Deposit not in a protection scheme

may_fair

Rhino666 wrote: »

Then I would suggest that there is an opportunity for you here as a student deposit underwriter.

You guarantee their deposit refund for a small fee in return for your confidence in their ability to respect landlord's property.

Regrettsbly your solvency would last about as long as your grasp of reality:rotfl:

I've been a landlord for well over 10 years. I'm extremely careful about who I take on as tenant, and I've only had to take one to court, a 'respectable' middle aged man, whose references all checked out (and against whom I successfully enforced the CCJ I obtained). So far, I've had no losses in respect of damage or unpaid rent. *shrug*

Rhino666

may_fair wrote: »

I've been a landlord for well over 10 years. I'm extremely careful about who I take on as tenant, and I've only had to take one to court, a 'respectable' middle aged man, whose references all checked out (and against whom I successfully enforced the CCJ I obtained). So far, I've had no losses in respect of damage or unpaid rent. *shrug*

You appear to be appraising student rental on the basis of your, fortunately good experiences of letting to individual post grad students at good quality universities. Would you also, by the same argument say that respectable middle aged men are a higher risk or that your judgement of character was less than perfect on this occasion or that you did not carry out the correct vetting procedure? The first time I rented a property was over 25 years ago and my best tenant so far was a post grad art student - rent paid on time and flat cleaner when she left than when she arrived. Worst tenant was a middle aged professional male friend and member of mensa - had to chase him for rent on several occasions and a dirty fellow who had no appreciation of the ramifications of drying washing in a very small studio flat with the windows shut.

You compare what appears to be single occupancy rental with the multy occupancy referred to in this thread and the type I am accurately commenting on based on the real experiences of landlords/agents I know renting to young students in Coventry. The rent charged, repairs and cleaning required and general expectation from this type of rental are the real situation. I have a house in Coventry I am about to rent, having been out of the rental game for a long time period. Rather than rely on old knowledge and personal experience I talk to experienced landlords and letting agency friends. I could double the rent in my house, if I rented to students but will quite happily settle for the well respected middle aged gentleman with a good reputation and proper vetting.

jjlandlord

Rhino666 wrote: »

You appear to be appraising student rental on the basis of your, fortunately good experiences of letting to individual post grad students at good quality universities. Would you also, by the same argument say that respectable middle aged men are a higher risk or that your judgement of character was less than perfect on this occasion or that you did not carry out the correct vetting procedure?

Seems to me that may_fair is essentially saying that not all students are bad tenants in the same way as not all middle aged men are good ones. Not an argument-prone claim I would say!

From the comments here it seems that 'student' may be too general a category and that under-grads might be more risky than post-grads (and perhaps in addition under-grads tend to go more often for joint-tenancies).

Rhino666

At the risk of initiating further replies reflecting the unpopularity and apparently unacceptable nature of my honest posts, is there anyone else out there who appreciates the reality of student life and its impact on landlords.

Just to clarify we are talking about multiple tenancy of property across the UK by under graduate students. You know the ones who generally......
1) have multiple sexual partners
2) engage in unprotected sex
3) have a high incidence of social disease and unwanted pregnancy
4) drink unhealthy amounts of alcohol
5) eat high fat/high additive convenience foods.
6) don't work(full time or part time)
7) leave higher education with large debts exacerbated by 4) and 6)
8) organise the odd party that often lasts three years
9) have a lot more fun than I did !!

....are generally totally self indulgent and averse to any kind of responsibility.

Forgive my generalisation again, I just know a large number of students - you know, the usual fun loving irresponsible sort. I apologise to the few cat loving cellist/viola playing students that do not subscribe to the above but you are most likely post grad, untypical and I don't know you.

suited-aces

Rhino666 wrote: »

9) have a lot more fun than I did !

Ah, now I see why you have these issues.

sonastin

Students en masse make higher risk tenants but that doesn't mean that all student tenants should be shot at dawn.

From my experience, students often find that they can only choose from sh!thole properties so its no wonder that they don't treat them with the respect a landlord might expect. Sounds like the OP got one of those if there is year-old dog !!!!!! in the garden. Give me a house that is clean and I'll keep it spotless. Give me a house that is filthy and I'll make sure that I don't add to the mess but I'm sure as heck not cleaning up. There is a significant majority of students who think that way too.

RAS

x_malibubabe wrote: »

We had an inspection today and she told us she'd be withholding it until all bills are paid, even though they are up to date and the only one that needs paying, needs to be paid by the LL herself which she obviously hasn't done and reckons she's going to take it out of our deposits.

What bill is this please?

Rhino666

suited-aces wrote: »

Ah, now I see why you have these issues.

LOL - quite wrong actually - I behave far more like a student post 40 than I did at student age, hence what I consider a broad minded honest attitude to these matters, rather than a narrow minded insular one. It doesn't make sense to be a hypocrite or pretend to understand situations you have not experienced yourself. I do laugh at the thought of a cat loving cellist telling me how to have fun though.

Agree with sonastin on the student property typical standard. There is a kind of understanding between landlord and student in Coventry where both seem to understand what is expected of the other.

We have drifted away from the main point answerable on this thread. Assuming all bills due have been paid and the property is in a similar state on leaving as entering, the deposit should be repaid in full. The OP should have a legal right to arbitration where there is doubt and if a shifty landlord is not playing ball, I guess the local Uni could always blacklist him/her.

ViolaLass

Rhino666 wrote: »

I do laugh at the thought of a cat loving cellist telling me how to have fun though.

Who is this cat-loving cellist that you've taken against so much?

I'm also bemused that you think post grads are such a safe bet - most of them were undergrads just three months earlier.

x_malibubabe

Thanks for all the replies people. We have no reason not to get our deposits back but the LL can just be a bit dodgy with all the lying and stuff. I sent a long email to her last night stating that I knew where I stood legally and she admitted that she never did protect my deposit and the certificate was in the kitchen when I came downstairs this morning, so that little word 'court' kicked her into action, as I would imagine it would to most LLs like her!

Mods can close the thread now