Deposit not yet returned-we left property on 14 June 2009

polkadot

We stayed in our labst rental for a year. We found the property through a rental agency, but once we moved in they said they had nothing to do with the rest of it.
We were emailed a contract and negotiated a few points that we were not happy with.
The day we went to collect keys from agency they said they still didnt have them from LL-someone went to collect them. We asked about the signing and were told that he would visit with his copy for us to sign together.

He came by, did a walk through...no written inventory or signed contract.

When we moved out on the 14th of June 2009, he told my OH that he had four weeks to pay the deposit...he would be deducting a council removal fee to discard a rug which was worn, and a bathroom shelf which I had broken when I slipped in the shower. We hadnt replaced it yet as he said he wanted to see the damage first-but he never came before checkout. We agreed to a £50 deduction and OH gave him his bank details-again.

We have still not got our deposit back-what do we do now?

I've tried to keep it as brief as possible so if I've left anything out, please ask...I'm panicing.

DawnW

Areyou in Scotland? If in England or Wales your deposit should have been held in a government approved scheme. Was it/

polkadot

I'm in England. We never received any documentation so I assume not. We also never got a copy of a contract with his signature on it and I still have our copy with only our signatures on. We also never signed an inventory and he never had my oh sign a check out.

I've just drafted a letter to him edited from shelters template: letter requesting a breakdown of costs.

Should I post the contents (minus personal details) on here for review?

tbs624

polkadot wrote: »

I'm in England. We never received any documentation so I assume not. ..

Don't assume - before you send any letter you can check for yourself with each of the three schemes and get written confirmation from them, either way. See here.

If the LL hasn't scheme-registered the deposit you have a very strong bargaining tool

Don't worry too much about the actual contract: you presumably paid rent into the LLs bank account or by cheque and you had possession of the property so you clearly had a tenancy: the default is an AST in most circumstances. Do you have a receipt for your deposit?

If the deposit *was/is* scheme registered the LL still has to confirm all proposed deductions in writing to you and you can challenge them if you think you have valid grounds to do so.

The LL can only ask you to return the property in the same condition as when let, with an allowance for " fair wear and tear". Although that does not inlcude things like dmage or dirt it would cover a rug that had become worn due to usual usage. If th eLL didn't have an inventory signed by bothparties he woul d struggle to prove the property's condition.

So first step - check with each of the three schemes, then it's letter time

polkadot

Just looked on all three sites-cannot find any records for eLL, so I'm going to phone them at 09H00 just to be sure...should I ask for written confirmation? Is that something they do? We got a little post it note from him, but we paid it into a bank accout so I bank statements show the payment. Is that good enough?

princeofpounds

polkadot, you can phone them but always follow up in writing.

You don't need written confirmation from the LL, you need it from the schemes themselves and this should have been delivered to you within 14 days of paying the deposit.

It looks likely you will have to go to court to recover the deposit. You can also sue for a 3x penalty for not protecting the deposit. You should be writing a letter before action together with a completed moneyclaimonline form (not submitted until you want to go ahead) so they know you are serious.

Go to landlordzone forums and ask to be helped through the process.

polkadot

Thanks for all the replies. I have now contacted each scheme and it has been confirmed that no one has our deposit. I have emailed them all now as they requested so that they could confirm it in writing for me.
My OH is so stressed out about it. He has been phoning eLL now twice a day and his calls are not being answered. We used the overdraft to pay the deposit on the new place so he's not a happy pup. And even more upset with me because I'm calm-but I've told him we'd get help on the process step by step here. My fellow MSE'ers have never failed to have a solution for me:D

With regards to the moneyclaimonline form, I have drafted a first letter (can I post it minus personals for review?), but I've just checked our address details for him and the postal code is not complete (only has the first two letters and digit). I have checked Royal mail and it cannot find a post code to match the address :eek:.
And how many more times do we call before "accepting" that he probably has no intention of answering our calls, before we send the letter?

polkadot

Thought I would just update. I just called eLL from our new home phone number (which he would not have recognised), and he answered. He said "I'll be perfectly upfront and tell you I went away and forgot"!!!!?

He claims he will do a transfer today, and call me later to let me know it's done.

Bated breath?

tbs624

You never know - he may cough up

Note however - do *not * use Money Claim Online if you will be pursuing non -registration of the deposit. You want to be using Form N208

polkadot

I really hope so. But I had planned to go out this avvie and now I dont know if I want to risk it incase he phones and then claims he doesnt have our details (wich he does because I emailed them)

ETA: I'm having a hard time finding that form. Every hit I get for N208 says no documents found?

princeofpounds

Landlordzone forums people have all the forms etc., although there are probably people here who know where they are (I've never had to actually dig one up in person!).

Also, local court clerks can give procedural advice like obtaining forms.