Dispute with Landlord over deposit - any advice appreciated

DVardysShadow

georgehealy wrote: »

Fire Fox - does using the word 'theft' resemble inflatatory language? It is theft when he fails to return monies which are not is (i.e. not related to the deposit).

Perhaps your NI connection causes you to classify it as theft. I would classify it as misappropriation. Firefox is right, avoid language like theft and misappropriation - there are circumstances where it is right for LL to be able to keep the deposit. Your job is to demonstrate that his grounds to keep the deposit are wrong. It is better to do that by force of logic and argument concerning his grounds than to start off from the premise that it is theft, where implicitly you are denying the possibility that a Landlord could have grounds to retain a deposit. Keep it professional.

Jowo_2

Theft is a criminal act - the police intervene. Failure to return a deposit is a contractual dispute and is civil law - up to the claimant to take them to the small claims court.

clutton_2

so what exact date did your last contract start and how many months does your contract specify as the fixed period ?

georgehealy

Hi All,

I think there is some confusion relating to my issues.

When I refer to 'theft', I am not referring to the deposit; I'm referring to the Landlord's refusal to return my girlfriend's Standing Order which was sent in error at the start of the month (my girlfriend did forgot to cancel this). She informed the bank and the landlord of this, and he REFUSED to return this IN ADDITION to the deposit.

clutton_2

george please tell us the dates and fixed period of your last tenancy agreement..... until we know that, we dont know if the LL may be entitled to that last S/O rent amount

georgehealy

20 August - 31 December

neas

If he hasnt protected it.. i'd fine him for 3x the deposit.... as he seems a jackass.. for keeping 1800 pounds for a broken lampshade and a missing mattress cover (some 20 pounds in items).

marcowil

I'm sure someone will correct me but afaik there is no deposit protection scheme in place (yet) in Northern Ireland

clutton_2

as long as you were paying the rent when due (and not on benefits when rent is paid in arrears) then he may not be entitled to keep the rent paid on January 1st.


However, usually ASTs run from the same date in the month to the same date in the next month.. your agreement dates are quite unusual...

Did you sign the first agreement on the 20th of the month ?

i think we would need to see a schedule of your payments and payment dates to really ascertain whether he thinks he is owed more rent, or, if you should have paid more or less.....

AlwaysWorking

marcowil wrote: »

I'm sure someone will correct me but afaik there is no deposit protection scheme in place (yet) in Northern Ireland

This is true unfortunately.