Claiming Back your Deposit

It has been an incredibly busy summer with lots of tenants moving into their Cullen Property home as well as many of you moving onto the next chapter of your lives. Upon checking-out of your property the main thing you want to do is secure all/if not the majority of your deposit back.

Where is your deposit?

When you first moved into your Cullen Property home we placed your deposit to one of Scotland’s three tenancy deposit schemes. It will either be placed with Safe Deposit Scotland, Letting Protection Scotland or My Deposit Scotland. At Cullen Property we use Safe Deposit Scotland most frequently.

What is your deposit for?

Your deposit is to ensure that upon leaving your flat you will have left it in the same/or close to the same condition you received the property in – allowing for wear and tear.

How to ensure you receive your deposit back

We will send you a guide a few weeks prior to you leaving the property. This guide will cover all the information necessary for you to have a smooth, stress-free and easy check-out. The guide will contain instruction on how to book and arrange your check-out appointment, moving out advice – what you need to let the Cullen Property team know (such as your forwarding addresses) a property cleaning schedule and our recommended contractors to help ensure your property check-out is in the condition we are expecting.

Deposit Deductions

You will be advised by our team to be present at your check-out appointment. If you cannot attend your check-out appointment your Property Manager will carry out the inspection without you being present. This is where the Property Manager will inspect the property, the cleanliness and for any broken/missing items of furniture.

If the property requires any cleaning or maintenance issues fixed we will instruct our contractors to do so, any works required will result in deductions from your deposit.

The most common reasons for not receiving your deposit back

• Pay particular attention to all your kitchen white goods, the bathrooms and skirting boards throughout the property.
• Window Cleaning. We would recommend using one of the window cleaners highlighted in your check-out guide. Otherwise window cleaning will be deducted from your deposit.
• Not returning keys to the property. If you do not return all sets of keys to the property we will have to instruct a locksmith to put a new lock on the property door – this can be a costly charge.
• Leaving items in the property which we will have to dispose of. If you have left any items in the property which are not on the inventory when you checked into the property, or leaving rubbish, we will have to dispose of this – this is another common expense which will be deducted from your deposit.

How to claim your deposit back

The Cullen Property team will be liaising with all tenants in regard to any deposit deductions. Once you have all confirmed and accepted any deductions you will be able to receive your deposit back from one of the tenancy deposit schemes.

The lead tenant and the joint tenant(s) must now log into the Tenants section of the Safe Deposit Scotland website to complete the repayment process and provide their bank details.  The lead tenant should select the 'respond to proposal' option on SDS and providing the bank details have been entered by each tenant SDS will process the repayment within 5 working days of receiving the agreement from the lead tenant.

**Please note that it can take up to 30 working days for your deposit to be returned to you.**

If you have any further questions regarding information on how to receive your deposit back, please give our Accounts Department a call on 0131 221 1818 we are here to help!