Landlord keeps stonewalling over deposit

MrChips

Hi - and we're back.

Well, the letter was sent recorded delivery on 16 July, as intended, by one of the other flatmates. She then went on holiday for a week. When she got back and checked the Royal Mail website, it seems he never accepted delivery of the letter. Grrrr

Now, it is possible he is on holiday or away for some reason. It is also possible he is avoiding anything he thinks is from us.

What are our options now. Can we proceed with the online claim despite our "letter before action" not being received?

He actually lives nearby (about a 10 minute drive) so I can go and deliver the letter personally. Would that also be acceptable?

We are very keen to get this claim moving, but don't want to jump the gun if it causes the landlord to escape on a "technicality".

lynzpower

yes deliver it personally.

have a search for eager learners thread ( if its not already been posted inhere) the same thing happened to her

Guy_Montag

Take a witness to see it being delivered.

redcar_2

I'm feeling another eagerlearner thread coming on!

Good luck with your claim but from ELs experience the faster you move with these people the better as they will fob you off no end. Do not accept any excuses for delaying with proceedings.

MrChips

Thanks for all the support so far. Here is an update with some progress

I followed the advice to deliver the letter again by hand which I did last night. We also followed this up by sending a pdf of it to him by email. The new "letter before action" gives him until Friday 10 August to cough up, following which we will (finally) submit our claim.

Today he finally made contact, replying to the email which is proof he received the letter His reply is below and his argument is riddled with holes. I’d welcome any comment about whether he is allowed to withhold a deposit because he believes someone used a lot of electricity, or because someone had a frequent guest, or anything else you think he is incorrect about (the spelling and grammar mistakes are all his by the way!). Anyway, looks like he won’t pay so we will definitely get our day in court. Thanks for all the advice so far

Dear Miss A,

I am sure that I did return your deposit, If you are honest you will know that you did not clean your room to any standard, I was there myself till 10pm still cleaning berfore the next tenant could move in. You did not pay any council tax but merely a contribution. If people are fair with me then I am fair in return. I pay for everything at my houses and some people take advantage. Miss B cost me a fortune by leaving an electric heater running in the loft - sometimes with the window open! (I have an electric bill for £800!) this is strictly against the terms of my agreement. Mr C, apart from trying to avoid paying rent for one month had his wife living in my house for several months without my permission, this hindered me whilst showing the property and is strictly against the terms of the agreement. If I wanted coiuples living in the house I would have got them myself and had much more rent. Limiting the numbers at the house is to everyones advantage. I benefit by less wear and tear and lower bills. Tenants benefit for obvious reasons. Whilst writing I would point out that nobody ever touched the garden which they should have done under the terms of the agreement. In conclusion I am an honest and fair person and I am always happy to have my agreement tested in court.

Kind regards,

Mr Landlord

I’ll have to check what the tenancy agreement said about the garden. However I know he never provided a lawn mower with which to cut the grass.

If he has such cast iron reasons to cut back everyone’s deposit, why wait 5 months to justify it and in the process ignore all attempts to contact him?

pcwilkins

MrChips wrote: »

Dear Miss A,

I am sure that I did return your deposit,

So is he saying he's returned the whole deposit?

If you are honest you will know that you did not clean your room to any standard, I was there myself till 10pm still cleaning berfore the next tenant could move in.

If he has no proof of this, it will not be of any value in court.

You did not pay any council tax but merely a contribution.

That doesn't make sense. Is he saying you didn't pay any, or that you did pay some?

If people are fair with me then I am fair in return. I pay for everything at my houses and some people take advantage. Miss B cost me a fortune by leaving an electric heater running in the loft - sometimes with the window open! (I have an electric bill for £800!) this is strictly against the terms of my agreement.

What, does the agreement prohibit using the electricity supply?

Mr C, apart from trying to avoid paying rent for one month had his wife living in my house for several months without my permission, this hindered me whilst showing the property and is strictly against the terms of the agreement.

That would be an unfair term anyway.

If I wanted coiuples living in the house I would have got them myself and had much more rent.

Hmmm, yeah right. So why didn't he?

Limiting the numbers at the house is to everyones advantage. I benefit by less wear and tear and lower bills.

Surely the extra wear and tear would be covered by the "much more rent" he mentioned in the previous sentence.

Tenants benefit for obvious reasons.

Not all that obvious to me.

Whilst writing I would point out that nobody ever touched the garden which they should have done under the terms of the agreement.

I'm sure you probably all "touched" the garden at some point.

In conclusion I am an honest and fair person

Of course, if he was a dishonest person, he wouldn't be honest enough to admit it :-)

and I am always happy to have my agreement tested in court.

He's calling your bluff. Don't back down.

1) We have 2 witnesses who know he arrived to clean the room at 5.30pm and stopped when the new tenant arrived at 7pm. We also have photos to show it was left clean and tidy.

The photos are the important bit. The time he spent cleaning is irrelevant.

3) Quite how he knows Miss B’s heating and window habits in her own room without spying on her or snooping is beyond me. And how he is able to split an electricity bill exactly between each housemate based on their own usage? Anyway, the agreement says he pays for bills so how can he decide that one quarter it is too big and that in that case he has the right to reclaim it from a deposit?

Spot on. If TA says he will pay the bills, then he must pay them no matter how big. That's the risk he takes.

5) I’ll have to check what the tenancy agreement said about the garden. However I know he never provided a lawn mower with which to cut the grass.

If you were responsible for maintaining the garden and didn't, he may be within his rights to cover the cost of getting it back to a tidy state.

It sounds like he is determined not to pay so I would out in your claim as soon as poss. Hope it works out!

Peter

MrChips

I decided to edit out some of the holes in his arguments (as the original post was getting too long) which I had previously included. Hence Peter's post quotes some bits of my post which are no longer there!

benjdr

Keep the updates coming!
Can't wait for you to nail this fella.

olly300

Since he has replied start your court action TODAY.

MrChips

Well....we finally did it. Submitted the claim tonight.

3x deposits £1235 + £2.08 for 2 letters sent recorded delivery, + interest at 8%

We'll update when we know more.

What happens next?!