[cakesy]

At least in Edinburgh, they are the biggest scum. Firstly, they charge you £150 just to move in, for their own pocket. They actually lied to me about what was in the flat (the furniture that came with the flat, and keys to the garage). Then they were shit whenever you needed something done. One of the front window/doors locks was broken, and they never fixed it, the whole 6 months we were there. Then, they had the cheek to ask for £10 for a reference. And worst of all, they sent around the flat inspector from hell, and keepd half our bond, just because the sheets didn't match. They were like that when we moved in, I said, why would I want to steal your scummy sheets. Bastards. Beware.

You are better of living on the streets, than having to deal with these guys.

[Bluey]

make sure you take the landlord to the small claims court to get the return of your deposit (not the letting agency which must let you know the landlords address as they only work on behalf of them). it strengthens your case if there isn't an inventory in place - search for my thread on that.

http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/home/index.cfm

make sure the landlord is registered - all landlords in scotland have to be registered on a central register so report them for that. all larger rented properties (3 or more tenants) have to have a HMO licence. check the edinburgh council website for the rules or ask Shelter.

phone up the shelter advice line and see if they are legally permitted to charge a fee to provide a reference.

as for the £150 fee, fees to estate agents are normal to draw up agreements and undertake references. It's poor value for money and is a rip off but perfectly legal so tough titty on that one. Up to you to stick with regulated agencies (such as those belonging to ARLA) to avoid the cowboys and the onus is on you to find out fees before you agree to view.

[tootsi4]

I moved out of my Ryden rented flat in March. Our inventory clearly states the carpets are badly stained and dirty and yet we have been charged to have them cleaned? Ryden say they have a receipt to show the carpets were professionally cleaned before we moved in so even though the inventory states the carpets were dirty they are saying they couldn’t have been.

When we check out of the flat the Ryden inspector said the condition of the flat was fine and the flat would just require light cleaning for the cooker and skirting boards (we agreed to this as the light cleaning would be around £30)….one month later and we have been charged a full clean as the flat was left in a “state”.

They have also charged us an extra days rent. We all confirmed we did not want to carry on with the lease and yet we have been charged this extra day. The extra day was actually only 9am until 10am because we all had to come back to the flat at 9 for the inspection and hand back our keys.

We have lost nearly half of our deposit and we were only there 6 months – by half I mean £500 for cleaning etc plus their admin fees for processing the charges and then the VAT they charged on top of their admin fee.

Worse agency I have dealt with in Edinburgh.

[Bluey]

In my opinion (I am not qualified to give advice) admin fees are completely legit if stipulated upfront in a contract that you've signed so it's tough titty if you've signed something you are not later happy with (buyer beware).

If you didn't return the keys, you didn't formally end possession of the property - they can't let it out if you've still got them. What does it say on the contract about this? However, it's worth taking advice on this, plus the disputed cleaning if you have evidence to support this.

Call Shelter or look at their site for how to challenge the deductions from the deposit through the Small claims process of the local Sheriff Court.

Usually, the tenant is expected to take the landlord to court (the agent merely represents them and the direct legal relationship is with the landlord but you could cite them as co-defendents). Check the process first with Shelter and weigh up the time, effort, cost of going down this route.

All landlords in Scotland are supposed to be registered with the national landlord registration scheme (see local council website for info) and agents are obliged to give the residential address of the landlord within 21 days if requested in writing (notify Trading Standards if they don't).

Have a look at the Sheriff Court website and Shelter about the negotiating the return of the deposit with the landlord and then kicking off legal action.