How does this letter sound? To DPS regarding bond. (quite long)?
Does it sound aggressive, is it too long winded etc? Cheers
DPS Deposit Protection Scheme
The Pavilions
Bridgwater Road
Bristol
BS99 6AA
To whom it may concern,
We moved into 1 Bryn Tegai on the 17th of November 2009 after months of wrangling. We enlisted our friend Stuart Crossland to help us move. Having moved our belongings into the house, the first things we started to put away were kitchen items. Sam went to put things in the corner cupboard directly below the boiler, she opened the cupboard door for the first time and it fell off in her hand. David and Stuart were eyewitnesses to this. On closer examination of the door and its fittings, it was clear that the hinges had been repaired quite a few times before, the quality of said repairs being quite substandard. The holes in which the doors were attached to the frame of the units were overly large and worn, thus making the doors loose and very unstable. We examined the rest of the kitchen units and found them all to be in a similar state, all having had numerous repairs all of the same questionable quality.
We went down to Bob Parry’s on Friday 20th November to explain this to them and to report the general poor quality of the kitchen, as we were concerned that we would be held responsible. We requested that someone from Bob Parry’s office come round and inspect the state of the kitchen. We were assured that Mr Chris Thomas would be round the following week to do so`. Mr Thomas never came to do this, despite requesting this on at least 5 occasions in the following months. The following week on – November, David’s father, Mr John Roebuck came to visit. We showed him the kitchen and he commented on the general poor condition of it. He also took his own photographs of this as record. A couple of months into the tenancy, the door directly under the sink fell off in the same manner as the other door. We also reported this to the agent and requested that Mr Thomas again inspect the kitchen. Mr Chris Thomas again did not turn up, each time stating that he “was busy”.
Eventually the 3 monthly inspection came round and Mr Paul Cassidy came to inspect the property, as per the tenancy agreement. He saw the kitchen units and told us not to worry about it as the kitchen was clearly worn and in a bad state of disrepair.
At the end of the tenancy we were informed that the kitchen cupboards would cost £75 to fix. When we queried Einnis about this, she stated dismissively “kitchen cupboards don’t just fall off”. After 3 months of arguing this figure was brought down to £24. We however believe we should not be liable for repairs that existed prior to the start of our tenancy. The following people can confirm that the Kitchen cupboards were in poor condition; John Roebuck, Stuart Crossland and Christina Jackson. Please refer to enclosed letters and photographs.
On leaving the property we were informed that the living room carpet smelt of dogs. We were to be charged £100 for this to be cleaned. The following people can confirm that the carpet did not smell of dogs: See letters from; John Roebuck, Gary Richardson, Stuart Crossland and Christina Jackson. Please refer to enclosed letters.
On leaving the property we were informed also that the garden was unkempt and overgrown. We were told this would cost £70 to rectify. We trimmed and tidied the garden a week before leaving, which was approximately the 6th November. The garden was still tidy when we left. John Roebuck, Gary Richardson, Stuart Crossland and Christina Jackson again can confirm this. Please refer to letters and photographs. The property was not inspected until 2 weeks after we left, during which time there was plenty of sun and rain. Obviously given these conditions any garden would start to look unkempt.
We were also informed that the oven needed cleaning. This, amazingly was to cost £50. We have photographs of the state of the oven when we moved in, if you refer to these you will see that it was pretty black. Sam tried to clean the years of grime from it before we left, unfortunately with not much success.
During the tenancy we accidentally broke the bathroom door whilst moving furniture. We agreed to replace this at a cost of £25, which we paid. A cost of an additional £25 for it’s fitting is due, which we agreed should be taken from the bond. The above figures add up to:
Cleaning of carpet£100
Fixing cupboards£75
Cutting grass£70
Cleaning oven£50
Fitting of bathroom door£25
Total£310
Bob Parrys applied to the DPS for the full £370. When we queried why the full amount had been applied for with Einnis, she could give no explanation and stated, “I don’t really know”.
On the 1st June 2010, for the sake of good relations and a speedy resolution to this situation we came down from South Yorkshire to Blaenau, which is around a 300 mile round trip, to try and sort out these problems.
We sprinkled some shake n vac over the lounge carpet, and then hovered it up. We trimmed the grass and trimmed the hedges. We also brought some industrial strength oven cleaner and cleaned the oven. Please see enclosed photos. After this we rang Mr Chris Thomas to come and re-inspect the property, which he did. On inspection of the work carried out he stated that he was happy that everything was in order and that the problems had been rectified. There was simply the matter of the kitchen units. We were happy at that point to go into dispute over the £75 for the units.
