Deposit & lazy housemate

kajstring24

I moved out of my rented house last week into a new place with my boyfriend. We should receive our deposit back soon and as it comes back to my account, it's my responsibility to return the correct share of the deposit to my boyfriend and our housemate.

Returning it to my partner is no problem, however, our housemate was a nightmare for the year we lived in the house and it came to a head at the end of the contract. Me and my boyfriend cleaned every room in the house between us and the housemate did a half-arsed job on his room and cleaned the kitchen work surfaces. Obviously thinking that he had satisfied his share of the cleaning.

I hate to be involved in something to petty because this sort of row happens when you move out of student digs, but I quite simply do not think he deserves his deposit back, because as far as I am concerned he did not meet the terms of the contract. He did not even offer to do a room and simply sat around the house doing nothing while I was slaving away on my hands and knees cleaning. I even blocked his computer from accessing the Internet in an attempt to make him do something but it didn't work. He wasn't forced into doing any cleaning for the simple reason that we shouldn't have to. He is an adult who simply can't assume adult responsibilities and it drives me mad because he thinks he is getting by in life.

Obviously, his excuse of a life is not my concern, but while we still have a deposit to settle he'll be on my back reminding me as if I'm a child. On one hand, he doesn't deserve all of his deposit back, but on the other, do I really want to prolong this whole saga? I'm worried that if I withold any of his deposit, even after offering an explanation he'll go as far as taking legal action, so has anyone got any advice to what I should do?

princeofpounds

If he takes you to court, you will not win unless there existed a contract (written, verbal, even implied) between all you tenants prior to moving in that one of you could unilaterally determine the reallocation of the deposit.

Of course there wasn't.

My suggestion if you really feel this way? Keep the money (or as much as is appropriate) and ignore him. Disappear if you can. But if he proposes taking you to court cough up.

Blacksheep1979

make your life a whole lot easier and give it back. If it came to court can you prove he didn't do a third of the cleaning? If not you're more than likely going to be saddled with the small claims costs and possibly interest.

mynameisdave

princeofpounds wrote: »

If he takes you to court, you will not win unless there existed a contract (written, verbal, even implied) between all you tenants prior to moving in that one of you could unilaterally determine the reallocation of the deposit.

Of course there wasn't.

My suggestion if you really feel this way? Keep the money (or as much as is appropriate) and ignore him. Disappear if you can. But if he proposes taking you to court cough up.

The other housemate would presumably need to provide some form of evidence that he contributed to the deposit for any chance of success should he take action.

Blacksheep1979

mynameisdave wrote: »

The other housemate would presumably need to provide some form of evidence that he contributed to the deposit for any chance of success should he take action.

I think any sizeable withdrawal from his account shortly prior to the tenancy being signed and the fact his name is on the tenancy (who would honestly foot all the deposit?) would more than likely persuade the judge. There's also the off chance he may stumble across this thread, print it out and take it in too...

<sebb>

Give him the deposit back. If he take you to court, he will win. Aside from this, if you hadn't cleaned the place, and they'd charged you a professional cleaning charge (£150 say) then his share would only be £50. Was his share of the deposit bigger than this?

kajstring24

<sebb> wrote: »

Give him the deposit back. If he take you to court, he will win. Aside from this, if you hadn't cleaned the place, and they'd charged you a professional cleaning charge (£150 say) then his share would only be £50. Was his share of the deposit bigger than this?

Yeah, it was rent + £100.

Thanks for the replies, they were pretty much what I expected. I've been fishing around for cleaning quotes so I can get an idea of what I could take off. I imagine it'd be no more than £50 anyway (Not including anything that the LL may take off).

Blacksheep1979

you can't legally or even morally charge what a professional company would - they have other overheads than labour. At best I'd say morally you could charge your hourly salary for a couple of hours (did it even add that much time on?) which is probably not even worth the hassle you may get.

Alias_Omega

I would give the deposit back, but in the form of a deposit into his bank account or even a cheque (you can then prove you returned it then), and move on with your life with your boyfriend.


Who knows, he might be overdrawn and the bank may eat it up through bank charges

Jowo_2

Make him take you to court and then either turn up to defend the deduction or settle before hand. Make him go through all the hassle of finding out how to do a small claims application. You'll have the court fees added to his claim.

Does he know where you live or work?

sequence

You sound like a nightmare to live with, unplugging the internet ? !?!

You can't deduct anything, especially if the landlord doesn't.