Is my landlord being unfair?

[rvj87]

A little backstory

I left my previous tenancy in November of last year. The agency didn’t put in a repayment request for my deposit until January; too late for me to use the ADR. The landlord wants to deduct £160.00 from the original amount of £325.00. I immediately clicked “dispute”, of course this was ignored and the request for £160 was resubmitted.

 

Now:

The following “reasons” for the deduction are as follows (quoted directly from an email sent by an agency representative):

 

2 x Walls required re-painting, appeared you had attempted this and check out was done when paint was wet, on drying the quality was not in keeping with the condition of the walls when the room was let.* This is considered tenant damage/tenant repairable/chargeable.

 

The mattress and bed base required replacement – this is considered a landlord expense, fair wear and tear.

 

A hole was found in the wardrobe – this was not noted on the original inventory so considered tenant damage/chargeable.

Room and windows required re-cleaning.

 

Are these legitimate reasons to charge £160? The agency hasn’t provided any itemised invoices, reciepts or quotes, something I think they’re required to do?

 

Are they essentially trying to charge me for redecoration? Also, can they assume that I was responsible for the hole in the wardrobe door?* I’m not, but I don’t think I have any evidence to dispute that, unfortunately, however the inventory at check-in made no mention of any damage to any part of the room.

 

I think the only thing they can charge me for is cleaning costs, but I’m not sure.

 

Incidentally, I think it’s worth noting that the deposit paid is actually for a different property. When I first moved to Nottingham I rented a property, through the same lettings agent, at 160 Burford road, under one landlord. A month later I moved to 44 Maples street, again with the same agency, but under a different landlord. Can the deposit be transferred between properties? The rent was different for both properties so should I have had part of the deposit returned? Not sure if that makes any difference.

 

Apologies for the long post; I tried to cram in as much relevant info as possible. Any help/advice would be hugely appreciated. Thank you.

Edited February 11, 2016 by rvj87
clarification

[mariner51]

see http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?72383-unfair-deposit-deductions