Has anyone ever actually managed to get a damage deposit back in full?

I managed it once, and the next 4 times I had nothing back whatsoever. I'm just trying to get one back now and it should be £450, so I'm not going to let it lie if I don't get it pretty sharpish.

Originally posted by Yodameister
Has anyone ever actually managed to get a damage deposit back in full?

I managed it once, and the next 4 times I had nothing back whatsoever. I'm just trying to get one back now and it should be £450, so I'm not going to let it lie if I don't get it pretty sharpish.

Argh! Thats huge!

Last year my landlord tried to fob us of about giving us the money I had to go through the students union to get it back-ours was £200 which, I though was huge!

Looks like that two days I spent cleaning the house was worth it, got it back in full!

I was living in a student house near the United ground a few years ago and we had a particularly tight Landlord who had a real problem giving back any kind of bond or deposit money.

One night I called a mini-cab to get home and when I got in the driver recognised the address and told me that he'd lived there himself when he was a student.

We chatted about the place and the Landlord, and the driver recounted the time he had been told by the guy that he'd blown his bond by putting up a satellite dish. The Landlord claimed that when he'd taken this down the wall had needed repairing, that was what the bond money had been spent on.

Stepping out of the cab when I got back I looked up at the front of the house and managed to pick out the spot on the wall where the screw-holes left behind by the dish were still evidently there and without any kind of repair.

Even "reputable" letting agents have their own tricks. My friend lived in a house rented through Crapper & Haigh for a number of years and were good tenants. When it came to moving out, they had the carpets professionally cleaned and kept the receipt.
Crapper & Haigh then docked their bonds for the price of getting the carpets cleaned claiming that the carpets were filthy. My mates would have been better off not bothering!

Still, it is satisfying for them to know that the next tenants to move in have made a right mess of the place.

To anyone renting a property (especially through an agent) I'd suggest maybe asking the landlord/agent to do an extra inspection before you move out and agree on what needs doing for you to get your bond back. There's no sense in shelling out for carpet cleaning if the agent's are going to make you pay for it again. Photos are always good to..

I rented a flat on Gell Street through Crapper & Haigh.

I left it spotless and they stated it was filthy and were only going to give me £100 of the £450 deposit back.

I made them give me list of what was wrong and it was really pathetic like "dust on bedroom mirror".

I eventually got all of my money back but only through sheer persistence.

The woman I dealt with was deliberatley rude to me (probably in the hope that I would give up - I bet many people do).

our lodger left recently, we gave him his full deposit back.

When I was a student one of my flatmates parents worked as a legal secretary. We just swiped some headed notepaper and typed ourselves a snotty letter. Couldn't give us the money back quick enough that time- and we had trashed the place!