Please help! Anyone know about tenancy law?

Layla

We have just left a rental property and having been warned by the previous tenants that the landlady likes to take as much of your deposit as possible, I made sure that there was nothing wrong with the house at all. Nothing was left broken and the whole house was throughly cleaned including the carpets and curtains. (even though when we moved in the landlady failed to ensure that the property was cleaned before we moved in)

However, when we contacted the letting agent about our deposit, he told us he could not release it to us until the landlady gave her permission even if he had checked the property himself and confirmed that all was OK.

Our tenancy agreement said that the landlady had 21 days to give us back our deposit minus any deductions. It has now been about 4 weeks since we moved out and the landlady has only just contacted the letting agent with some false accusations of broken items! She is now trying to charge us highly inflated prices for repairs and replacements and has instructed the letting agent to release one third of our deposit only. I have strongly objected to this as it is completely untrue. The letting agent was going to deduct the amounts without checking that the items were actually broken / missing and without receipts for replacements. Is he allowed to do this?

I have done a bit of checking and according to the Citizen's advice bureau website there is not much I can do, as this in an area where the law needs reforming. Even if we take her to the small claims court and win there is still no guarantee that she will pay the amount back.

If there is anyone who can give me any advice on what to do next, I would be very grateful as at the moment I am feeling very disillusioned about the whole thing!

rygon

just a thought. Is it possible to get back into the home and take some pictures of the supposedly broken items.
I doubt they would smash things just so they could claim back. Also if you get a letter from the previous tennants to confirm that they were having the same problem it would look better as a group i would have thought. Pressure the landlord saying that you have taken advise on behalf of your lawyer and you will take them to court (see if they take the bluff)

this may be some help as its a forum for tennants and landlords
http://www.landlordhelp.co.uk/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi

Layla

Hi rygon

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately we are unable to get back into the home to take pictures as the landlady (conveniently!) waited until the new tenants had moved in before she contacted the letting agent about the "broken items" We have thought about speaking to the new tenants but the landlady told the letting agent that they are friends of hers (don't know if this is true). If they are friends of hers I doubt whether they will let us in. I have however, asked the letting agent to get proof that these things are actually broken before he gives her our deposit money. The trouble is she has now taken the property off the letting agent (something which the previous tenants told us she does with each let) so he has no real incentive to sort this out for us.

Do you think we should try to deal directly with her when we say we have contacted our lawyer or should we continue to go through the letting agent? I have already told the letting agent that I have contacted a lawyer for advice but nothing seems to have much effect on him as he doesn't see it as his problem any more.

Thanks also for the link - I'll have a look at that now...

amboy

Gee Layla, landords like her give most of us good ones a bad name.

She seems to be somewhat of an expert in the practice of taking deposits, if I were you I would definately go round to the house and speak to the tenants, I doubt if they are her friends because if they were then why would she use an agent for,especially as they are getting 10 - 15%PM.

Be nice to the new tenants and do what you have to do, be sure to also warn them about your plight so that they can at leat hold on to the last months rent so she does not have a say on their bond, even though a fellow landlord would shoot me for saying that.

You gotta basically decide if the amount of money she has which belongs to you is worth going to court over, if you feel that it is a matter of principle and more importantly can afford the court fees then think no further and proceed action.

Do you have the details of the previous tenants?  they may be able to help.

As for the agent, well you gotta give him a kick up the backside as he is acting totally unprofessional, he is the one who held your deposit money, my bet is he is slightly annoyed at the whole thing and even more at having lost the property.

Point out to him that every month while you were in the property he was sitting there collecting his commision. now it is his turn to act and help you, be firm and tell him you are going to court.

Stick to your guns though

HTH

Layla

Thanks a lot for your reply amboy. I am pleased to see there are some honourable landlords and ladies out there!

Sorry, I don't think I made myself clear before. The landlady told us that the new tenants were her friends and she didn't use an agency this time. However, I think I still might try going round there this weekend to talk to them and find out what I can from them.

Unfortunately, I can't afford to take her to court and after the way she has acted I just want to get as much of our deposit back as I can and forget about the whole thing. When we contacted the previous tenants, they said that they would be willing to write a letter but didn't want to get any more involved as they wanted to forget about it as well. Our ex-landlady seems to have that effect on people!