This done we went down to the Blaenau office do complete the DPS online forms. We successfully competed our part then Einnis started to make excuses and to stall when it came to do their part. We were asked to leave the office while she phoned Paul Cassidy and then the landlady. When we came back in she stated that the landlady wasn’t available and that she couldn’t complete the DPS form until she had spoken to her. By this time it was around 5pm and the office was closing so we had no choice but to return to Yorkshire in the hope that this would be resolved in the next couple of days.
A few days later we received a phone call from Einnis stating that the landlady was not happy and gave us a new list of problems. These are as follows:
Rubbish removal £15
Cleaning of oven and sawdust£10
New doormat£10
From last list; Kitchen cupboards£24 This was lowered after months of arguments.
From last list; Bathroom door£25
Total£84
The rubbish was a very nice mattress that we left for the new tenant and the old bathroom door. When we moved in we had friends and family wanting to visit for a few nights from Yorkshire. We simply thought the new tenant might want to make use of it. If we had been informed of its “rubbish” status beforehand we could have taken it with us. It wasn’t on the first list and when Chris Thomas checked the house on the 1st of June he said nothing about it.
The old door was left by their builder after fitting the new door, it was his or their responsibility to move it. The cost of removing the door and cleaning up was included in the £25 we owe for the fitting. It also wasn’t on the first list and when Chris Tomas checked the house on the 1st of June he said nothing about it. Enith told us we shouldn’t have left anything there yet when we moved in there was rotting food behind the extension, the garage was full of rubbish and wood, toys dumped in the front garden etc.
We removed all of this rubbish at our own expense.
Cleaning of the oven was already done and if you look at the photographs I think you’ll agree that it’s 100x better than when we moved in. Cleaning of the sawdust that the builder had left was his or their responsibility to clean it up or to have put a sheet down to catch it. The cost of removing the door and cleaning up was included in the £25 we owe for the fitting. Neither was on the first list and when Chris Tomas checked the house on the 1st of June he said nothing about it.
The doormat was thrown away because it stunk of animal urine. Maybe we could have cleaned it but it was also in a bad state of disrepair. We agree to £10 being deducted for the doormat.
The Kitchen and bathroom have already been covered.
Overall figures:
Rubbish removal £15Disagree
Cleaning of oven and sawdust£10Disagree
New doormat£10Agree
Kitchen cupboards£24Disagree
Bathroom door fitting£25Agree
Total£84
Total agreed to£35
Total in dispute£49
Thank you for reading and I hope you see them for the cowboys that they are.
SignedSigned
Far too much detail.
Remember, the onus of proof is on the landlord, you have to prove nothing.
If you have recieved a letter from the DPS saying your landlord wants to deduct £84, just reply to it and say you want to refer some of the deductions to the independant arbitrator. Then give them your list from the bottom of your post.
If you have already done this, and this is your letter to the arbitrator, do it like this:
Rubbish removal £15 - Mattress was not rubbish, we will be claiming against landlord for return of this under the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977.
Cleaning of oven and sawdust £10 - oven left clean (see photo) and sawdust was landlords contractors responsibility.
Kitchen cupboards £24 - Cupboard doors defective at begining of tenancy
Either letter should be no more than half a page, the deposit company employees haven’t got time to read your biography!
It doesn’t sound at all aggressive but it is much too long. There is a danger that it will not be read properly if the recipient is busy. For example all you need to say in the first paragraph is that the cupboard door fell off the first time it was opened, and that on examination we found that all the cupboard door fittings were very worn and loose.
Then say we asked Parry’s to come and inspect them on five separate occasions without success, and later we asked again when another door fell off, but still without anyone visiting.
Fianally an agent came to do the 3 monthly inspection and assured us not to worry that we would be held responsible as the units were clearly in poor condition.
When we finally moved out we are asked to pay for cleaning of the carpet because they said it smelled of dogs, which it didn’t, and cleaning of the oven, which admittedly was not very clean, although it was a great deal cleaner than when we moved in, when it was disgusting. We also had a complaint that the garden was overgrown - we left it tidy and it must have grown in the interval between us moving and the inspection taking place.
Summarize the rest in the same way. there is no need to list names and what you did on every occasion, but you can say that you have witnesses to all this, including photographs.
Nobobdy, including me, is going to read that.
Stick to the point just as ‘masked landlord’ suggests.