your tenancy.
How do I get my deposit back?
Landlords can only deduct money from your deposit for damage, cleaning costs if you have left the place in a worse state than when you moved in, and any missing items. Their right to do this needs to be detailed in your tenancy agreement. They cannot deduct money for normal wear and tear – for example, scuffs on the walls or faded carpets. Damage needs to be things like a massive iron burn in the middle of the floor.
Check your agreement to see whether you are supposed to have the property professionally cleaned before you move out.
You will agree an inventory when you first move in: a document detailing what is in the property and its condition. Take lots of photos, inside and out, to make a record of any existing issues. You might also want to take photos of the property to show what it is like as you move out, and do a check-out inventory, getting your landlord to sign it, as your back-up if there is any dispute.
You have to contact your landlord or letting agent to request your deposit back. Best do it by email or in writing, so that you have evidence of the date. You should get it back within ten days. If they refuse, or take longer, or if you don’t agree with any deductions they make, you can contact the deposit-protection scheme where your money is kept and go through their free dispute-resolution process. If your landlord has made any deductions they should write to you to explain how much and why.
Shelter has a useful template letter on its site to help you challenge any deductions that you think are unfair. As a last resort you could go to the small claims court if you still cannot get back your deposit.
How you can avoid paying an upfront deposit
If you can’t afford to pay a large deposit up front there are some new products available to help you get around it. Companies like the Zero Deposit Scheme (ZDS) and Reposit offer what is basically an insurance policy for the landlord instead. With both you pay the equivalent of one week’s rent (rather than the normal six required for most security deposits); with ZDS you also pay a £26 annual admin fee for each additional year you are in the same property, and it guarantees to cover your landlord for the same sum as a traditional security deposit.
You will end up paying more with these schemes, however, because most tenants do get their full security deposit back at the end of a tenancy, whereas the money you are paying to the schemes is non-refundable. You are also still liable to pay your landlord directly for any damage that might otherwise have come out of the security deposit. Such schemes are only to be used if you are desperate to move into a rental but really not able to scrape together the cash up front.
Increasingly there are housing developers creating build-to-rent schemes that do not require a security deposit. Two of my friends live in one of the first, by Get Living London, in the old athletes’ village in the Olympic Park, London. They also have a longer-term tenancy, of a guaranteed minimum three years. Look out for similar developments.
Who is responsible for repairs in my rental?
Your landlord is legally responsible for keeping your property in decent shape and carrying out timely repairs to its structure – things like pipes and wiring, and heating and hot water – as well as clearing anything that will damage your health, such as mice or mould. You need to do a few basics yourself – change lightbulbs or replace smoke-alarm batteries.
If you are without heating or hot water your landlord should sort it out very quickly. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 a landlord has to supply adequate space, heating and water. The minimum heating standard is at least 18°C in sleeping rooms, and 21°C in living rooms, when the temperature outside is as cold as minus 1°C, and it should be available at all times, according to The Tenants’ Voice, which has template letters you can send to your landlord to get them to recognize their responsibilities if they refuse to do so. Always send requests for repairs on email so that you have a record.
Failing that, you can contact the environmental health department at your local council, which can force your landlord to sort the issue, or even authorize repairs and send your landlord a bill.
Who pays household bills in my rental?
Who looks after the energy or broadband can vary, so check with your landlord when you sign your tenancy. If it is the tenant’s responsibility then don’t make the common mistake of assuming that you have to be on the energy tariff that is already in place. You can switch your provider to whoever you want, and in fact you should do this, because it could save you several hundred pounds.
When you move in, ask previous tenants or the landlord who is the current supplier. If no one knows, you can call a meter number helpline to find out who supplies gas on 0870 608 1524, and one of several numbers, depending on where you live, for electricity; the energy-uk.org.uk website has details. Take a meter reading at your new property as soon as you arrive. Tell the existing supplier that you’ve moved in and give the meter reading, so that you are not held liable for previous tenants’ bills. You are responsible for any energy used when you take over the property, not just when you actually move in.
You will probably be put on the supplier’s most expensive standard variable rate (more about this in the bills chapter 9), so you want to move off that as soon as possible. If you find a company that is cheaper just sign up and they will take care of contacting the old one and moving your supply. Do not forget to let them know, and take meter readings, when you move out.
I will start off the tips in this chapter by saying that there is no magic solution to how difficult it is to afford a home where you want one. Apologies: you need more money. The options are limited: get a better-paid job, or a job somewhere with cheaper housing; beg and borrow from rich enough parents, friends, partners, perhaps with a boost from a family mortgage or a government scheme – read on for more; or start saving harder for longer (I hope that this book will help a bit with that).
Understanding the process of buying a home can, however, contribute towards working out whether you want or can stretch yourself to get on the ladder, and it can save you a lot of money on the stressful journey if or when the time eventually comes. The experts suggest you get started thinking about how to make yourself a model homebuyer at least six months before you start engaging estate agents and banks. Don’t panic if you do not have six months, it is possible to put yourself in a better position within weeks.
Of those I know who have bought their first homes, many because the bank of Mum and Dad has chipped in, all have told a similar story: ‘I had no idea what I was doing, so I felt like I was being totally shafted.’
The nature of the buying and selling process, which is a game of holding your nerve and outguessing who is trying to outmanoeuvre who, plus dealing with estate agents (a profession on equal pegging with journalists for the most able to put a creative spin on the truth), means that some shafting is hard to avoid. Steel yourself. But getting your head round the following should at least keep it to a minimum.
I will start by explaining the
