End of tenancy issues/Deposit return

midnghtaction

Hello

I am looking for little bit of advice regarding what I should do when moving out of my rented house this Thursday. This might be a little bit of a long post so apologies in advance about that.

I rented my house last October through a letting agent but since then the house has been managed by the landlord himself. The letting agent did the inventory, wrote up the tennancy agreement and took my deposit but they then past my deposit to my landlord.

Within the first month of being there I had heard nothing from any deposit protection scheme so I contacted my landlord several times who said he had been busy and he would get around to it. This was the first sign that things were obviously not right.

All of the landlords post got sent to my rented house , I am talking 3 or 4 letters a day so it wasn't as if he just forgot to have some redirected it was obvious that he was still using the house as his official address. I contacted him and he said that he just had not got around to sorting it but would do it soon but in the mean time could I just drop it off at his business address for him, which I did. Despite this is kept coming, including several letters at least one a week from his mortgage company. I was concerned about what was going on so I opened one of the letters. You can crucify me for doing this if you like, I know it was wrong but I was worried that I was going to get thrown out on the streets by the mortgage company so I did what I thought would help me at the time. I am glad I did though because the letter stated he was 6 months in arrears and they were going to start legal proceedings. Since then I have also had baylifs come to my door due to debts he has elsewhere.

Due to the mortgage arrears, possible repossesion, debt collectors,the obvious issue that my landlord had not gained consent from his mortgage company to let the property and my deposit not being in a deposit protection scheme, I decided that I wanted out of the property and to move elsewhere.

I waited until the end of my tennancy to do this, despite being constantly worried about more baylifs coming around or being flung out. I have found somewhere else to live and as soon as I did I sent my landlord a letter stating that it was my intention to move out of the property and I was giving him 6 weeks notice as I wanted to give him as much time as possible (I think I was being more than generous here ). I will add that I have no home address for my landlord only a business address as he refuses to give me a home address. Anyway 2 days later I got a text saying that was all fine.

The first letter I sent was quite informal, more of a heads up that I was leaving so then I sent an official end of tennancy letter giving my official 4 weeks notice. In the letter I asked for written confirmation of the reciept of the letter and a date for him coming to the property to do the final inventory and return my deposit.

No letter came so I tried to contact my landlord, no response for about a week and then I get a text saying have been very busy and unable to respond to you, will sort something with you nearer the time.

Since then I have bee trying to contact him to official sort things out and try and get something in writing but he is not replying to any messages left or texts sent and now I am really worried.

I am moving into my new property on Thursday and I am not entirely sure what I am supposed to do about the old property, I guess my major concern is how do I prove I have given my 4 weeks notice , I have sent the letter of which I have a copy (wish I had sent it recorded delivery now but just didn't think!) but other than that what proof do I really have.

It would appear my landlord has done a runner or is buring his head in the sand, I guess with a repossesion of the property a possibility he just doesn't want anything more to do with it , but that doesn't help me.

I am thinking of doing the following things, but I was wondering if there is anything else anyone would suggest that would help.

1. Writing a further letter tomorrow stating that I will be moving out on Thursday as per my previous 2 letters and asking him to please contact me to sort this out. I will send this recorded delivery.

2. I intend to take a photo of every inch of the property so that I have proof of no damage and that the property is in the state it was when I moved in

3. Arrange for an independant person to visit the property on moving out day so I have a witness of the property as well as the photos

4. Not return the keys to the landlord.

I am so worried that I am not going to get my deposit back, it is a £1000 and I really need that money to pay for the deposit on my new place, so I want to make sure that I do every single thing right so that if I have to go to court I have everything right so nothing can be disputed.

Sorry for such a long post, I do apreciate you taking the time to read this and I hope someone here can give me some guidance.

Thanks

mids xx

real1314

1. Sensible

2. Sensible.

3. Who will the independant person be? Will their view have any value?

4. If you don't return the keys, you won't have ended your tenancy.

PasturesNew

5. You wouldn't get the £1000 back immediately from any landlord. It can take a few weeks to get back even if everything's fine

midnghtaction

No your probably right an independant persons view will probably have no value but I just thought having a witness to the properties condition might help me, maybe not though.

Thanks for the info regarding giving the keys back, but I am kind of unsure where to send the keys to if my landlord doesn't seem to be around

As for getting the deposit back, I am aware I wouldn't get it back straight away, and I didn't word my first post correctly what I mean is I need the deposit back to pay on my credit card to cover the new deposit that I have already paid

mids x

clutton_2

contact all three deposit schemes to see if he has lodged it with any of them.

if he has not - then i think you must be prepared to write it off - he cannot pay the mortgage on your home - he will have spent your deposit by now

real1314

midnghtaction wrote: »

No your probably right an independant persons view will probably have no value but I just thought having a witness to the properties condition might help me, maybe not though.

Thanks for the info regarding giving the keys back, but I am kind of unsure where to send the keys to if my landlord doesn't seem to be around

As for getting the deposit back, I am aware I wouldn't get it back straight away, and I didn't word my first post correctly what I mean is I need the deposit back to pay on my credit card to cover the new deposit that I have already paid

mids x

Have a newspaper with you when you do the photos and include it in shot so the headline can be read - that will establish the date the photos were taken, preventing any claim that they are old photos.