Taking pictures of rental when leaving

geem

Hi I am leaving my current rented home after several years. Rent has never been late, no damage etc. Excellent relationship with landlord. However I have given notice and LL said he, given current economic environment, he is a bit short of cash.

I am worried he may try hold on to deposit.
I intend taking photographs as proof of the excellent condition the house will be left in but how to I prove the date photos were taken?

Also how out of date/up to date is the PRTB site? How can you tell if a property is registered if it is out of date?

Random

You could add a copy of the days newspaper to each photo?

January

Or get a digital camera that can add a date stamp to the photographs.

imeddyhobbs

Make sur you get pics,.

wyndham

If the tenancy was registered you should have received a letter from the PRTB confirming this. If you never received a letter and the tenancy is not listed on the database, it is safe to assume that it is not registered.

eightyfish

Taking photos is good idea, the day's newspaper in a couple works perfectly for dating. Clean down all the walls and take photos of those too. We had a landlord try to keep 1/3 of our deposit for "painting" which, as long as you kept the place clean, is simply ware and tear. We sent these photos, along with photos from the move-in, to the PRTB and got our full deposit back.

If you do have to open the case with the PRTB, be prepared to wait a long time (6 months +) for a resolution, but it does work. Hopefully you won't have to do that though!

RentDayBlues

Also, just to point out, the deposit was never the LL's money and he should still have it safe for you. Whether he is broke or not, that is legally your money and you are entitled to it back once the place is left in good condition. Regardless of whether the place is registered, you can still use the PRTB if needed

bugler

RentDayBlues wrote: »

Also, just to point out, the deposit was never the LL's money and he should still have it safe for you. Whether he is broke or not, that is legally your money and you are entitled to it back once the place is left in good condition. Regardless of whether the place is registered, you can still use the PRTB if needed

This is the second thread recently where a LL has been mumbling about needing time to get the cash together, or being short of cash for a deposit. Evidentally many landlords viewed the deposit as some sort of interest free (paying!) loan, to do what they pleased with. The attitudes in this country still surprise me.

geem

Thanks all for the replies, am hoping don't need to resort to anything regards deposit but from reading threads here I think it is good to be prepared.
Will try the newspaper idea and the datestamp too. Many thanks.