Just moved out, deposit not in scheme - need advice

gothmaz

Hi

I have posted on here before about the numerous problems I have had in the past with my landlord and the property I was renting from her. If you want some background, I think you can look at my previous posts? Or if anyone would like I can link threads here?

Edited to add links....
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2218913&highlight=


My landlord had admitted to me back in December 2009 that my deposit had not been put in a scheme. She has made no effort since that date to put it in one either. My one year lease expired on 3rd March 2010 and we agreed between us to extend for one month and agreed to move out on 3rd April 2010. She kept asking me to stay on for longer (I'm assuming as she didn't have my deposit to return) I told her in no uncertain terms that I was very unhappy about all the work that wasn't done and the way she has conducted herself (with regards to 5 weeks of no heating over xmas and new year plus carbon monoxide leak) and that I needed my deposit back before I moved out so I could put it down on another property. If she did this I would not proceed with court action for not protecting my deposit. She assured me - on a number of occasions that she would give it back to me early. This was back in February.

She arranged to come and see me on a number of occasions to discuss the issues but each time I was left sitting in ALL day waiting for her and she never arrived. I would only find out she wasn't coming when I decided to call her to see where she was. This happened 3 times in February alone. After all of this, I began to get worried about her commitment to paying the deposit back early, so after some advice on another forum I decided to call her and tell her that I would be witholding my last months rent to cover my deposit. Well she went absolutely ballistic on the phone, I said if she didn't accept that I would file court papers. Eventually, the situation calmed and I pushed her for a date to pay my deposit back IF I paid the rent. She told me 20th March as she got paid 19th March - yet more proof she no longer had my deposit.

When I got off the phone I was in floods of tears. If we didn't get the money back early I didn't have a deposit for a new place to move into when I left that one. I have 2 children and my partner has only just gone back to work after long term sick. I honestly felt like I was having a nervous breakdown. I spoke to my mum and she said that maybe I should try and stay there for 6 more months to get the deposit together again. So out of desperation I called the landlady and she was obviously ok to do this as she couldn't find new tenants and her mortgage was being paid and she had wanted us to do this anyhow. She insisted I pay an additional £100 a month but she was looking for more than that (she has the house advertised for £300pcm more than we currently pay). So because I told her I wouldn't pay more, she agreed to 3 months, instead of 6. She then proceeded to tell me that she felt there were creases in the dining room chairs, that the back door was quite stiff, so my partner was clearly using it too much to go outside to smoke and a number of other things. Well after this conversation I was almost hysterical. I lay awake all night thinking that agreeing to a few more months was possibly the worst thing I had ever done. The pain in my chest was so bad I thought I was having a heart attack...but it was clearly just stress. My mum saw what a mess I was in and said I should come stay with them till I get straight - they weren't in a position to give me a deposit, so it was nice of them to offer us this, but unsettling and disruptive for my autistic son.
So the next morning I called her back and said I shouldn't have agreed so hastily to the 3 months instead of 6 (purely an excuse to get out it on my part) and that after discussing with my family it would be easier to go on 3rd April as originally agreed. She said ok that was fine. she asked me what would happen if I didn't find a property in time, would I need to extend and I said no, worst case I can stay with my parents.

Against my better judgement and for a quiet life I paid the final months rent. 20th March came and went and no deposit returned, which I wasn't surprised about. A week before I moved out, we got a visit from a baliff on her behalf, threatening to remove our goods for unpaid council tax from before we moved in (when she was between tenants). We started packing up immediately. I called landlady, left her a message about baliff and asked about my deposit and the agreement to return it early and had no response.

We started to move out on Thursday 1st April. On this day she finally called me back. I asked about deposit, she said she thought I'd said I was going to my mums, I said no I said worst case I would - but that I am now as I didn't get my deposit back early. She said she'd be down to look at the house on Saturday 3rd at some point and would call me, then estate agent was going to come in on Tuesday or Wednesday to give it a once over. I said ok.

We moved out Thursday 1st, on Friday 2nd I paid £150 for a team of cleaners to come in and do a deep clean of everything, the place is immaculate. A hell of alot better than when I moved in! Saturday came and went and no call from landlady. So this morning I called the agent. He said he was planning to go in but had asked the landlady to ask us to drop the key in to him so he could get in. She didn't ask us, infact I told her on the phone I'd leave them in the kitchen drawer, which I did. so now he says he won't be going in, she'll have to deal with it.

