Hi Callum,

I am disappointed to see that you have given Kendall Harper a one star review following a dispute with your landlord over your deposit.

Following your review, I feel it necessary to remind you that your deposit dispute was with your landlord, not Kendall Harper. Kendall Harper were acting on your landlords instructions to make a claim on your deposit. I'm sorry if you feel that we did not act impartially in the matter, however, the landlord is the client of Kendall Harper and in this situation we had to act under their instructions.

For you to say that Kendall Harper will try to scam a tenant out of as much of their deposit as they can, is unfair and completely untrue. Should your landlord have been successful in their claim, Kendall Harper would not have benefited financially in any way from the situation. We were merely supporting our client in a claim for a loss that they felt they had suffered.

Your explanation of the situation is missing some important facts, so I will highlight these below:-

The flat that you were renting contained a sofa belonging to the landlord.

The agreed terms of the tenancy, put in writing to you and the landlord before you moved in, confirmed that the sofa would remain in the flat during your tenancy.

The agreed terms went on to say that, should the sofa become surplus to the tenants requirements after moving into the flat, the landlord would remove the sofa from the property or the landlord would give the tenant permission to dispose of the sofa.

The dispute arose between you and your landlord because you asked if you could take the sofa with you when you moved out. We told you not to do anything with the sofa until we had a response from the landlord. Two days before the end of the tenancy we told you the landlord wanted the sofa to remain in the flat after you had moved out but by that point you had moved out and taken the sofa with you.

Your landlord felt that, having used the sofa throughout the term of your tenancy, it was never surplus to your requirements. He, therefore, did not agree to you taking the sofa with you at the end of your tenancy and instead offered to sell the sofa to you as you wanted to keep it.

As you took the sofa and refused to return it, your landlord instructed Kendall Harper to make a claim of £450 on your deposit, which is the amount that he was willing to sell the sofa to you for. The sofa originally cost £1000 and the landlord proved this by way of receipts and to support his opinion of its used value of £450.

The DPS decided in your favour over the dispute because they felt that, where the agreed terms of the tenancy stated that the landlord would give the tenant permission to dispose of the sofa if it became surplus to the tenants requirements, there was no financial value to the sofa anymore.

The matter is now closed and I do not feel that we deserve a one star review for being part of a deposit dispute that has been resolved in the correct manner by the Deposit Protection Service.

Geoff Clyesdale
Lettings Branch Manager