Landlady is trying to take our deposit unfairly

[starwhal]

Hello everybody,

 

Basically when I moved into my flat with my fiancee, we had an independent inventory done, where they documented the state of the flat in photos as well as writing. I have a copy of this inventory, which verifies that the place wasn't in a very good state when we moved in (it basically hadn't been cleaned).

 

Our tenancy contract basically said that we needed to leave the flat as we found it. Instead, we left it in better condition (not spotless, but clean at least).

 

When we moved out, we couldn't find a time to meet with the landlady, so we just left the keys inside for her to collect. we didn't think of taking pictures as we'd had a good relationship with the landlady and were basically just totally confident that she would be happy with the state of the flat given how unclean it was when we moved in.

 

Instead, we received an email saying how disappointing that the flat was not spotless, and that she'd ordered a team of professional cleaners to go wild on the place, making it look like new all over again. She now wants to charge us for that service.

 

Again, we have the original inventory which clearly shows in photographs how bad it was when we got there, but we don't have any evidence of how we left it, since she called the cleaners as soon as she showed up.

 

My question is: would she need evidence of how we left it to withhold our deposit? Basically, it seems to me like it would be impossible for her to produce evidence that we left it in a worse state than we found it, because we didn't, but since nobody took pictures or anything before she started cleaning, it would be our word against hers.

 

So in this situation, could she just say that we left it in a worse state and then withhold our deposit, or would she need to provide evidence (like pictures of how she found it before the cleaners) before making such a claim?

 

thanks so much for reading my post!

-starwhal

[Steve__M]

She needs evidence. Your evidence that the flat was in no way professionally cleaned before you moved in should be a good defence.

 

Have you sent her a copy of the inventory with issues highlighted, to explain why she is wrong? Does she have a bad memory? Was your move-in handled by agents who didn't do their job?

 

The next stage is to find whether your deposit is protected and consider issuing a claim either through their arbitration service (which is free) or through court (which is not).