I apologise for the blurb above, I hope it gives some back ground...but I suppose I am also venting. This has been VERY stressful for me.

Basically I am REALLY worried I won't get my money back.
The landlady has all her personal mail delivered to the house we were living in. Within this, it is clear to see court orders, default notices, threats of legal action, a letter from a confiscation unit (so i'm guessing she now has a confiscation order against her for something) and now we've also had baliffs. This woman is clearly in financial meltdown.

What I need to know, is how long can I leave it before I commence legal proceedings against her?
All 3 schemes have told me over the phone my deposit isn't covered.

What I really want to do now is take this woman to the cleaners for all the horrendous upset and nightmare she has put us through. I trusted her to return it early and she hasn't. She has prevented us from getting a new home. We are staying with my parents while I save a deposit again.

Am I within my rights to refuse to take my deposit back now and take her to court instead?

Of course, I am also expecting her to come back with a list of problems with the property, even though I was only there for 13 months and can honestly say the house is in better nick now than when I moved in as we took up manky carpet in toilet and put laminate flooring down (with her permission), fixed leaky guttering (as she didn't) reattached toilet roll holders and a number of other things. I took 126 photos when I left - including close ups of anything that was there when we moved in damage wise or damage that took place when she had the boiler replaced in January. I have also taken photos of their shoddy work when they did it.

Any advice will be very gratefully received.

Again I apologise for the vent.

M x

Cannon_Fodder

gothmaz wrote: »

Hi, I have posted on here before...
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2218913&highlight=

we agreed between us...
She kept asking me to stay on...
I told her in no uncertain terms...
She assured me - on a number of occasions...
She arranged to come and see me...I was left sitting in ALL day. This happened 3 times in February alone.
I decided to call her...
When I got off the phone...
So out of desperation I called the landlady...
So the next morning I called her back...
I called landlady...
On this day she finally called me back...
No call from landlady...
So this morning I called the agent.

Suggest you re-read your earlier thread.

clutton wrote: »

You must now start putting Everything in writing to her.. letter with proof of posting so that you have a paper trial for any future problems...

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Send a letter recorded delivery detailing...

mlz1413 wrote: »

From your first post you do most things by phone, I would start backing up your calls by letter and pop a copy to the LA each time.

Some people don't really want to be helped, it would appear.

gothmaz

Well that is VERY easy for you to say...but I DON'T have an address for her.

I have one address on my tenancy agreement, she is no longer there. She gave me another address to forward her post to. She is no longer there. She now tells me she lives in Ilford, but I have been given NO address. I don't even have a landline number for her - only her mobile.

The ONLY address I have is the one I was living in. As I said earlier - ALL her personal mail was delivered to the house I was living in; bank statements, credit card statements, court summons, mobile phone bills, storage invoices. Anything else I couldn't tell, but basically ALL her personal mail.

Do you think it's helpful or constructive to rip apart people's posts? Why not just ask me why I've not done that.

If I could put anything in writing I would've. Infact, if I take her to court I don't even know where to send the paperwork!

moromir

I believe it is sufficient that you try to write to her at all 'known' addresses, even if you 'know' she has moved on. (Someone more knowledgable will be along shortly)

princeofpounds

That's a really long post and whilst I really sympathise with what you have been through, it's hard to extract the relevant information and figure out exactly what you want help with.

If your deposit has not been protected you can take her to the small claims court and win an order for your deposit plus three times the deposit as a penalty (if she does not protect it. If she does, she may avoid the penalty but the precedent on that is a little technical to explain just now, but at least you will have a protected deposit).

You should have threatened to do this (or at least made her aware that she was leaving herself liable to this in a nice manner) as soon as the 14 day limit after paying the deposit was passed. But we are where we are, which seems to be a situation where she has potentially run out of money so that you might not be able to get your hands on the money you will win the order for.

If the deposit isn't covered you can begin proceedings right away. You could have begun them from day 15. Just be aware that whilst you might be awarded 4x your money, that doesn't mean you will actually get it, but you never know she might have to bankrupt herself which will be satisfying karma.

A lot of these problems would have been much easier to deal with if you came to this forum early. You could have funded repairs yourself and deducted from rent. You could have called in environmental health. We could have examined all sorts of issues for gas certificates to deposit protection.

I think the issue is that you have got yourself into such knots and stress over this you are having a problem seeing the wood for the trees, which is probably why you didn't get a timely resolution in the first place. Whilst it's horrible having a bad landlord the worst of it is over now and if you have kept good evidence you don't have anything to fear from the small claims court.

