tenant stopped DD

david29dpo

our tenants are moving out this weekend after 2 years. rent as always been paid on the 13th of the month without fail. just checked with my bank and this months rent as not been paid. they should know they have to give 1 months notice but haven't. i dont really mind that they haven't given the months notice because they have been excellent, up till now. they are a little dizzy on these things and properly dont know what they have done. however i am a little cross with them stopping the DD because after the 13th of this month they should not really be in the house! i have the months deposit. should i, could i, hold on to the deposit? also i have not seen the house yet but i am sure the condition will be fine, but if not, what then? i dont want to start a fuss because they are buying there first house together but i have now have an empty house to 13th of jan.

lynzpower

they have probably been advised by some dumb person to withhoold the last months rent. i see advice like that given everywhere.

Id phone them and say why havnet you paid? see what they say. fairly sure you can keep the deposit in fact I expect they are expecting you to anyway iyswim

Gorgeous_George

The deposit is to safeguard the LL against damage to his property.

It cost me £90 to have the carpets cleaned recently.

Ask them to pay the rent. If they refuse, take them to court.

My next tenants have had to pay a much larger bond, 4 weeks' rent in advance and the rent has increased (still a bargain though).

Good luck.



GG

david29dpo

saying there is no damage, is it not easier just to keep the deposit as rent and let them sue me?

nelly_2

The amount of threads I have seen where LL have tried to stiff tenants over for the deposit, I 'm sure this will become much more common place.

Ivrytwr3

it USED to be common practise for the tenant to assume they should not pay the last months rent as their deposit will cover it; a phone call to such a tenant usually illicits the response "oh sorry, just use our depoit then".

Which is why it is much more common place to make the deposit 6 weeks rent as oppose to 4 weeks rent.

So, as long as their is no damage to your property, or if you did not intend to use the deposit for other means, then yes it is fine to use the tenants deposit as their rent. But next tenants make sure you make it clear!

silvercar

i would do the end of tenancy inspection, assess the costs of any damage etc, then write them a final accout:

deposit held = XX
less damage etc of YYY
less rent owing of ZZ
balance owed/due=..........

if they gave notice before 13 December then they owe rent to 13 January.

dunstonh

nelly wrote:

The amount of threads I have seen where LL have tried to stiff tenants over for the deposit, I 'm sure this will become much more common place.

The new rules coming in next year are meant to help reduce that. (no expert on the new rules. Just what I have read here and a couple of articles).

Tassotti

david29dpo wrote:

i have the months deposit. should i, could i, hold on to the deposit? also i have not seen the house yet but i am sure the condition will be fine, but if not, what then? .

Yes hold on to the deposit. Get a forwarding address from them and sue through small claims court for any damages.

They could counter-sue for non-return of deposit, but then you counter-counter sue for the last months rent (confusing myself here)

Gorgeous_George

The deposit is not the last month's rent.

Accepting this course of action from your tenants means that they will treat their next LL in much the same way, effectively removing the whole point of having a deposit.

I suggest you write to them requesting payment of the rent in the first instance. Most tenancy agreements afford the LL the right to charge interest on late rent at 'base rate+'. Remind them of these. Maybe LLs should be able to charge for such letters in the way that banks do.

By all means, if the property is left in a condition that would have resulted in the bond being returned, write to them again to say that as a final act of goodwill you shall retain the bond in lieu of rent but that they would not be welcome as tenants again. If you know any other LLs, I'd share their names with them.



GG

scrummy_mummy_2

Hi..I am a private Landlord and a memebr of the National Landlord's Association.
There are two elements to your problem....the legals aspect and the practical aspect....sometimes the two are best dealt with separately! It is often easy to say "Sue through the courts" but often it isn't worth the agro and often takes ages...your time as a Landlord may be better spent finding new tenants and reducing your void rather than chasing through the courts to get a judgement. Judgements and payments are different to so even if you win, it's not a guarantee you'll get any money back! You'll probably end up with solicitors' costs on top of what you have lost and still not get recompensed without chasing further for a payment order and bailiffs! The trick is ALWAYS talk to your tenants as much as possible to reduce your exposure to the courts and keep communication lines open
Like you said, they may not have knowingly, with intended malice, cancelled the standing order so call them to see what has gone on and get their side
Explain to them what they have done is break their side of the tenancy agreement by cancelling the DD, not paying the last months' rent and not giving you their correct notice period. See how they take this news.
(Thus, if you did go to Court, as long as your side of the deal (admin etc) is not broken...you would win, but it would be a hollow victory as it doesn't guarantee payment!)

Refusing to pay the last months' rent is a common approach in anticipation that the Landlord will without it automatically (and illegally) for damages. Some numpty has probably advised them to do it assuming you will keep the deposit. The deposit is actually the tenant's surity against any damage and should not be 'cashed in' as rent leaving the 'damage pot' empty. Explain this to them also.

I suggest you talk to them in the first instance and then back up your talk with a letter, to advise them that they have failed to pay their last months' rent and are in breach of their tenancy agreement. Explain to them the purpose of the deposit and that you will deal with deductions fairly and that it is illegal for you to keep all their deposit unless it can be justified and is actually legally due for reparations caused as a result of damage associated with their tenancy. In which case you will provide written estimates of such works and final bills to prove you haven't just pocketed it.

Ask for a cheque to cover the last months' rent or cash payable immediately.
Explain to them that you will not accept the deposit as unpaid rent (as you are legally unable to treat it as such...it is for reparations!) and that is it is not sorted out you have the option to take them to court to recover the outstanding rent.

You didn't say what type of tenancy agreement they are on. If they are on a fixed term agreement, they are not required by law to give you offical notice as their tenancy expires on the last day of the agreement and you should have checked their intentions to renew or move on with them as the date approached.
if it is a periodic agreement they are required to give you at least one month (The actual period should be detailed in their agreement, but is normally one period ie; a month)Tell them that you are willing to let the notice period thing slide and ignore the breach if they rectify the problem....the problem being that you want the last months' rent!

At the end of the day it is your call....reality may dictate that you keep the deposit as the last months' rental payment and that there is no damage so no further recompense is necessary to you. Easy peasy!
it may be that there is only £30 worth of damage and that they can settle this cash on the day they check out....hurrah!
Or it may be that there is several hundered quids worth of damage which needs sorting. They are unlikley to pay this on their final day, as you will need to get estimates etc and thus you may have to take them to the small claims court to get it back once they have moved.
Finally you may decide to write any damage off and learn from your mistakes.

In future:
1. Write a terms of business letter detailing how the deposit is held and how damage will be dealt with at the time you sign your tenancy agreement.
2. Take a month and a half deposit to give you leeway
3. Join the national landlord's association and keep up to date with legislative changes coming next year on deposits. They also have a free helpline to resolve such tricky issues. It' £70 a year and invalueable.