Foxtons - Deposit

ritchieS

Hi,

We recently moved out of a property we were renting from Foxtons. They have deducted money from our deposit for rent and items missing from inventory.

They did not inform us they were going to deduct these, they simply repaid the deposit minus the money.

We moved out early to allow a new tenant, which they had found, to move in early, and the told us we would not be charge additional rent for moving out early.

We also did not sign the inventory when we moved in and they did not allow us to see the inventory after we moved out or allow us to replace the missing items our self.

Can you tell me if they have broken any law by not informing us of deductions before refunding our deposit?

Thanks

princeofpounds

Can you tell me if they have broken any law by not informing us of deductions before refunding our deposit?

When did you move in?

What is the annual rent?

Was your deposit protected in one of the three official schemes?

Foxtons is not your landlord, merely his/her agent. You landlord is ultimately responsible for this, not Foxtons (although they might 'facilititate' the whole mess).

ritchieS

Moved in August 2008.

Annual rent would be around the figure of £21240

Can only imagine that it would have been protected. Would be suprised if it wasn't

Foxtons managed the property but you are correct in saying they are not the landlord

ritchieS

Any further info on this please?

rich010273

Read this link, may help answer your queries:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/DG_066373

ritchieS

Thanks. I have read a lot of that but it doesn't say anything about if the landlord or agency are in breach of any laws if they have not given us time to raise a dispute.

FoxtonsRIP

ritchieS wrote: »

Hi,

We recently moved out of a property we were renting from Foxtons. They have deducted money from our deposit for rent and items missing from inventory.

They did not inform us they were going to deduct these, they simply repaid the deposit minus the money.
s

That's Foxtons for you. Crooked from start to finish.

clutton_2

this is most odd..... the Tenancy Deposit Schemes came into force in April last year, so Foxtons should have used one of the 3 schemes -

suggestyou check with www.DepositProtectionSeRvice.co.uk and www.Mydeposits.co.uk (i cannot recall the third one - someone else will be along to tell you)

You can check if your deposit was protected.

If it was not - Foxtons have commited a criminal offence.

Even if it was protected, the fact that you did not sign any inventory on moving in, must surely mean that Foxtons cannot deduct ANY repairs money from the deposit as there is no mutually agreed/evidenced statement of the condition of the property on moving in - and similarly on moving out.

Sounds ot me like Foxtons have forgotten to protect your deposit and are hoping you will not know your rights.

Under the terms of the 2004 Housing Act both LLs & LAs who fail to protect deposits are liable to be taken to court and fined 3 times the amount of the deposit - this fine goes to the tenant

May i suggest you read on www.landlordzone.co.uk where there are some fiercesomely accurate legal brains who post on there to help such tenants and landlords

but do check ALL your paperwork for any mention of a TDS (TEnancy deposit scheme) first


How much have they deducted in total and how much was the deposit ?
bw

adg1

Firstly, how much was taken from your deposit, in total?

Secondly, Foxtons are too well known and infamous to make a mistake like not protecting your deposit. Check your contract as there will be an entire section dedicated to your deposit and the reasons that money can be deducted without warning. Check these and see if any of these ring true for your case.

You say you left early, have you broken your tenancy early for any reason? Maybe not in accordance with a break clause/natural termination? If so, there are costs associated. Or did you simply leave a week early at the end to facilitate the move of someone else in to the property?

Give us a bit more back ground on the situation and I will try to help you.

ritchieS

OK. Thanks for all your great help so far.

I have dug out the contract and found out which company the deposit should have been registered with (TDSL)

In clause 17.1 of the contract states that "Certification confirming the registered deposit shall be provided to the Tenant"

We did not receive this confirmation

Clause 17.2 states "Upon receiving written agreement from the tenant at the end of the Tenancy, the Landlord is entitled to deduct from the sum held as the Deposit"

We did not receive any written confirmation

Clause 17.3 states "The Landlord shall provide the Tenant with written notice of itemised amounts to be deducted from the Deposit"

We did not receive this either

In answer to the question why we moved out early

Foxton new we were going to move out at the end of our contract but they found another tenant who wanted to move in before the end of the contract so we agreed (at ver short notice) to move out early in order to allow the new tenant to move in. We were told we would not be charged extra rent.

They have in fact charged us from the date we moved out until the end of the month (27th-31th) we works out at nearly £200 quid

adg1

Righty.

With regards to providing the info, have you provided a forwarding address post-check out? In my experience of EA, they will print standard letters straight from a computer, probably listing the address of the house you lived in. My recommendation here is to ring the Foxtons tenancy department and request a copy of your check in, your check out and the inventory. Also ask for the written confirmation the landlord sent to them regarding the deductions.

Foxtons should have written to you at the start of the tenancy with details of your deposit - with mydeposits.co.uk you can log in and 'see' your money sat there. This you could have obtained at any point throughout the tenancy with a phone call. Did you read the TA when you were signing it? You'd have been aware of the TDSL section and also the check-out and deduction procedure had you checked you contract.

The landlord should have written/emailed to Foxtons to release your deposit (not sure of the exact protocol here) minus any deductions that came to light in the check out. As Foxtons are the managing agent in this case, they should have details of what you have been charged easily available to them - call them in the morning and speak to you property manager.

With regards to the rent, if it was paid by standing order then this would have left your account 1 month and 3 days prior to the official end of the tenancy. This would mean that you have paid up to the end date of the contract, not to the date when you actually moved to allow this other person to move in. Check your account for the last standing order, and I bet it will be the same value as you have been paying all year. If you moved out early at their request then they will refund you the rent but you have to ask for it.

Call Foxtons and request a list of deductions that have been made from your deposit, sent in writing, or scan-emailed to you directly for speed. Get them to send you the inventory, check in and check out and compare them to the deductions. If something seems amiss, then you are well within (I assume) the 90 day limit to log a dispute with the TDSL - tell Foxtons that you are disputing the deductions and the dispute sequence will begin!

I would be very surprised if there was an error in the deductions they have made as they have just taken the money without informing you and they'd have to be pretty sure about them, but at least then you would know the answers.

When you have the list of deductions and check in/out reports, read back through your contract and see what things are listed that they can take money from your deposit for without informing you - I've had a clause about unpaid utility accounts for example before in a contract for one of my flats.