Rent Deposit - Landlord making me a bit nervy!

MercilessKiller

Hi there.

I've been renting for my final year of University. I paid a deposit of just under £300 when we moved in. We all paid it in cash as requested from the landlord.

None of us have/had been given any information regarding to how it's stored, or what will happen with it etc....

I moved out a month ago unofficially. Just been living at my girlfriends, though officially move out in a few weeks. Landlord knows this. However, he emailed me regarding some sort of ridiculous mess left by one other housemate who has stayed. He's told us money will be taken from our deposits to pay for this, however he won't disclose how much, and simply said he'd return "the rest" to us by bank transfer.

No timeline has been provided so everythings quite ambiguous. Before I go into more detail with him and confirm everything, I'm just wondering what you all make of this situation.

I definitely don't mind losing £20 of the deposit or something like that, but when I moved in, my room was hurrendous, which took many hours (and buying a lot of cleaning products) to get it up to scratch!!!! Now I may have to fork out for someone elses mess, and what's worse I have no idea how much or when I'll get my deposit back!

I also read somewhere that landlords are meant to provide information of where the deposits held so I was wondering if everything I've described is all above board etc...

I'm not trying to get out of paying for something, but just want to make sure it is indeed all above board, as the landlord has done many things I know aren't, such as coming in to pick up his mail without warning us, and also bringing people round to see the place coming into our rooms, once again with no warning.

Thanks guys.

clutton_2

when did you move in and did you sign an inventory ?

MercilessKiller

Moved in september 2008 (contracted till July 2009) and I signed a contract which had no mention of specific inventory items no.

Addition: He's also a registered landlord with the uni's accomodation site

Lokolo

This year my landlord held it in Deposit Scheme which I was very happy with.

However the landlord who I am moving in with next year, when I questioned where the £1400 deposit is being held, he replied "In a seperate bank account", which I was very suspicious about. Still am.

Have you asked the other housemate how much mess he left behind?

If he caused it then you can keep the rest and not give any back to them. And I would also ask the landlord for receipts for cleaning.

BitterAndTwisted

The "ridiculous mess" can't be held against you or the cost of clearing it deducted from your deposits if you haven't officially ended your tenancy yet. You need to get back in there and clean it up. This landlord sounds like an amateur; he has no right to enter the premises without giving you 24 hours notice in writing and you're not obliged to give him permission if it's massively inconvenient. Did you get a receipt for your deposits? Was there an inventory and a description of the state of the place when you took it on?

MercilessKiller

There was no inventory or description of the state no. He was very apologetic AFTER my parents and I had to clean it all up..

He simply wrote on the contract that I signed that I paid a £280 deposit and said that would do as a receipt.

As far as I can tell from talking to the otehr housemate, he's referring to the upstairs bathroom (which I don't use because I have a downstairs room with it's own kind of bathroom which is clean). I don't think anyone has cleaned the upstairs bathroom at all during the year so as you can imagine, doesn't sound nice, but I've never seen it and aren't at the property at the moment so can't check.

Also I believe the guy has held some parties, so lots of drink bottles/cans everywhere with the mess that comes with it.. dirty plates, etc...

Finally no floors have been hoovered during the year. This is because the hoover he provided broke very early on. We notified him and though he said he'd replace it, it never happened and no one chased it up.

Thanks guys.

MercilessKiller

On a side note the contract says:

"Permit the Landlord or the Landlord’s Agents at reasonable hours in the daytime to enter the Property to view the state and condition thereof and to carry out any works of maintenance or repair to the premises or elsewhere, which the Landlord may consider necessary."

Which seems like a get around for the 24 hour law?

also found:

"Refund of deposit will only be given when the house is left in the condition it was at the start of the contract"

BitterAndTwisted

The state of the upstairs bathroom is yours and your flatmate's responsibility so you need to get in there and clean everything up. Just because the vacuum cleaner broke will not be justification for leaving an appalling mess. This will give him justification to withhold all of the deposit, if he has to get professional cleaners in. Even if he cleans it up himself he'll come up with receipts for the whole of the deposit. Was your deposit held in one of the registered schemes? It's compulsory now, not a choice

Why didn't query the receipt acknowledging payment of £280 when you paid £300?

MercilessKiller

As said in the original post, I have not been provided any information about where the deposit is held apart from "it will be kept safe" or something as I handed over the cash.

The deposit was for £280, in my origianl post I said "Just under £300" Sorry about that!

becky_rtw

Pfft your LL sounds like an idiot, there no get around for 'the right to quiet enjoyment' whatever they put in the contract - its an unfair term and you should tell them so...

Also they should protected your deposit by law and informed you within 14 days where it was held - google tps and call shelter - it may be that they wont be able to make any deductions because your deposit hasnt been held in a scheme...you should get on this now while you are still a tenant - write to them requesting the required information from the scheme the deposit is held in and inform them that if they've failed to register it then you'll take them to court for this - it may be they'll just cough up anyway to save the hassle.

But you should still clean the place in my opinion...get all housemates together and go and do it or pay a cleaning firm to come in and then do the formal check out with the LL if you can!

BitterAndTwisted

Speak to your Uni's accommodation service, soon. But in the meantime you must clean the place up. Just because the mess was made by someone else does not mean that you are not responsible for it. There's likely to be an "individually and severally" clause in the agreement somewhere.