As for the agent, well his backside must be very bruised by now as I have been kicking him up the backside several times each day this week. ;D ;D Maybe I am not kicking hard enough though as he still hasn't achieved anything for us?

The latest this morning is that even though he has asked her all week to provide receipts and evidence and had a final deadline of yesterday, she still hasn't given anything to him. I have asked him what he can do if she keeps ignoring all the deadlines like this and he has said he can do nothing. Surely, he can threaten to charge her for each letter / telephone call he makes from now on or something? Otherwise what is the point in having the deadlines and the clause in the tenancy agreement about her having to give us our deposit back within 21 days?

yonk

I deal with this all the time as I am a Specialist Housing Advisor at CAB amongst other things....

Our standard advice is to take the Landlord to the Small Claims Court. It's straightforward and not too expensive and you can get help from your local CAB.

I also try to advise people to get a good inventory when they move into a property, particularly, if they come in part way through in a shared house. It also protects the landlord as damage happens gradually and often only shows up as people leave.

It really annoys me that landlords do this as I have to spend a huge amount of time with my own tenants trying to convince them they won't get ripped off.

There will be changes to the law regarding deposits from from next year.

amboy

Really Yonk, I know they have been on about it for ages and even triallled an Australian type system of holding the deposit in an independent account, in London a few years ago.

But then things went quiet.

do you know what they are likely to implement? and do you think there is going to be a big cost to either party.

I too dread the final month coming to see whether tenants are gonna pay the rent or use it as bond cos they have had bad experiences in the past.

yonk

Not sure, as it's part of the Housing Bill coming in in England & Wales and I'm now based in Scotland.

I think it's going to be a National Rental Scheme of some description where a 3rd party holds the deposit. NACAB & Shelter have done lots of work on this, may be more on their websites??

CurryKing_2

oh man im glad i read about your plight. I cant help at all but im due to move into a rented place at the end of this month.

After hearing many stories about w*nky landlords i,ve decided to take photos of EVERYTHING with my digital camera, as well as log everything beforhand. I'll e-mail these to the agency before hand so they have evidence of the place.

When we move out i'll take photos of the place again so in the event i get some sh*te landlord arguing reducing my deposit due to some poxy reason i can tell them where to shove their claim and give my money back. There is no way in hell i'll let some stain of a greedy landlord take abuse my trust.........

Anyway - hope your situation gets resolved.......let us know the outcome.

Neil

Voyager2002

Round where I live (Exeter, Devon) landlords usually keep the deposit, seeing it as a kind of additional perk of letting property. By the sound of things your ex-landlady has a similar way of seeing things, so you are not going to get back your deposit without a struggle.

My guess is that if you went to court you would win, and she would be ordered to pay your costs as well (and probably interest on the depost from when it should have been returned). Since she has apparently not responded to the agent's repeated requests for proof of damage, she probably knows that there was no real damage. If it did come to court, she would have to prove to the court that she had a good reason for holding on to your deposit, ie she would have to demonstrate that she had suffered a loss because of damage you had caused.

Therefore, unless she had some reason to believe that she would win the court case, she would almost certainly give back at least some of your depost if you convince her that you are serious about taking her to court. You need to write politely demanding the return of your deposit, and giving her a dealine to respond (I suggest 14 days) after which if you have not heard then legal action will commence. I used this approach last time I was in your situation, and at least got back most of my deposit (turning a loss of 550 pounds into one of less than a hundred -- still painful).

If you do have to go to court, your local citizens advice bureau can help you to fill in the form (which is quite straightforward) and you do not need a lawyer for the small claims procedure. If you are receiving certain benefits then you don't need to pay any court fees: otherwise of course you risk losing them. Last time I had to this (some years ago) my former letting agent had ignored three letters and telephone calls about my deposit, but when he received the forms summonsing him to a court hearing he paid everything I demanded within three days!

Hope this helps, but no matter what happens do please post about your experiences.

vale_2

top advice from voyager...I too am a landlord and ididots like this give us a bad name!
A good letter , not rude in any way(remember it may be needed for evidence) asking for the money back to avoid court action is a start. If no reply after 14 days start action..its cheaper than you think! And can be done on line.

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/onlineservices/mcol/index.htm

good luck!