing people to the flat when i was at work, when i got home from work etc. Everyone wanted to view when i got home from work and it was starting to take the piss when people were turning up unannounced - when I complained I was told I wasn't being accommodating, politely told her to kiss my ass and read my rights. She too pulled the same trick, dodging me for the final inspection, ultimately requiring me to post the keys at the letting agency. I offered to be present as it was half a mile from work but never got a call, just one day got a voicemail saying she wanted to use my deposit to clean the carpets as they were filthy. At that point I reminded her she'd agreed and signed an inspection report stating exactly that - dirty carpets - which i'd f*cking scrubbed and scrubbed to make them look 10x better anyway. No apology, nothing - just a cheque in the post for the full amount luckily.

Number 2 was a house in Coventry for 26 months. Had a good letting agents who were always polite, quick to remedy problems, and gave you advanced notice of all regular 3 month inspections etc, which after the first they never came again as they trusted us. It was the owner's actual house but she'd been seconded overseas on business so let her house out, but she was mint. Everything that broke was fixed within 2 days. Agency came to do inspection after we left, I got stuck in traffic and couldn't get there in time, but all was spot on and they left a polite voicemail saying no problems, full deposit would be on the way back to me. Result.

Number 3 was a house in Peterborough with a cheapskate landlord who'd jumped on the housing boom and clearly had priced himself out of his own pocket. Cheap decor everywhere, cheap kitchen, garden looked like a jungle etc, cheeky lady garden left the bins full of his decorating shit so I couldn't use them, so i reported it to the agency and he was forced to rectify it. After rectifying it, he tried to get his own back and say my girlfriend was living there without consent (er f*ck you, i'm not paying needlessly for her when she wasn't earning) and I had a right go at the letting agency, citing invasion of privacy and violation of letting rights etc. After that they never messed with me again. Fortunately when moving out time came as I bought my current house, they did a PRE inspection, pointed out 7 minor things I needed to rectify (paint touch ups etc from moving my shit out) and gave me forewarning to rectify the faults - no issues with full refund after that.

Some landlords are absolute lady gardens, and you must learn to cover your own arse like I did in future if you haven't already. Take photographs of the current place etc and submit them to the letting agency for keeping on file.