FAQs:
My housemate has caused damage that has come to more than their share of the deposit, can I still get mine back in full?
The tenancy agreements are joint and severally liable. This means the deposit is one payment. We will send a breakdown of deductions on a room by room basis. If one tenants ‘share’ of damages is more than their portion of deposit, it will be up to yourselves as tenants to reclaim the money off them if you wish. All deductions will be made from the deposit as a whole.
My parents want to speak to you about the deposit deductions on my behalf, can they call in?
We are only able to discuss the breakdown with tenants named on the agreement. Please do speak amongst yourselves as tenants and feel free to drop us a call or email and we will be happy to liaise with you directly.
There are several things that were there when we moved in but were not noted on our inventory and now we are being charged for them?
The inventories were checked and signed by yourselves to confirm that everything listed in them is correct. Unfortunately, if this is not the case, it will be chargeable to yourselves. If you have any queries, do let us know and we will be happy to discuss this with you.
Can we get our deposit sent back individually?
The tenancy agreements are joint and severally liable. This means the deposit is classed as one joint deposit. Although we allowed you to pay individually, we are unable to send individual portions of deposits back. Any communal damage is down to you as tenants to resolve and to allocate costs depending on who caused that damage. The full breakdown will be provided for you to discuss amongst yourselves and the full cost of repairs deducted from your joint deposit. The only exception to this is if only one tenant is moving out. Then of course, the one tenant will have their share of the deposit returned to them.
My housemate still owes me money for the bills, can you take this out of the deposit?
Unfortunately, we are not able to get involved in internal disputes such as issues with bills, nor are we able to deduct these from the deposit. We do suggest that tenants take our bills-included package to avoid any issues with bills at the end of the tenancy.
I have been given 48 hours to reply to my deposit breakdown, but I need longer to go through it with my housemates.
No problem! Just reply to let us know, we will then put this on hold until we hear from you and we’ll look after your deposit until the issue is resolved.
I have replied to the breakdown with some queries, how long should I expect to wait for a response from you?
Please do bear with us, this is an incredibly busy time. We have nearly 500 properties moving in and out in a very short space of time. The deposits are handled in order of move out date and we will respond to each of you. We aim to respond within 48 hours to each email, however please do bear with us, this could take longer depending on the number of queries you have.
You said to come back to you in 48 hours if I don’t agree with the deposit. It has been 48 hours and the money is not in my account yet?
We will give you 48 hours to initially respond to the breakdown. Please note, we will not return the deposit before this time period has passed. Once the 48 hours have passed, if we have not heard from you regarding this, we will return the deposit to you. Please contact us if the deposit is not in your account after this time period and we will rectify the issue as soon as we can.
Can I come back to you if I agree with the deposit deductions to speed it up a bit
Yes of course! If you are happy with the breakdown, please feel free to email us straight back to let us know and we can return this to you at the next available opportunity.
I want to go to court over my deposit, what do I do?
We always hope that we will be able to find a middle ground, where you are happy. However if you do not agree with the deductions you have the right to dispute your deposit through MyDeposits. MyDeposits do ask that you have attempted to resolve the disagreement (e.g. you have told us you are not happy and asked us to clarify anything) before taking it to dispute. Please note the dispute process is the first step and will be judged by an independent claims official. Small claims courts will direct you to MyDeposits dispute service in the first instance. If you would like to raise a dispute, you can do so on the MyDeposits website www.mydeposits.co.uk.
What are the differences in cost between a traditional deposit and zero-deposit?
The differences in outgoing costs between traditional deposits and zero-deposit schemes are actually very little! For Reposit you pay one week’s rent to Reposit who act to insure your deposit. This is non-refundable. You then pay the first months’ rent within 15 days as security for the landlord leading up to the tenancy. This is the case with all zero-deposit schemes. For a traditional deposit, you would pay £100 as a holding deposit. You then pay 5 weeks’ rent within 15 days for the rest of the deposit, minus the £100 you’d already paid. The first month’s rent would then be paid 7 days before the beginning of the tenancy. After this, the differences are minimal.
