Deposit advice please.

[scoot2001]

Hi all,

I have a bit of a situation with a tenant and a deposit.

Basically I had a tenant move into a property on the 29/5/07 on a standard six month assured short-hold tenancy agreement, this expired on 29/11/07 and I did not renew as they had given me notice that they intended to move out at the end of the agreement. I took a bond of £400 when they signed the tenancy and insured it through TDS.

The date came around for them to move out and they told me that they had decided to stay on at least until well into the new year for family reasons. I did not sign them up to a new tenancy, I just let it run on a periodic basis as they had not been the most reliable rent payers, I have normally had to chase rent for a few days and had a bit of hassle.

The rent was due on the 1st of this month and when I telephoned to arrange cash collection (as it had yet again not been paid by direct debit) I was told that she could not pay until Friday 7th December as she had time off work to look after her daughter who has been ill (a lie it now appears) and wouldn't get her wages through work until later because of this. I didn't really believe the wages/work excuse but gave her the benefit of the doubt as I had always got the rent in the past, albeit constantly late.

My wife was due to go and collect the rent on Friday morning when she received a message telling her to come on Monday (yesterday) as tenants wages had still not been payed. My wife went on Monday to collect rent and found the house completely empty, basically they have scarpered. We do know where the tenants parents live so tried them only to be told 'sorry don't know where they are & basically tough luck'. It appears they were buying time with the rent excuse until they could clear off to wherever they have gone.

The house is ok but the carpets which were new when they moved in are filthy and need shampooing and in all honesty probably replacing, most of the house will need repainting despite it being fully redecorated before they moved in, and it will all need a bloody good clean. The back yard is full of their cr@p, old furniture, beds, etc and is covered in rabbit muck from a pet we never knew they had. They also owe me 10 days rent (approx £110) for the time they have occupied the house this month .

Now the crux........obviously I have the bond of £400 but I really don't want to pay any of this back to them as they owe me £110 rent for the 10 days outstanding, which leaves £290 of the bond left. It will cost more than £290 to fix the carpets, clean the house, redecorate and then have all their old furniture and whatnot shifted from the back yard.

I have been on the TDS website to unprotect the deposit and see I have to give a reason, I can choose 'tenant abandoned property or 'tenancy ended'.

Which route am I better choosing or will TDS contact my tenant through her alternate address (her parents) regardless and give her the opportunity to try to get her deposit back? I reckon she probably will try to get some of it back if it's possible as she is the type to be awkward and is obviously happy to lie.

Any advice or guidance here would be very much appreciated.