Small Claim - Rental Deposit

tessy_t

I recently left a property after staying there only one month, the shower did not work, I could not sleep due to a large Avery placed in the neighbours garden and the landlady gave me good reason to believe she was not quite stable. So obviously I decided to find somewhere else to live. I told my landlady that I would be moving out and that I would give her two weeks notice in return of two weeks of my rent deposit back. (one month’s deposit of £340 was given by me at start on rental) . She was not wiling to meet me half way which I though was incredibly unreasonable considering that I hadn’t been able to have a proper shower the last month and not had a good night’s sleep either – I had even got a colleague from work to help her to fix the shower so I thought she would be kind enough to give me half of my deposit back. I think that once she knew that she would not be getting anymore rent from me she wanted me out immediately, she had her neighbour come round to the house to threaten me – I called the police and left the same evening. I have since found out that this woman did not have permission to let a room out in her property and that the property is owned by a housing association who had no knowledge that I was staying there, they are also investigating her for anti social behaviour and she is well known to the police and has an harassment order against her by a different neighbour in the area.
The reason I give all this background information is because I am intending on taking this woman to the small claims court to get my deposit back – she is employed and not receiving benefits.
Has anyone been successful in getting a deposit back from a private landlord?
I was not given a rental contract - only a receipt for my rent and a deposit.

tbs624

Did you share the property with the LL also living there, ie as a lodger?

jamie11

You will almost certainly be wasting your time and money, You seem to be the one that is being unreasonable. You promised a month's notice, then offered half of that and expected her to be grateful.

As a lodger you have few rights. walking off in a huff is a right you do have but then you lose your deposit.

The neighbour's aviary cannot be blamed on your landlord. The landlord should have got the shower fixed by a tradesman.

tessy_t

jamie11 wrote: »

You will almost certainly be wasting your time and money, You seem to be the one that is being unreasonable. You promised a month's notice, then offered half of that and expected her to be grateful.

As a lodger you have few rights. walking off in a huff is a right you do have but then you lose your deposit.

The neighbour's aviary cannot be blamed on your landlord. The landlord should have got the shower fixed by a tradesman.

If you take the time to comment then you really should read the post properly – I did not leave in a huff I was threatened with violence which led me to call the police, following this I obviously did not feel safe in the house – I would have thought this would be obvious. The police were more than sympathetic with my situation and as I said in the OP – this woman is well known to them. And regarding the notice most people I have spoken to about this feel that I was being more than reasonable by offering her two weeks notice considering the circumstances – she knew full well the shower was not in working order when I moved into the house from day one – I am a professional person who just wanted the room during the week while I am at work and away from home and would expect as a basic requirement a shower each morning as I think most people do.

tessy_t

tbs624 wrote: »

Did you share the property with the LL also living there, ie as a lodger?

Yes I was just renting a room in the landlady’s home – which she did not have permission to let – and as you may expect she did deposit the rental deposit in the landlords deposit scheme – And also she did not have permission to rent out this room in the first place.

BitterAndTwisted

Most Local Authority and Housing Association's rental agreements allow tenants to have a lodger, so your ex-landlady was probably not in breach of her tenancy.

I think you'll be hard-pressed to get any of your deposit back if your landlady insists that you didn't give her enough notice. Did you sign a Lodger's Agreement and if so did it have anything in it about what notice was required?

Benji

The landlords alleged 'crimes' do not really affect the return of your deposit.

I think you may have an outside chance of reclaiming at least some of your deposit, as I think a judge may possibly agree that it was not reasonable for you to be expected to stay in the property for the full notice period.

However, if you take this to court, get your facts right. For example there is no legal requirement for a lodgers deposit to be kept in a government approved deposit scheme. Also, having a lodger is not letting in legal terms as no property is let to you (so any no-letting terms do not apply).

tessy_t

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Most Local Authority and Housing Association's rental agreements allow tenants to have a lodger, so your ex-landlady was probably not in breach of her tenancy.

I think you'll be hard-pressed to get any of your deposit back if your landlady insists that you didn't give her enough notice. Did you sign a Lodger's Agreement and if so did it have anything in it about what notice was required?

No agreement was signed - I know she did not have permission to let the room as she asked me to tell the police I was her daughter when they came to the house to give her the harrassment order during week two of my stay! I have since contacted the housing association and they confirmed she did not have permission to let a room in the property and she is also being investigated by them for anti social behaviour

angrypirate

As you are a lodger there is no requirement for her to put the deposit in a scheme. There is no AST. What was the verbal agreement on giving notice? If I were you Id take her to the small claims court for the full amount and whilst your at it report her to the HMRC as she probably isnt declaring her income from it either and screwing the benefits system or local housing authority for a bigger property.

You thought about just sending "the boys" around instead? I know some who have some rather large baseball bats.....

tessy_t

Benji wrote: »

The landlords alleged 'crimes' do not really affect the return of your deposit.

I think you may have an outside chance of reclaiming at least some of your deposit, as I think a judge may possibly agree that it was not reasonable for you to be expected to stay in the property for the full notice period.

Exactly my point - I was willing to stay the full month if really necessary as I did not want to lose out financially but this option was taken away from me by the landlady when I was threatened and asked to leave. Surely it is not fair for her to keep the deposit aswell as my right to stay there for the full month -she cannot expect both.

tessy_t

angrypirate wrote: »

As you are a lodger there is no requirement for her to put the deposit in a scheme. There is no AST. What was the verbal agreement on giving notice? If I were you Id take her to the small claims court for the full amount and whilst your at it report her to the HMRC as she probably isnt declaring her income from it either and screwing the benefits system or local housing authority for a bigger property.

I have reported her to the local authority and the housing association have told me she is likely to now face a possession order. I hadn't thought about HMRC - so Thanks - I will add that to the list. Even if I don't get my money back I think she stands to lose far more in the long run