I recovered £2,678.86 of my deposit…
I recovered £2,678.86 of my deposit Viewit tried to keep, through an adjudicator who awarded them £0 for the “repairs” they claimed.
Viewit got back less than 8% of what they demanded.
Here's what happened.
I had agreed to pay £390 from my deposit for a professional end-of-tenancy clean.
Viewit then tried to keep every single penny of the rest, as “Estimate repairs for Carpet, Paint, etc.” (see Deposit Return Statement).
I refused, and the dispute went to the Deposit Protection Service (DPS) for independent adjudication. The full process took about 3 months, and everything below is documented.
The outcome:
• £0 awarded for redecoration, £0 for wall repairs, £0 for carpets, £0 for the worktop, £0 for the hob. £0 for every condition-related claim, out of the £2,766 Viewit asked for “redecoration.”
• Of the £3,044.40 claimed by Viewit, the adjudicator awarded them £219.60, only for removing three items of furniture I had left plus one day of parking. Their claim was in fact £145.94 more than the entire disputed deposit. More than was even available to take.
• Viewit's own check-out report recorded the flat as “professionally cleaned” and its decorative order as “Good condition.” The only mark noted was “scratches” on the carpets, which I had professionally shampooed in every carpeted room as part of the £390 clean, and which the adjudicator valued at £0.
• They also never provided a check-in inventory to show any change in condition, which was key for the adjudicator in his decision. Producing it is the agent's responsibility, at the start of the tenancy. I asked Viewit for it in writing and received no reply, and they had two full weeks to submit it to the DPS. They never did.
When I first disputed the deductions, Viewit replied in writing:
“[…] As you can understand all those repairs exceed by far the amount of your deposit, and the landlord can only get as much as your deposit, but the damages are higher, that's why they are claiming the remaining of your deposit which is just below £3000.”
An independent adjudicator found those damage claims were worth £0.
Tenants: insist on a signed check-in inventory when you move in, keep every receipt, take dated photos when you leave, and use the free DPS dispute process instead of accepting deductions.