Greedy PM with the bond

[skid]

My daughter and friends have been renting a place on the shore and are running into problems with the PM.
Its a pretty common story of a greedy owner who is trying to hold bond for things that were existing problems when they moved in 6 months ago (mainly a very tired carpet)
Her flatmates have photos from before showing this --Heres the hard part--They are all students who are going to have a hard time waiting for any remaining bond that may be coming back.
I still need to find out all the details but was wondering if they can dispute the bond held while getting the remaining bond back.
I seem to remember talking to the tenancy advice and finding out (to my horror at the time -as a landlord)that after 10 years the carpet is fully depreciated and cant be claimed for.
If this is the case and they hold bond anyway is there any recourse other than going to the tribunal to try to get the bond being held--The PM would obviously be breaking tenancy laws on that one.

Bit of guidance on that one would be well appreciated as most of my experience has been as a landlord and not with exploiting PMs

Cheers

[skid]

PS -the owner is a bit greedy and ,through the PM was already getting a high rent for the area--after 6mos he then increased it to an unrealistic amount --The tenants were ready to go anyway but even the PM said it was to high(Iranian owner obviously made that decision)
Its looking like he is out to squeeze anything he can get out of these students--they have taken good care of the place--Apparently not one prospective tenant has come to view at the new rent.

[flyernzl]

Bond disputes must be settled before any part of the bond is paid out.
Once a dispute is filed ( mediation/TT ) all of the bond is effectivly 'frozen' until the matter has been fully settled.

If there is a dispute over the bond, then the TT is the only legal way to solve it.

[skid]

In a way --It seems the one time that the landlord has the advantage.

If he has no grounds to charge for carpets that are fully depreciated--Is informed of that in writing -and does so anyway --i wonder if intentionally doing this, would be grounds for damages.

Is going after bond you know you are not eligible for under the tribunal laws punishable?

[Keys]

Send the bond form into the bond centre without the landlords signature.

[PTILoveYou]

Send the bond form into the bond centre without the landlords signature.

Noob question, what happens then? Bond is disputed?? Then tribunal?

[flyernzl]

Its called a one-party claim.

The Bond Centre then writes to the other party, lets them know that the claim has been received, and advises that they have 10 working days to dispute the claim.

If the claim is disputed it then goes into the legal process, otherwise its paid out to the claimant.

[PTILoveYou]

Its called a one-party claim.

The Bond Centre then writes to the other party, lets them know that the claim has been received, and advises that they have 10 working days to dispute the claim.

If the claim is disputed it then goes into the legal process, otherwise its paid out to the claimant.

Nice !

[skid]

Excellent advice --That puts the ball into his court--The obnoxious PM simply said ''take me to the tribunal'' when queried about why they were deducting for the carpet which was in terrible shape when they moved in. (It was so worn in frount of the french door that we gave our daughter a small carpet to put over it.
I only hope they can afford to wait--everyone has put in bond (it was alot)but there is only 1 guy whose name is one the lease so if he caves--everyone pays.

[skid]

Am I right in assuming that the LL has to give them a chance to fix before withholding bond--he is now talking about damage behind fridge and I am a retired painter by trade-----or would it be best to simply do the one party claim and go from there--Im absolutely certain both the owner and pM are inexperienced in terms of before photos etc-----Im happy to try to remedy any problems --the fridge is a grey area --they dont think they did it but dont know 100%--I could probably tell by looking but its a bit of a drive.

[skid]

Gotta say its a bit weird being on this side of the equation--Its usually our tenants I deal with --but I hate injustice on either side

[PTWhatAGreatForum]

Send the bond form into the bond centre without the landlords signature.

I will make this a rare occasion I agree with Keys.

The trick is to put up resistance or even go on the offensive.

[skid]

You can bet I will not do a lick of work on anything that might be a grey area unless i have their full agreement that they will not cave in if there are still demands--Its a one party agreement or nothing in terms of my help with a bit of tidy up and support.
I may try to get the PMs details and have a bit of a diplomatic face to face---(unless there is some sort of offensive I dont know about)

[Sante]

I don't see why the part of the bond not in dispute couldn't be paid out now? It might need to be done in a slightly different way though, via a change of bond amount form or something instead. It would effectively be reducing the amount of bond lodged for the property, rather than refunding the bond.

[skid]

Update--Looks like the LL is going for the tribunal and all of the bond--He has now asked for a postponement as he is going to be overseas(while the tenants wait for the money they have coming)
Im not sure yet whether it is the owner or the PM that has gone overseas(its the PM on the TT)--ill find out soon

any ideas on how to speed things up?--this has been going on for some time now(the place was pretty ''tired'' when they moved in.)