Advance Rent or Deposit?? Letting Agent from Hell!

princeofpounds

This is such a silly dispute coming from the landlord.

I can reassure you that you will be fine. The arbitrators are generally very fair.

If I remember correctly you had already secured accommodation to move onto? Then forget about it all and don't pay the rent. The TDS will take it out of your expanded deposit, but they don't penalise you for anything more than you actually owe.

whatdowedonext

princeofpounds wrote: »

This is such a silly dispute coming from the landlord.

I can reassure you that you will be fine. The arbitrators are generally very fair.

If I remember correctly you had already secured accommodation to move onto? Then forget about it all and don't pay the rent. The TDS will take it out of your expanded deposit, but they don't penalise you for anything more than you actually owe.

Thank you. Time to move on, get the packing boxes out and my cleaning tools and concentrate on that. Deep breath.. life will be so much better free from this LL & LA.

whatdowedonext

We've sent this letter today :-

We are completely confused by your letters. We paid a deposit at the commencement of our tenancy which was registered with TDS under reference number OB****** A further £1,800 was paid at the end of the fixed term 27th September 2009, this required protection as per TDS legislation but you failed to do so.


We feel as our agent you have not handled this correctly and kept us informed appropriately.


The TDS certificate MX****** included in your letter dated 15/08/2010 states the date as 27th September 2009 . As you have only just registered the £1800 paid on 27th September 2009 surely the certificate should have 6th August 2010 date? Why are there not 2 separate certificates when our monies were registered 11 months apart? Or is this advanced rent as previously presumed by all parties? In which case rent in advance that is intended to be a 'permanent' buffer or security ALWAYS counts as a deposit once you get over 1 month (IIRC). This has been held in a number of deposit cases now in court.


I believe as our letting agent you had an original duty to provide this information within 14 days of the deposit being paid, and as a result the correct date of protection is an important matter of record for ourselves.

We will endeavour to issue a claim against you in the small claims court for compensation, for not protecting our additional deposit properly and within the 14 days set out by the TDS.

In addition to the above we expect both of our deposits to be returned promptly and in full once fair deductions if applicable have been made.

Ulfar

Just a bit of advice with so much money on the line as a deposit, make sure you thoroughly clean the place and make good any damage.

A few key things LL/LA love to try and make deductions for :

Ovens - I use oven cleaning stuff from Wilkinson/other shops comes in an orange bottle gets even grill trays up shiny after you leave it overnight in a bag.
Dirty carpets - I bought a Vax and the £100.00 I spent on it has been repaid many times over from when I was renting.
Marks on walls - If the Landlord hasn't left pots of paint I have in the past repainted whole walls as close as possible.
Bathrooms - Bleach is your friend.

Also take good quality photos of the place before you leave.

whatdowedonext

Hi All

Our LA has sent a copy of the latest Prescribed Information for The tenancy deposit scheme. I have returned them unsigned and referred the LA to our last letter.

The TDS came back to us as we copied them on the last letter. They have asked for our complaint ref number. I don't have one. I thought you couldn't open a dispute/complaint until you've moved out. Are these two seperate things. I've written back asking can I open a complaint.

Apart from the prescribed info which I believe crossed in the post we have heard nothing from LA with regards to seeking compensation through the small claims court.

I'm very worried about the check out inspection. The inventory they gave us to sign when we moved in was not detailed at all and missed off very obvious damage, wear & tear, marks etc. I went through it myself room by room and updated it. It took me the whole day, we took it to the office and they photocopied it and gave us a copy and kept one on file. Luckily they had a covering letter with it confirming my updates.

I was always suspicious why they had left off so many obvious flaws to the property. How would the TDS look at it seeing so many additions to the inventory list by me? My worry is that I may have missed some damage (was very excited and tired when we moved in). How do I stand if I missed anything?


R & L

whatdowedonext

We've just received a reply, why are they changing where they've registered the extra £1800 deposit? Help Please..........

