A housing advice column for all your renting problems from VICE UK columnist Vicky Spratt. Got a burning question? Email lifeforrent@vice.com.
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Bad housing makes us sick and your situation is no joke. We know that poor housing causes mental health issues, but that’s not all. A cutting-edge study from the University of Essex recently found that renters have higher levels of a biological marker known as C-reactive protein (CRP) than homeowners. CRP is found at higher levels in blood in response to stress, injury and infection and it can be an indicator of heart disease or chronic inflammatory conditions such as IBS or arthritis.
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The ability to make money out of providing people with a basic human right – a home – sees us ripping each other off daily in the name of late capitalism. Just. Because. We. Can.Otherwise reasonable people who love their dogs skimp on boiler repairs, putting not just their tenants but their tenants’ safety into jeopardy – all because it eats into their profit margins. Parents who go out of their way to teach their kids right from wrong forge dodgy receipts for nonexistent breakages so that they can collect the maximum in fake damages when their tenants move out. Which brings me back to you.Let’s scroll back for a second. You’ve been fleeced. More than once. You know it will happen again, as sure as it will rain again. It’s just a question of when. I should know. When I moved out of my last flat, the landlord tried to take me for everything I had paid as a deposit and then some.The good news is that you do have rights. By law, your deposit must be placed into a protection scheme, through which you can dispute any unfair deductions via an official redress scheme. You can apply to your local county court if your landlord has not placed your deposit in one of these schemes.The bad news? Sadly, a lot of landlords do seem to see deposit deductions as an extra revenue scheme. A side hustle, if you will. I am 100 percent certain that the guy who took almost my entire deposit and asked for more used my money to repaint the flat for his next tenant.
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In theory, a landlord can only reasonably charge you for things you have actually damaged because domestic tenancies must allow for what is known as “fair wear and tear”. This means changes caused by what Shelter calls “normal day to day living”, so your landlord should absolutely not be charging you for cobwebs and ancient grime. They also shouldn’t be trying it on for faded curtains, small scuffs on the walls or worn carpets. However, they do.My deposit was protected so when a senior staff member at the high-profile letting agency involved told me I was “causing trouble” by complaining, I disputed every single slimy spurious claim via the Property Ombudsman’s redress scheme. I was confident I would win my dispute. I had pictures of everything and I had contacted previous tenants with whom he’d tried the same trick for written statements.Things are slightly better now because of the letting fee ban that brought in a deposit cap of five weeks rent. But I think deposit protection needs to be reinforced to protect renters from unscrupulous landlords and letting agents.You have rights but, sadly, as is so often the case with renting they aren’t always enforced. In the end, you might decide that taking further action is going to cost you more time and money than you face losing. This is how they get away with it.So know your rights and always ask for permission before removing anything from the property, putting up a picture or painting a wall. Take pictures of everything, too – not just when you move in but throughout your tenancy. And I literally mean everything because, reader, I only got half of my deposit back.@Victoria_Spratt