Rent Deposit - Landlord making me a bit nervy!

tbs624

GrammarGirl wrote: »

Sounds like a contract written by someone who knows nothing about the law, renting... or the English language in general! Damage by fire expected? Yield up the property? Make good pay for the repair or replace all such items?! My God!

The wording is actually pretty standard AST legalese: there are however far simpler versions endorsed by the Plain English Campaign. You have misread the fire bit, it's excepted not expected!:D Essentially the T must hand the property back to the LL in the same condition as when let out, save for fair wear and tear, and any damage caused by fire, which shoould be covered under insurances.

tbs624

becky_rtw wrote: »

Call shelter and deal in letter ONLY sent recorded delivery to his address as on the contract - that way if it goes to court you'll have a paper trail, I dont think email is really seen a sufficient tbh (although others may disagree)

The courts will accept emails, but I would agree that snail mail is always useful, esp. when sent RD.

becky_rtw wrote: »

(I just want to check that you dont let directly from your uni i.e. they are not your ultimate LL as then dps doesnt apply!)

Just for clarification it depends on the type of let - if it's a halls of residence let directly by the Uni then they are not let under an AST, so you would be right that the deposit protection regs don't apply. However, if the Uni sub contracts the halls out to a private company they may use ASTs and if the Uni lets any other properties, ie a house, and uses an AST then the deposit regs *will* apply.

tbs624

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

..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.

Worth mentioning on student properties that if the property is an HMO and the T's were on individual contracts then the LL may access the communal areas: the T's only have exclusive rights over their individual rooms.

tbs624

MK- is this LL signed up to either Unipol's code of conduct or the local LL accreditation scheme?

Your Uni Accomms officer should be able to help you - if the LL is listed via them then he should be complying with some form of minimum standards. The trouble is that if Ts don't let the accomms office know when a LL behaves wrongly then it makes their job that much harder.

As Sooz says, one of the LL associations has suggested a possible way for LLs to circumvent the tenancy deposit regs but AFIAA it has yet to be tested through the courts so I reckon that there will be some LLs who end up getting slapped with that 3x deposit amount penalty. If your LL has made reference to money being returned to you in full or in part ,then that money ain't advance rent it's a tenancy deposit.

You need to return this property in the same condition as let to you, fair wear & tear excepted ,but note that FW&T does not include dirt or damage. ( I note that you say it was in a state at the start so just make sure that you don't leave it any worse.) For future tenancies take photos both at the start & the end of the tenancy, of everything, including meter readings. You haven't mentioned whether you are all signed up to the one contract for the whole property, but if you are , you should be aware that this means that are all jointly and severally liable, so a mess in someone else's room does become your problem unfortunately.

Contact each of the three tenancy deposit schemes - link here- and get them to confirm via email that no deposit has been registered to date.

If you are currently in Leeds could take your tenancy paperwork up to the Harehills & Chapeltown Law Centre on Roundhay Rd and get them to check it all through *before* you make any decisions on non -payment of rent.

MercilessKiller

Thanks for the advice

I have no idea if he's signed up to unipol's code of conduct? At least I've never heard of it!

I've emailed the uni accomodatoin office will all the information and also already emailed him informing that as the "deposit" is "advanced rent" as such, I'll cacncel my last months direct debit haha. See what he says back to that first.

We all have seperate contracts but the mess I *think* he was referring to is in the upstairs bathroom. What's annoying is there is a downstairs bathroom which is kind of my own, which is spotless. But of course the landlord cares not. I also believe (haven't seen the mess itself as I'm not there now) that the mess is to do with toilet, sink and floor not being cleaned.... So no damage at all but just needs a good clean.

Anyway I don't want to exactly "sue" him as I haven't made a loss. I just want to make sure I don't get stung by him, so if I'm within my rights to withdraw my last months payment based on his last email, I'd rather do that!

GrammarGirl

tbs624 wrote: »

The wording is actually pretty standard AST legalese: there are however far simpler versions endorsed by the Plain English Campaign. You have misread the fire bit, it's excepted not expected!:D Essentially the T must hand the property back to the LL in the same condition as when let out, save for fair wear and tear, and any damage caused by fire, which shoould be covered under insurances.

Heh heh, so I have! I thought it was rather strange to expect fire damage!

I hate legalese - I've been on two Plain English courses and find them so refreshing. Some of the examples I've seen (lawyers are the worst offenders) are terrible and terrifying in equal measures.

Legally binding contracts should be simple, direct and clear. All this twisted language is designed (in my opinion) to confuse the person into signing quickly without fully understanding what they're signing for!

Anyway. To the above poster looking for decent accommodation in Leeds, try Parklane Properties - they're really good for student and professional letting.

MercilessKiller

Been using sparerooms, seeing a few more places this week while I'm in Leeds for work.

Landlord still not replied - Think I should cancel my standing order then? heh

50plusabit

Cancel your s/o definatly, if the LL starts shouting about it, then you can say that you did not have clarification of the situation from him.
Also he says that he witholds the money for utilities, if your names are on the utility accounts, then they are your responsibility NOT his. I would advise you to take all readings when you all move out, and give these to the companies immediatly. Even if they are in LL name take readings and if he pays from your deposit, as for the readings to compare.

MercilessKiller

The bills are indeed in the landlords name but all come to the house first. It's really strange as the landlord gets a LOT of mail addressed to him. I mean a lot more than usual, with "private" "confidential" and even official court documents (written on the front) addressed to him!!! Piles and piles of banking mail too. Then he comes round every now and then to pick them up (with no warning ofc...)

Anyway its all with British Gas. Would I have to open the mail to get some sort of account number as I believe that's illegal? If so how would I give the utility company the readings? One thing I might do is get a reading WITH the landlord and kind of write a receipt with the readings on, signed by the landlord and myself...

So yeh I'll cancel my standing order this week then. It's due to come out on the 1st so I'll give him this working week to respond and if not, then will assume it's fine as he hasn't said otherwise.

I'm still fuming that people like this can do such bad jobs in their area? I don't know about anyone else, but whatever job I'm doing I try to make sure I understand it all and don't break laws/mess people around etc... This guy just seems to not care?

tbs624

MercilessKiller wrote: »

The bills are indeed in the landlords name but all come to the house first. It's really strange as the landlord gets a LOT of mail addressed to him. I mean a lot more than usual, with "private" "confidential" and even official court documents (written on the front) addressed to him!!! Piles and piles of banking mail too. Then he comes round every now and then to pick them up (with no warning ofc...)

So you paid in cash at the start, he doesn't want to use tenancy deposit schemes and all his mail seems to come to the property? Sounds very like an amateur LL who has not sought consent to let from his mortgage lender, and probably doesn't declare his rental income to HMRC. Both could be useful bargaining tools if you need them but do let the Uni accoms office know about his "business practices.