Further to your letter of 22nd August 2010 I must apologise for my late reply. Having just returned
from my annual leave I hope you will appreciate that I have had a great deal to catch up on.
Having taken time to review the file there has clearly been a considerable amount of correspondence
between you and ********* with respect to the advance rent paid over on the tenancy change. I see
little value in repeating this detail. Although I consider it prudent to change the deposit scheme that
has been used.
Therefore these monies representing £1800 are now held and registered with "The Deposit Protection
Scheme" whilst your tenancy deposit of £1000 remains registered with "The Dispute Service" under
its latest certificate as enclosed.
Therefore all monies are protected and accounted for given the landlords instructions and your
changing demands.
Your letter refers to us as "our Agent" and "our letting agent". It may come as a disappointment and
indeed on reading your letter to ******* you felt "hurt" by this statement. Clearly if *******'s
terminology or inference was wrong then please accept my sincere apologies but I must respectfully
remind you that we are not your Agent. We are Agent for the landlord and it is the landlord who is
our client.
Please trust that the handling of your check out and refunding of your deposit will be in accordance
with the joint schemes associated with your tenancy. The Check Out procedure documentation has
been published to you and should you follow our guidance notes, the property is returned in an
acceptable condition and rent is paid there should be no reason that the deposit refund is at risk.
On this subject our check out documents included a "Check Out" form that requires your completion
and return before you vacate. I note that to date we have not had this and politely remind you that
this is required.
Please would you also sign and return the attached Deposit Information Certificate required by the
DPS.
Therefore in summary, I hope you can now focus on a successful check out and move into your new
home.

Your sincerely

princeofpounds

I suspect, though I will have to check this, that they are protecting the late part of the deposit in a scheme which won't penalise them for it.

The current situation with deposits is rather unfortunate, in that the legislation as badly drafted allowing landlords to escape penalties for late compliance IF the scheme they register in did not demand on-time compliance as part of its internal rules. No-one really ever thought this was even a possible scenario, but this was the decision the precedent-setting judge made.

Only one of the schemes at the time had such a requirement, and even they had only put it in some months after the schemes started. I don't know if the others have done it since.

Just a guess by the way. Could be other reasons.

Anyhow, it now comes down to what you are really trying to achieve here. If it's keeping your money safe then you have achieved it by getting all money protected. If you need to run down rather than maintain your rental payments you need to push ahead, but the chances of getting it solved by the end of the tenancy are slim.

Unfortunately your thread keeps getting pushed down the pages by flurries of other threads so has got less attention than it deserves.

whatdowedonext

Dear Princeofpounds,

Thank you for the reply I have asked the agent by email why he felt it prudent to change so hopefully he will enlighten me with his wisdom. I think you're spot on with your suggestion, he's no fool, rude but no idiot.

I have cleaned walls and paintwork all day today and removed any scuffs, so very pleased with myself as hopefully with the deposit protected we will get it all back.

Many thanks

L

whatdowedonext

We had a reply

Further to your email earlier today querying our reason to change to scheme. I have been away from
the office till now.
Given the apparent dispute between you and the landlord reference the money, I simply consider it
better held in the custodial fund which the DPS represents.

I hope this answers your question.

We replied

Thankyou for your letter but that does not answer my question, you have told me nothing more than I already know. Please elaborate what the other service offers over the existing deposit scheme. What is your thought process for changing to another scheme due to a dispute, why do you consider it better?

We await your reply

LA came back with

Further to you email today for 17.22hrs.
I suggest you redirect your question to the DPS and ask them of the advantages of the custodial
scheme over an insured scheme. Commercially, the DPS is a more cost effective scheme given the
rising subscription costs of the insured schemes, something that has been subject to much trade
press comment of late.
Beyond this there is no further explanation needed

Any advice or input would be great appreciated

Ulfar

To be honest the sooner you have escaped from this LA/LL the better.

The only advantage I can see is that this scheme is the one where they can get away with registering the deposit late, not an advantage for you but certainly for them.