Cannon_Fodder

Excuses. Stop being a doormat.

You are quick enough to defend yourself to an anonymous post, but in six months have failed to protect yourself from a scheming, dangerous, corrupt landlord.

What's the point getting uppity to me over a post, but never getting uppity to her? She's the one with your money! She's the one who nearly killed your family. If you want to be angry, start directing it at her, and DO THE NECESSARY THINGS to help yourself win.

If you are just going to rant and ignore half the advice like the previous thread, then its just so many wasted pixels.

Its not just about whether she GETS the letters. You would, obviously, copy in the Letting Agents to ensure clear lines of communication.

A few of the things you would have put into writing would have made the LA think twice about their position in all this.

Also, you are required to be given the address. The LA needs to give you one, if the LL doesn't. Their failure to do so would be a problem for them, in their membership of any industry body, and they probably do not want to be a party to her failures for a measly 10% cut.

Plus it would be evidence for when you do, eventually, get to court.


Which is all so much water under the bridge now, but posting the best way to do things is as much for the next person, who might be at the start of your situation, and be helped just by seeing how badly other people have handled a situation.

princeofpounds

Also, you are required to be given the address. The LA needs to give you one, if the LL doesn't.

Not any more unfortunately, this only applies when still a tenant.

If you weren't given an address, you could have stopped paying rent (one of the few situations you are allowed to do so) until one was given.

gothmaz

Thank you very much for your reply.

I suppose some of it is my fault as I hadn't rented since 2007 and hadn't familiarised myself with the law with regards to deposits until once I'd moved in. I'm not very confrontational and was clearly too trusting. I didn't want to make an issue out of it. She seemed so nice and trustworthy at first. I mentioned it to her 3 weeks after I moved in and she said she was on to it - I reminded her she was supposed to do it within 14 days. I only started to delve into things once we had the carbon monoxide leak in December and were left without central heating for 5 weeks. It was at that point I wondered what had happened to my deposit as I'd heard nothing else. In hindsight I should've been on her back constantly. But you know life takes over, my partner tried to kill himself, I work full time, 2 kids one with high functioning autism - when there were no problems with the house it just wasnt at the fore front of my mind. But since December I have mentioned it to her constantly and threatened legal action, which is why she promised to give it back early - in full, to avoid me taking her to court. Honestly, I could do without the stress of that. I've really tried to avoid it as much as possible.

I guess now I'm just looking for advice on what I need to do next. How long do I give her to return it etc...?

I should also mention there is no dual signed inventory.

RAS

gothmaz wrote: »

I should also mention there is no dual signed inventory.

Well in that case there are no possibilities of legal deductions as there can be no proof of damage.

How much does she owe you?

gothmaz

Cannon_Fodder wrote: »

Excuses. Stop being a doormat.

You are quick enough to defend yourself to an anonymous post, but in six months have failed to protect yourself from a scheming, dangerous, corrupt landlord.

What's the point getting uppity to me over a post, but never getting uppity to her? She's the one with your money! She's the one who nearly killed your family. If you want to be angry, start directing it at her, and DO THE NECESSARY THINGS to help yourself win.

If you are just going to rant and ignore half the advice like the previous thread, then its just so many wasted pixels.

Its not just about whether she GETS the letters. You would, obviously, copy in the Letting Agents to ensure clear lines of communication.

A few of the things you would have put into writing would have made the LA think twice about their position in all this.

Also, you are required to be given the address. The LA needs to give you one, if the LL doesn't. Their failure to do so would be a problem for them, in their membership of any industry body, and they probably do not want to be a party to her failures for a measly 10% cut.

Plus it would be evidence for when you do, eventually, get to court.


Which is all so much water under the bridge now, but posting the best way to do things is as much for the next person, who might be at the start of your situation, and be helped just by seeing how badly other people have handled a situation.

The property was not managed by the letting agent. He has tried to speak to her to resolve issues for me, but she has clearly told him it is none of his business. He's had his money 13 months ago, he doesn't really care.

The agent has provided me with an address, it's the one on my lease, but it's no longer active. I can almost guarantee you that he doesn't have any more recent address than me. She is not using him to re-rent the property.

I'm very sorry that you think i've made a pigs ear of all of this, I was trying to avoid the hassle of court and the stress.

gothmaz

RAS wrote: »

Well in that case there are no possibilities of legal deductions as there can be no proof of damage.

How much does she owe you?

She owes me £1,150.