Deposit retention

marco_polo · 25-07-2007 11:01am #1

I have a quick question just looking for looking for some opinions as to whether it is worth my while to pursue this to the Private Residential Tenancies Board. Basically our landlord is keeping our entire deposit as a carpet has been somewhat damaged.

In a nutshell what happened is that we shampooed the carpets before we left the appartment and they were in pretty good shape, there rest of the appartment was immaculate. However over the weekend after we left it appears that the detergent from the shampooer reacted with the varnish of a coffee table and left numerous stains on the carpet. Just wondering if peoople think this is something we ought to be held accountable for. It is not like it was unreasonable behaviour to shampoo the carpet before leaving.

mathie · 25-07-2007 11:08am

I'd say its reasonable for the landlord to keep the portion of the deposit that will enable him/her to replace the carpet to the condition it was in before you arrived.

They might have to replace the whole carpet?

How much was the deposit?

M

marco_polo · 25-07-2007 11:17am

mathie wrote:

I'd say its reasonable for the landlord to keep the portion of the deposit that will enable him/her to replace the carpet to the condition it was in before you arrived.

They might have to replace the whole carpet?

How much was the deposit?

M

€1450 or so. The condition it was it was good, spotless but it was by no means brand new. He is also recarpeting two other rooms that were left in perfect condition.

jhegarty · 25-07-2007 11:20am

marco_polo wrote:

€1450 or so. The condition it was it was good, spotless but it was by no means brand new. He is also recarpeting two other rooms that were left in perfect condition.

He is only entitled to repair the damage in room where it happened.... what size is the room ?

marco_polo · 25-07-2007 12:04pm

jhegarty wrote:

He is only entitled to repair the damage in room where it happened.... what size is the room ?

Would say roughly 15 - 16ft X 17-18 ft

sharpsuit · 25-07-2007 2:59pm

He is only entitled to take that part of the deposit to repair the damaged carpet. However, this money cannot be used to replace the whole room with new carpet. You are entitled to have normal wear and tear on the carpet.

Ask the landlord for a receipt for the carpet work and if this is not reasonable, send in a complaint to the PRTB.

marco_polo · 25-07-2007 3:21pm

sharpsuit wrote:

He is only entitled to take that part of the deposit to repair the damaged carpet. However, this money cannot be used to replace the whole room with new carpet. You are entitled to have normal wear and tear on the carpet.

Ask the landlord for a receipt for the carpet work and if this is not reasonable, send in a complaint to the PRTB.

Essentially our letting agency contact said he is keeping the entire €1400 deposit and informed us he would call the guards if we contacted him again. We already know he has cleared out every room (living room, 2 bedrooms, hall) in the apartment already as well from our former neighbours.

sharpsuit · 25-07-2007 4:03pm

I don't think that you have much choice but to submit a complaint to the PRTB. Costs 25 euro and you can get the form from the PRTB or from Threshold.

When you say the agent is clearing out the property, what do you mean?

I would not worry about his threat to phone the police. You are perfectly entitled to seek the return of the deposit as it is your money. The agent can only keep part or all of it when he can justify holding onto that sum on money.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

marco_polo · 25-07-2007 4:43pm

sharpsuit wrote:

I don't think that you have much choice but to submit a complaint to the PRTB. Costs 25 euro and you can get the form from the PRTB or from Threshold.

When you say the agent is clearing out the property, what do you mean?

I would not worry about his threat to phone the police. You are perfectly entitled to seek the return of the deposit as it is your money. The agent can only keep part or all of it when he can justify holding onto that sum on money.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Sorry we were speaking to the landlord through the agent. I meant the landlord has gutted the place as in all the carpets in every room have been pulled up even the ones that were fine. TBH we were willing to come to some sort of arrangement about the damage, but I am not prepared to carpet his entire appartment especially given they weren't new in the first place. Wasn't worried about the police thing really just showing how unreasonable he is.

Agent J · 25-07-2007 4:44pm

Just a quick question.

Where you registered with the PTRB in the 1st place?

If you where you should have gotten a letter in the 1st few weeks about it.

If not then the landlord doesnt have a thing on you and you just put in for deposti retention. And ignore threats about the guardai.. actually i would encourage him to so they can investigate him if he's not registered.

Even if he is registered i would still pay the 25 euro and get it checked out.

There are some (Not all) really bad landlords out there and the only way anything will change is if people dont let them away with it.

If it was me i would almost do it just on a point of principle if he mentioned the gardai.

marco_polo · 25-07-2007 5:05pm

Agent J wrote:

Just a quick question.

