moral dilemma??

manchestersaver

my tenant moved out over 2 months ago but has since made 2 deposits into my account....she never cleaned the place properley when she left and so am inclinded to keep this money...
do i have to legally give her this money back?

tbs624

Presumably your former tenant paid her rent by SO and didn't put an end date on the mandate to her bank so you have mistakenly received two extra lots of monthly rent?

You should return the overpayments of rent to the tenant IMO- you are obviously aware that these 2 payments have been made in error.

If you had problems with the state of the property at the end of the tenancy these should have been dealt with by discussion between both parties at the time, and you could have proposed a suitable deduction then.

Did your tenant pay a deposit at the start of the tenancy?

If yes, did you scheme-register it as required by law? (assuming you are in Eng/Wales & the Tenancy began after 6 April 2007)

Did you have an inventory signed by both you and the tenant at the start of the tenancy?

Have you repaid the deposit to the tenant? If yes to this bit, then why did you not raise any cleaning issues before doing so?

fatpig_2

It doesn't cost 2 months rent to clean the place. What a rip-off. I'm glad you're not my landlord

Meatballs

Agree with tbs 100%.

clutton_2

what a sly post manchesterperson - you know darn well what the answer is - give it her back

guppy

If you keep it, you will be knowingly committing theft.

No doubt the tenant will realise soon. If you have issues regarding the state the place was left in, you should take these up through legal means.

To do otherwise would be very foolish IMO.

Microstar_2

manchestersaver wrote: »

do i have to legally give her this money back?

Yes you do. If you receive money into your bank account that you know you're not entitled to, then to keep it is theft (in a legal sense as well as a moral sense). There is no dilemma here.

lostinrates

As the above posters imply....no moral dilemma one. The law is very clear on this it is theft!

wymondham

I'm a bit shocked that a landlord (or indeed anyone) needs to ask this question :eek:

smartandshrewd

That's theft! Landlords like you give others a bad name :mad:

As others have said, claim back cleaning costs through the correct route.

ad44downey

manchestersaver, you should change your name to Rigsby or Rachmann. What a crook!