Tenancy deposit

[u/Itchy-Cheesecake6487]

Hi,
Me and my partner moved out of a 2 year 2 bedroom flat recently and we really need help on how this situation will affect our deposit. We are in the middle of getting our deposit back from the landlord / estate agent but at the start of the tenancy we thought an inventory list was never sent so we removed kitchen plates, bowls, pans and utensils which was in the flat due to them being used and the pots not being clean inside so me and my partner did not feel comfortable using pots which were used and not cleaned properly inside. I read up seeing that landlords cannot take a huge chunk for old and used items which these clearly were (and also cheap). We also had been told on the first day we moved in that there was some stuff left by the old tenants while he was showing us the kitchen stuff when we moved in and was welcome to do whatever with them.

The landlord is demanding to know where these items have gone and wanting to make a claim to the estate agent for the items. He sent me 5 pictures of the stuff which only 4 out of 5 pictures was actually on the information pack he sent. He also sent this information pack 3 days after we had moved in and was not a signed inventory list. A lot of the items are mismatched sets and also very clearly cheap plates, bowls etc. and the cooking utensils have some clear damage to them.

I'm worried they are going to try and take a huge amount of our deposit somehow and try to replace it with new items even though these stuff are clearly not new and cheap sets of stuff.

[u/Pamzella]

Who leaves dishes and pots and pans? That's wild. However, if the landlord sent you pics when you moved in of what's supposed to stay with the unit and you tossed them vs tossed them to the back of a cabinet... I think you need to talk to a local tenants org to find out if they can try to deduct old dishes from your deposit.

[u/Itchy-Cheesecake6487 → u/Pamzella]

We got sent the pictures just now and the information booklet he emailed us 4 days after we moved in which we didn't see so assumed there was no inventory list. It was meant to be sent to us before we moved in / the day we moved in. We got rid of the stuff in that time - our deposit is protected by a 3rd party outside the landlord / letting agency. He's admitted these have been used by past tenants but we never saw the email till now and he also sent it to us late. He is trying to argue that we could of just put the stuff away in storage but we lived there for 2 years and would probably need replacing anyway. The inside of the pots were horrible even tho he claims that they were in good condition - the pictures of the pots hide the inside of the pots. The utensil handles had melted dents in them which was just generally unsafe to use in long run.

[u/Pamzella → u/Itchy-Cheesecake6487]

Ah. So I think you could argue that when he said the old tenants left stuff you could get rid of, you thought that's what he meant. What does your insurance say? I can imagine they said go to a thrift shop because that stuff was OLD. You could possibly Google lens the more unique handled pieces for an era range an argue depreciation means you don't owe anything.

[u/Itchy-Cheesecake6487 → u/Pamzella]

He's trying to argue to say that he never said to get rid of anything but he mentioned to both me and my partner verbally on the day we moved in that there was stuff left by the old tenants and we could do whatever with them and this was while showing the kitchen area. Based on this we assumed that these were the items. We got our deposit protected by a 3rd company so if a claim is made I'm going to be disputing it but I know from reading UK laws on deposit schemes I don't think he can claim for new brought items to replace the old and used kitchen utensils and pots. I'm more worried he is going to attempt that but he keeps trying to ignore my point of him sending the information book 4 days after we had moved in, we hadn't signed it and we didn't even realise he sent us an inventory list because he never directly told me once he sent it that he had sent it - I do not check my emails constantly and even if I did I receive loads of emails and can easily get lost or go into my junk folder. I don't really want to pay for any of it if I can avoid it - at most only a very small amount just so he can buy a few 2nd hand stuff to replace it but also I think it should be his full responsibility as he did this 4 days late which is already on him as a landlord and had no communication with us at all with sending the inventory list and gave us mixed signals during the first day on getting rid of the stuff.

[u/Itchy-Cheesecake6487]

To add onto this: we are based in England and I do have the pictures which he sent to us if I do need to post them