£1,700 Awarded To Tenant After Unfair Deposit Deductions

Tenant Angels recently assisted a client with a Tenancy Deposit Protection Claim after his landlord attempted to make unfair deductions to his deposit totalling nearly £600!

From February 2023 to February 2024, Mr S.S from East London occupied a room on a 12-month tenancy agreement and paid a deposit of £850. The property was well looked after and Mr S.S. paid his rent on time and vacated the property at the end of the tenancy with no arrears.

When the time came to hand back the keys, Mr S.S. communicated with the landlord in regard to the return of the deposit, however, it is at this point that the landlord began to make various claims about the condition of the property and informed Mr S.S. that he intended to make deductions to the deposit. Reasons the landlord provided were ludicrous and certainly unfair, everything from a very small patch of dust behind an extremely heavy piece of furniture to slight discolouring of a wall which was present when the tenant moved in and caused by bleaching from direct sunlight. We cover 5 of the craziest reasons for deposit deductions in this article.

Having disagreed with these unfair deposit deductions proposed by the landlord, Mr S.S. searched online and realised he could dispute these deductions through one of the government-approved tenancy deposit protection schemes, but sadly, the landlord had not protected the deposit and the schemes would be unable to help. Facing unfair deductions, financial burden and seemingly nowhere to turn, Mr S.S. was determined to find a solution and contacted a handful of Tenancy Deposit Claim services, of which, Tenant Angels was one. Having spoken with each service, Mr S.S. chose to work with Tenant Angels, quoting;

“Tenant Angels were very friendly, professional and welcoming. They provided me with all of the support I needed during a very stressful time“.

Within just 4 weeks of reaching out to Tenant Angels, Mr S.S. went from facing an unfair deduction of 70% from his £850 deposit to a successful Tenancy Deposit Claim resulting in the full return of his £850 deposit, plus a further £850 in compensation.*

When we asked Mr S.S. if he feels whether he could have taken the claim to court himself, he answered;

“Possibly, I’m not sure. I was very stressed, communication with the landlord was difficult and I felt it was the safer and smarter option to use a professional service to assist me and I’ve walked away with more money than I perhaps could have got myself. It was very straight forward“.

From the moment the solicitor issued a ‘letter before action’ notice to the landlord, the tenant had no further dealings or communication with the landlord, everything was managed entirely by Tenant Angels and the solicitor – which was a welcome relief for Mr S.S who has since moved into a new apartment and relieved that his deposit has been placed in one of the approved protection schemes as it should be!

You can view the 5 star review this client gave us on TrustPilot.

*All claims are handled on a no-win, no-fee basis. The total amount of money paid to Mr S.S. after fees and optional ATE insurance was £850 (deposit in full) plus £503 in compensation.