Landlord won't give rent overpayment back!

Bakeybadoo

Didn't know where to put this so apologies if it's not in the right forum.

We rent. With a horrendously lazy and incompetent agency. And from a lazy and incompetent landlord. I could fill a forum with the rubbish we've endured from both since we signed on with them.

Anyway, we fell behind with the rent for 2 months, husband's hours were cut drastically, some weeks he was lucky to bring home £100 from his usual £304 or so before the cut.

We didn't build any further arrears, we paid on time and in full and then an additional £200 on top to help clear the arrears in the meantime.

We were able to get the money together to pay the full arrears off a couple of months later, which we did but a short while later (long story, not really necessary to waffle on about here) the agency allowed another cheque to clear and passed it on to the landlord which put us in credit, as such, with the rent.

The agency KNEW 4 days before they passed it on that the landlord had been paid fully up to date and to not cash the other cheque, let alone pass it on.

Landlord knew he was not entitled to that extra money but obviously said nothing when he spoke to the agency the day before the agency sent the extra money over to him.

Now the agency say they are trying to get it back from the landlord but even though he claimed that he bank transferred it back to the agency on Friday, the agency say it's not in their bank today.

Where do we go from here? Is it a criminal matter that the landlord has money he is not entitled to and won't give it back or is it civil?

It's a stressful game of constant phone calls but with no result and no moving forward. Short of sitting in their office with 2 small children until they pay up, I'm out of ideas.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Premier_2

No it's not a criminal matter. It is a civil matter.

Give the LL/LA reasonable time to refund the overpayment, and if necessary start legal steps to recover it.

Wouldn't it be just simpler to deduct the overpayment from next months rent though, if a repayment is not forthcoming?

Don't stress yourself out about it - life's too short. I'm sure it'll be resolved soon.

Bakeybadoo

They full payment cleared 2 weeks ago. The over-payment 7 days ago.

And we are moving out on the 15th Feb and have paid already until then so no, we can't let him have the money towards another months rent.

I am stressed, it's not my money, it's my mother's and so it's imperative I get it back to her as at 62, she can't afford for some rip off landlord to basically steal it.

50plusabit

Send a letter to the agent and LL, stating you have paid up to the day your leave, the last cheque was an overpayment, and you request it be returned to you immediately. Your paid it to the agent, and therefore it is the agents problem if they forwarded it to the landlord, not yours.

alan153

get your landlords details from the estate agent. they should provide you with this.

then put together a decent letter to your landlord, keep it polite but firm. explaining the amount owed to you.
put towards the end of the letter that if it can't be resolved then you'll have to make the matter a legal one or take it to claims court. state that you'd rather not have to waste the time doing this and hope things can be resolved peacefully.

something like that in writing is usually enough to wake someone up if they're messing you about.

regardless of being in arrears in the past, you've sorted that out and it's not like you didn't pay rent on purpose. he's just as bad, if anything... worse, with what he's doing.


if he still doesn't get back to you after sending a letter, then you can move it to either a solicitor / small claims court.

ensure you keep a log of date/time of all calls, emails or letters, as this will prove very useful to your advantage if things ever become a legal matter.


wish you the best of luck,
alan

Premier_2

The LL claims to have sent it back to the LA on Friday.

If he sent it via normal credit transfer, it probably won't be with the LA until about Wednesday anyway. Don't stress.

alan153

50plusabit wrote: »

Your paid it to the agent, and therefore it is the agents problem if they forwarded it to the landlord, not yours.

yeah good point.

don't let the estate agents mess you about though, they're very crafty with trying to shift blame anywhere else than themselves.

and will more than likely say that they'll have to wait for funds to be returned from the landlord, which isn't really the case as it's their fault.

Sonofa

I've no experience of renting, so I'm not sure if this is how things work but don't you pay the letting agent and the letting agent (after deducting their fee) pays the landlord?

In which case why can't the letting agent reimburse you and wait for their money back from the landlord?

They must be a tin pot outfit if they can't. The initial fault was with them so they should be the ones moving quickest to put things right.

silvercar

Saying the letting agent should give the money back to you before getting it back from the landlord is like saying you should give the money back to your mother before being reimbursed. If you haven't got the money to do it, then you can't.

I am guessing that, with check out so near, the LL or LA is waiting to do a combined checkout and deposit return with the rent overpayment.

Bakeybadoo

To me, it's the agency's mistake as they knew 4 days before that they shouldn't make any further payment to the LL but did so. Therefore their priority should be to rectify their mistake any way they can. We shouldn't be without the money because they can't get it back from the LL.

They've had over a week already. Excuses is all we get. 'Oh we are waiting on the LL' or 'X isn't in the office and it's his case to sort' to 'I'll call you back...' It's ridiculous.

They should pay us and then *they* have the hassle of getting it back from the LL.

Oh and FTR, this isn't a small amount we're talking, nearly £800.

tbs624

I agree with Alan and 50plusabit. Get it in writing, and keep a copy for your own records - send recorded delivery, or hand deliver. I would list out in full the dates on which you have paid, showing clearly what was paid on time, how the arrears were cleared and the total amount paid by you over the period of the tenancy compared to the total amount actually due.

No-one letting property, whether as an LA or a self-managing LL should have such poor record keeping that they couldn't have picked up on this error at an early stage, nor be running so close to their own financial limits that they cannot afford to rectify the matter by reimbursing you promptly.

As you're not far moving out, did you pay a deposit at the start of the tenancy? If this was after April 6 2007 then your tenancy deposit should be scheme-registered & the scheme's "prescribed info" given to you - did the LA do this?

If you get nowhere then take copies of your letter & notes on when you have phoned/called in and ask your local Council's Tenancy Relations Officer ( there will be a team that deal only with private rentals) or a CAB adviser to help you.