Moving out and the lanlord is being unhelpful on our deposit - any suggestions?

Daddyo

Hi everyone,

My GF and I are moving out of our flat this weekend and we have made the call to the landlord about getting our deposit back.

We move into our new place Friday 1st May and the agreement on our flat expires on Monday 4th May. We have asked if he can come round ahead of Friday so he can say to the estate agents they can release our deposit so it can go towards the new place.

My GF has spoken to him this morning and said that he'd need to see the flat with no furniture in it - reasonable I guess as that would be when we've moved out - but then said that the people in another of the flats have painted their flat ahead of moving out!

The daft thing is that he offered to paint our flat whilst we were on holiday but never did in the end, but he painted the flat downstairs twice since we've been there!

Whats the general rule of thumb on repairs before you leave? I appreciate that fair wear and tear is allowed but what does that constitute? Is it down to personal interpretation?

On another point he said that there was someone who wanted to move in on Saturday - ie whilst its still our lease! Thats cheeky in itself, but it follows that someone has been around our flat to come to that decision - and thats without our knowledge!

Any help, advice or comments on the above would be gratefully received,

Many thanks,

Steve.

princeofpounds

You've got a few distinct issues here, and probably more will pop up as the landlord sounds like something of an amateur, or at the least not very professional.

We have asked if he can come round ahead of Friday so he can say to the estate agents they can release our deposit so it can go towards the new place.

Totally up to him. Your tenancy ends when the tenancy ends, he has no obligation to accept early surrender if it does not suit him.

people in another of the flats have painted their flat ahead of moving out

You have no obligation to do any painting or pay for any painting unless you damaged the paintwork. Fair wear and tear is by necessity somewhat subjective, but whilst the odd grey scuffmark is nothing to be worried about, a huge red wine stain might be.

The deposit arbitration people will adjudicate this (or a court). Is your deposit appropriately protected?

You should not expect to get your deposit back on anything except a reasonable timescale, which is a couple of weeks max. It is not to suit your schedule but to compensate for damages.

there was someone who wanted to move in on Saturday

Outright refuse unless he accepts, IN WRITING, early surrender and processes the check-out, again with a copy IN WRITING.

He cannot have it both ways. Either it is still your property, or he has accepted surrender.

someone has been around our flat to come to that decision - and thats without our knowledge

Unfortunately, nothing you can do except change the lock barrel to stop it happening again unless they caused any damage. This is only a civil and not a criminal offence, so you would have to prove loss to get a penalty. And given you are only there a couple more days is changing locks really worth it?

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I strongly recommend the following course of action.

1) Check your deposit is protected with one of the three main schemes.

2) Confirm all agreements with the landlord in writing.

3) Conduct your own checkout on departure and/or ben present when his checkout is being conducted. Take photos and print them with date stamps that day, or get landlord to countersign them.

Daddyo

Many thanks for that. Hopefully it will go okay. You are right that its up to him on the releasing it early - we were hoping for a result as we've been model tennants :A but looks like that wont be the case.

When we moved in it was through an estate agent and we were dealing direct with landlord for day to day issues. He ditched the estate agent so now we are dealing with him for everything. The bond is secured via the estate agent.

tbs624

princeofpounds wrote: »

You have no obligation to do any painting or pay for any painting unless you damaged the paintwork. Fair wear and tear is by necessity somewhat subjective, but whilst the odd grey scuffmark is nothing to be worried about, a huge red wine stain might be. ..

..provided that the LL had a signed inventory completed at the start and can adequately demonstrate the original condition of the property.

OP you say that the deposit is "secured with the EA" - have you actually had confirmation that it has been scheme-registered? See here.

Agree with Princeofpounds on getting written confirmation of early surrender. Strictly speaking, you could ask for a pro-rata refund of your rent if the LL is moving someone else in early