landlords failure to return deposit without explanation

Kirasgran

Hi Everyone

I would be grateful for any advice or assistance you can give me. at the present moment I'm tearing my hair out with frustration.

Sequence of events is as follows

13th June - We vacated and returned keys to the letting agent on a property we had rented for 3years 10months

24th June - We received copy of the exit report. The only problems highlighted were items missing

25th June - Contacted letting agent to inform them the missing items had been removed by the landlord and his father-in-law in Dec 2005. Was informed they had been made aware of that by landlord and did not see any reason why the full deposit would not be returned.

3rd July - I text the landlord to ask his position re the deposit as we had still not received it. I received no response.

6th July - Contacted letting agent and was told deposit would be repaid that week. Landlord phoned and made vague references to missing curtains and said he would contact letting agent to sort things out.

7th July - Landlord again phoned and said he had an appointment with latting agent on Monday 13th July to sort things out

12th July - Phoned landlord to ask the time of his appointment as we felt the best was to sort things out was if we attended as well. He then said he wasn't going to letting agents but to the house. Claims the house was poorly decorated and and he had to give the new tenant one months free rent as a result.

17th July - Sent letter recorded delivery to landlord demanding return of the deposit within 7 days. Copy was also sent to letting agent.

We have had no correspondance from either the landlord or the letting agent since the 12th July and the deposit still hasn't been returned.

Is our only option to now go to the small claiims court? If that is the case any help or advice would be greatly appreciated

moromir

If you could first clarify things -

- Is there a written tenancy agreement signed by the Landlord and yourselves? Is it a fixed term Assured Shorthold Tenancy? Or a Statuory Periodic Tenancy (month to month( (there are some other types of tenancy but these are the most common)

- Was your deposit ever registered with a tenancy deposit scheme? If it was, you should have usually received some kind of certificate or letter confirming this, usually with a reference code with which to correspond with the scheme direct.

- Is there a written Inventory? (with photos?)

- Did you ever get it in writing that the Landlord removed those items? (inc curtains?)

- Regarding redecoration, did you carry out these works? Did you have written permission from the Landlord or his agent?

- You refer to both a Landlord and a Letting Agent, is the Letting Agent managing your let or did they simply find tenants for the Landlord? If they are managing the let, then you would probably be best to send all correspondence via them .

- If the agents are managing the let, find out if they are part of the Ombudsman, or other regulatory schemes such as ARLA.

Kirasgran

The letting agents were allegedly managing the property, although they wouldn't do anything without the landlords say so.

The tenancy was a short assured one.

There is a written inventory with photos and it was the letting agents who contacted the landlord to ask him to remove items left by his father-in-law, who used to live in the house. I have that in writing.

We did have written permission to decorate

moromir

Ok, in the letter with permission to decorate did the agent stipulate any conditions on behalf of the landlord? For example you might often see something along the lines of "the works must be carried out by a professional", or "the works must be carried out to a professional standard".

Additionally they may stiputate a colour or colour scheme (ie neutrals), I presume you didn't leave the place Tango orange for example.

They may also write something like "We take this opportunity to refer you to clause xx of your Tenancy Agreement which requires that the property is returned to its original state as determined by the Inventory of Contents" in which case if you haven't then they may have a point.

Although the Agents were managing the property, they would be correct in seeking the Landlord's permission before allowing you to make any alterations etc.

Was your deposit ever registered with a deposit scheme? I ask because these schemes often require the Agent to have informed you in writing in x amount of days if there is any reason why they may be making deductions from the deposit, EVEN if they havent had "the final word" from the Landlord as to whether this will be the case.

princeofpounds

Without any real reply you are just speculating on what they may or may not want to deduct. Force their hand.

Write to LL saying it has been x weeks since end of tenancy and no significant information on return of deposit.

Say that you believe it has been a reasonable amount of time to assess the condition of the house and that if it is not returned within x days then you will take steps to recover it. I.e...

If you are protected, raise a dispute with the scheme and it will go to arbitration.

If not, then attach a small claims court form (moneyclaimonline) completed but not submitted so they know you are serious about taking them to court to recover the deposit.

If you were not protected but should have been, use an N208 form instead of moneyclaimonline so you can also claim for the 3x penalty.

If they want to hold onto your deposit you WILL have to use one of these methods to get it back at some point. The only question is at which point you turn from nice negotiation to serious tenant. I think 4 weeks is about right but that's your personal judgment.

Kirasgran

Funny you should mention tango orange because the living and dining rooms weren't far off that colour when we moved in. Yuk Additionally whoever painted them painted round the curtains.

We painted them duckegg blue.

The bedrooms were magnolia and still magnolia when we left. We gave them a fresh coat of paint simply because underneath the magnolia emulsion was red, purple and flourescent green vinyl silk and when we tried to wash the walls with sugar soap it was washing the emulsion off, so mindful of the fact our deposit depended on it, we gave them a fresh coat of paint.

The inventory states that all the walls in the house were marked before we moved in. No conditions were imposed with regard to the decoration.

I don't now if the deposit was registered with deposit scheme, if it was we were never told.

My main point is, if the landlord feels he has a valid reason to withold our deposit, why doesn't he say so and give us a chance to address his grievances. As it is we have had no communication from either the landlord or the letting agents

Kirasgran

princeofpounds I've already written to him but I got no response and as previously stated I don't know if the deposit was registered or even if it should have been

moromir

If you have signed an assured shorthold tenancy agreement since I believe, April 2007, the Landlord (or his agent) is required to register the deposit with a deposit scheme.

If you have signed above agreement since this time, and either your deposit was registered and you have not been provided with the scheme details, or the deposit was not registered then the Landlord (and his agent) are in breach of a fair few regulations and I would have thought getting your deposit back via the court route would be fairly straight forward (I'm sure there is someone much more knowledgeable that can give you details on that).

princeofpounds

I don't now if the deposit was registered with deposit scheme, if it was we were never told.

If your tenancy was renewed after 6 April last year at any point and rent is not >£25k a year and you live in England/Wales, then it should be.

Web address below will tell you details of the three schemes. Ring and they can tell you if you are in there. If not, you can take your LL to court for the deposit and 3x penalty (although courts are allowing some LL to escape this if they protect deposit retroactively).

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/index.htm

Kirasgran

The last tenancy agreement we signed was in November 2007, we refused to sign any after that date because the letting agents were trying to charge us a fee for doing so.

I live in Scotland though, does the same scheme apply here?

princeofpounds

I live in Scotland though,

Ah.

That's pretty critical given it's an entirely different law system.

I know that legislation has been passed that allows the Scots to introduce a system but I think they were still debating what to do as of May. So you will have to do the small claims court route then, or whatever the Scottish equivalent it.