[mid]

I just wanted to make others aware of the on-campus student villages in the University of Limerick and the return of student deposits as its that time of the year again. Last year (2010/2011) I was staying in Dromroe and at the end of the year each of us had approximately €140 deducted from our deposits (so €140 x 6 students = €840).

I requested a breakdown of this (it included dry cleaning of curtains, washing windows, repainting apartment, servicing of breakdown to lift, cleaning extractor fan, missing Fire blanket) and I then spoke to someone from www.threshold.ie who advised me that most of these deductions were illegal.

Myself and my housemate informed the village manager who assured both of us that the deductions were correct. He also said that he confirmed the deductions with another village manager and this manager also agreed with him.

2 quotes from emails:
"I am sure that these charges are correct as I looked at each individual apartment myself."
"All of the charges are correct. The previous manager, [name here], took a look at them as well and passed them"

Threshold advised me to open a dispute with PRTB.ie (cost €25 divided between 6 people so €4.25 each) in order to get some of our deposits refunded. AFAIK if the PRTB decide in your favour the €25 fee will have to be refunded by CLS.

Prior to opening a PRTB dispute, my housemate emailed the Manager of Campus Life services and they confirmed we should not have been charged for the breakages and cleaning and each of us was refunded €90 (€90 x 6 = €540).

(Part of the unrefunded portion of our deposit was €210 for replacing a missing Fire Blanket (I didn't dispute this as I can't say for certain if it was there when we moved out), though if anyone else is missing one, you can buy many types of fire blankets online for less than €20, so their replacement fee is very excessive)

3 points to note:
1) If 2 Village managers really believed these deductions were legal, I wonder how many other students (CLS have 2,500 student bedrooms) also had these deductions last year and didn't get refunded? And what about previous years?

2) The students union was informed of this by my housemate. IMO if this happened in one of the off-campus student villages, the Students Union would have sent an All-Student email as they've previously done for off-campus accommodation (not sure if relevant but is there a conflict of interest for the student union as the then Student Union President Derek Daly was on the Board of Directors of Campus Life Services)

3) That year I lived with 4 international students, 3 non-european, who had returned to their home countries when their deposits were returned. At the time the deposits were returned these students believed these deductions were normal as the 'accommodation' was owned by the University, so obviously they trusted UL. Also international students are unlikely to know about the PRTB etc and English mightn't be their first language. So does CLS take advantage of this?

[wnolan1992]

Excellent post mid.

Re: The Fire Blanket
I've always known their deductions are excessive. A quick look at the handbook they give you will tell you that. Haven't looked at it since first year, but IIRC it was something like 60quid for a toaster and the like.

Will definitely be requesting a breakdown if they take money this year... Our kitchen windows were destroyed by the guys in the apartment above us, and there's no way in hell I'm paying for them to be cleaned.

[Jester252]

I had an issue with CLS last year. When I moved in the over door was broken and the cost to fix it was taken out of our deposit.

[OhMSGlive]

Well done mid, excellent post! Will keep this in mind when I get my deposit back.

[Aragneer]

Thank you so much for this post!
I've been really worried about the deductions of my house in Plassey.

I lived with 7 others and in the first semester, I moved in with my boyfriend in Groody because the mess was unbearable and I was not contributing to it or cleaning it up.
In the second semester 6 of these people remained untidy and I know that when we left the house it was only Cawcheen and me that cleaned..I asked one of them to do the oven and it was not done.

My dad has said that if they take an extortionate amount off of my deposit he is going to phone and tell them my situation and if it goes further he will take further action.

I've heard the campus deposit taking is terrible and I'm really worried about it :/

[mid]

Just to add to this, when we moved out our apartment was clean etc the same as when we moved in. The problem we had was they were trying to get us to pay for what is considered 'normal wear and tear'.

http://goo.gl/z0L70

Deductions may be made or the deposit retained in full if there has been damage above normal wear and tear to the property. If your landlord claims that there has been damage to the property receipts must be provided to prove the cost incurred in carrying out repairs.

The apartment will be repainted every x years, electrical items will be replaced, carpet replaced, external windows will be cleaned every so often, curtains will be cleaned, lift will break and need to be repaired etc. These expenses are already factored into the rent we pay and its illegal to deduct them from our deposits - but 2 village managers didn't know this last year.

BTW I only got a partial deposit refunded from Thomond in 1st year and I asked for a breakdown but when the village manager told me all the deductions were correct, I just accepted it as I didn't know who else to complain to

[wnolan1992]

Will be interesting to see how the new manager in Dromroe will handle things...

Hopefully won't be an issue. I had about 60quid taken from my deposit last year, but thought it was better to leave it alone since there were one or two things that needed repairing. Thinking back now though, I don't think replacing a screw and a broken light probably wouldn't have cost 60 X 6 = 300e.

[YFlyer]

Ollie Hassett would be proud.

[freyners]

strange, i actually got a extra fiver back on my deposit for plassey for not using all of our electricity allowance

altho they did charge us 400 euro for a phone in 1st year

[Jester252]

€400 for a phone there has to be more to the story

[wnolan1992]

Originally Posted by Jester252

€400 for a phone there has to be more to the story

There is more.

It was this phone they bought...

[freyners]

Originally Posted by Jester252

€400 for a phone there has to be more to the story

couldnt tell ya if there is, i was out foreign when the deposit came back and can only relay what my housemates saw on their bill thing.

[Aragneer]

are the deposits back yet?

[wnolan1992]

Originally Posted by Aragneer

are the deposits back yet?

Not mine anyway.

[Aragneer]

Originally Posted by wnolan1992

Not mine anyway.

Darn slow deposit-giving-back...Need that money :L

thanks though