landlord won't get in touch to return deposit

chlolou_2

Hi,

I was hoping if anyone may have any advice regarding our landlord. Our tenancy has just ended on our flat, so have made several attempts, phone calls etc to contact our landlord to return keys to the flat and arrange an inspection so that our deposits can be returned. He already has a new tenant living in the flat and all our belongings have been removed. The problem is, he will not get back in touch with us, so we are worried that because we have no way of returning keys etc he may continue to charge rent and that we may never arrange inspection so that our deposits could be returned, as we left the flat in a very good condition but with new tenants, this may change.
We have found him to be quite unreliable in past so are now concerned over what we should do.
I'm aware that there are deposit protection schemes in England but as far as I know there may not be any in Scotland where I live.

Any advice would be really appreciated, and I thank you in advance.

Chloe

maninthestreet

Do you have the landlord's address?

chlolou_2

We have the address of the pub that he owns, so yeah it would probably be best to also write to him there also. thanks

McKneff

Dont forget to use recorded delivery and keep copies of any correspondence.

N79

chlolou wrote: »

Hi,

I was hoping if anyone may have any advice regarding our landlord. Our tenancy has just ended on our flat, so have made several attempts, phone calls etc to contact our landlord to return keys to the flat and arrange an inspection so that our deposits can be returned. He already has a new tenant living in the flat and all our belongings have been removed. The problem is, he will not get back in touch with us, so we are worried that because we have no way of returning keys etc he may continue to charge rent and that we may never arrange inspection so that our deposits could be returned, as we left the flat in a very good condition but with new tenants, this may change.

TheArtfulLodger will need to confirm this but don't worry about having to pay additional rent as the LL will not be allowed to receive "double" rent. No (English) court would allow that and I really can not see a Scottish court taking a different view.

We have found him to be quite unreliable in past so are now concerned over what we should do.
I'm aware that there are deposit protection schemes in England but as far as I know there may not be any in Scotland where I live.

Any advice would be really appreciated, and I thank you in advance.

Chloe

You are quite correct that deposit protection does not exist in Scotland.

As others have said, right to your LL at all possible address asking for the return of your deposit and also asking for where you should return the keys. With a bit of luck this will draw him out of the woodwork.

tbs624

LLs of properties in Scotland are required by law to be registered. Check via your local Council or https://www.landlordregistrationscotland.gov.uk/ to see what contact info may be available there.

Keep notes of you attempts made so far to return the keys, but the fact that the LL has a new T in place is pretty good confirmation that he has accepted that your tenancy has ended.

As N79 has confirmed there is currently no requirement to schemes register deposits for scottish tenancies.

Your LL has to write to you to confirm any potential deductions he would wish to make and if you have grounds to disagree but he won't budge then you will have to pursue him via the Sheriff Court.

nancyo

Thats shocking, so you still have keys for this place and there is someone else living there?? Just shows you landlords dont really care about our safety! I dont think he can charge you rent if you have moved out! I would just turn up to his pub and see what he says for himself!

chlolou_2

Thanks everyone, that's all really helpful. I have called the local council as well and they have advised also to send a letter by recorded delivery as well as the occassions we have attempted to contact him and to hold onto keys, hopefully will get somewhere by doing that!

theartfullodger

For anyone interested, herewith Scottish Govt. report of consultation over tenancy deposits...
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/11/15142912/0