Where you registered with the PTRB in the 1st place?

If you where you should have gotten a letter in the 1st few weeks about it.

If not then the landlord doesnt have a thing on you and you just put in for deposti retention. And ignore threats about the guardai.. actually i would encourage him to so they can investigate him if he's not registered.

Even if he is registered i would still pay the 25 euro and get it checked out.

There are some (Not all) really bad landlords out there and the only way anything will change is if people dont let them away with it.

If it was me i would almost do it just on a point of principle if he mentioned the gardai.

I believe he is registered. The deposit is split between 4 people so it is not about the money really its definately about the principle at this stage. It's certainly worth the 25 euro for an appeal anyway, we can't end up any worse off than we are now. Heard it might take a few months so will give this thread a bump when I finally hear back. Cheers.

Agent J · 25-07-2007 5:22pm

Ask the PTRB if hes registered..

You should have gotten a letter about it.

All registrations are public information.

Ace2007 · 25-07-2007 5:35pm

there is a fair chance that he will win - are you students, if so he can just say you threw parities, which under any contract is forbidden, therefore he can just say that you broke the contract, secondly if your going through an agent, is ur contract not with them - did you not give them the money and if so your issue is with them and not ur landlord.... dealing with middle ppl is never a good idea...

MoominPapa · 25-07-2007 7:53pm

Ace2007 wrote:

there is a fair chance that he will win

No there isn't as long as your case is clear and you are honest. I took my ll to the small claims court seven years ago in very similar circumstances, the carpet was the main point of contention and he refused to hand back any of the deposit. I was reasonable, he was not, I won. Thats the way it works

marco_polo · 26-07-2007 9:35am

Ace2007 wrote:

there is a fair chance that he will win - are you students, if so he can just say you threw parities, which under any contract is forbidden, therefore he can just say that you broke the contract, secondly if your going through an agent, is ur contract not with them - did you not give them the money and if so your issue is with them and not ur landlord.... dealing with middle ppl is never a good idea...

There were two couples in te appartment, we are working full time and the other couple are mature students in their mid twenties one of whom is doing a PHD. So no mad parties unfortunately.

.

I assume the agency handed over the deposit when they recieved it. We have deallt with two or three agencies over the years. Once they get you in I find the agency is generally on the side of the landlord, after all that is where their bread is buttered I suppose. Also It is very hard to get anything fixed with a middle man, the agency tell you ring the landlord, the landord the agency and so.

MoominPapa wrote:

No there isn't as long as your case is clear and you are honest. I took my ll to the small claims court seven years ago in very similar circumstances, the carpet was the main point of contention and he refused to hand back any of the deposit. I was reasonable, he was not, I won. Thats the way it works

That is what I would hope would happen, we never claimed it was perfect and we didn't nescessarly expect to get the entire deposit back. I fail to see see how he can justify taking €1400 to carpet a 30m sq room @15-20 € per sq m. IMHO he does not deserve any of our money now. No guarantees it will go our way but no harm in trying anyway nothing to lose now I suppose.

Not really relevant but did I mention all the carpets were a cremy/beige colour? :eek: Even in the living / dining area. Madness methinks.

MoominPapa · 26-07-2007 11:16am

marco_polo wrote:

IMHO he does not deserve any of our money now. No guarantees it will go our way but no harm in trying anyway nothing to lose now I suppose.

Damn right. Best of luck and be sure to tell us how you get on

scitpo · 26-07-2007 2:05pm

Don't worry about this too much. Just calmy contact the PTRB, state your case and you should be getting all if not some of your money back. If you look at the stats on their website they nearly always rule in favour of the tenant with regards witholding of deposits.

there is a fair chance that he will win - are you students, if so he can just say you threw parities, which under any contract is forbidden, therefore he can just say that you broke the contract, secondly if your going through an agent, is ur contract not with them - did you not give them the money and if so your issue is with them and not ur landlord.... dealing with middle ppl is never a good idea...

Sometimes the advice you read on Boards is just so bad. If you don't know what you are talking about then just don't bother posting and confusing people.

rickybutcher · 26-07-2007 3:46pm

Tell him calmly you think he has ripped you off, you will be contacting the PTRB and you will not be letting the matter drop. Landlords will look for ANY excuse not to hand back a deposit, no point in going into details or rants but I would take it as far as I can. If he says he will call the Gardaí, ask him on what grounds and laugh out loud at his response. Not sure if you will win but it's definitely worth taking the case, they are horribly inefficient though.

Deposit retention

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