stressful deposit situation - advice needed

houseplant

Hi All

I have found myself in a very stressful situation with an ex landlord and would really appreciate some advice

Basically on 31st March 2012 my partner and i signed a short assured tenancy lease with my then landlord, we paid the deposit in cash (£750) and first months rent. All went well from then, landlord responded to issues and repairs etc and when we asked permissions such as connecting sky tv etc we constantly got "yes, do what you want"

Fast forward 12 months - The original lease was for 6 months, which we never actually officially renewed, we sort of just carried on paying rent and stayed there for 1 year in total. A day or so after we moved out i contacted the landlord to ask about deposit he said yes, we will check the property and get back to you, i called again 1 week later to be told he is not dealing with it and the person who is is on holiday for 2 weeks ( i have to say he is the landlord on the lease and not through a leting agent, so i was very confused by who the extra people could be) anyway several phonecalls to him and excuse after excuse saying he is not th one responsible and he has written a letter to the person/people who are, i finally called his bluff.

I contacted the person he says is responsible who told me, that he owns the building however has let the residential properties to my landlord who can sublet to people (hence why we paid him and he signed the lease) - I told my landlord about this conversation and he got very angry obviously because i now know the truth that he has been lying - he said that he had reports we were smoking in the property and had pets (he said verbally we could have our cat and we don't smoke) so he says we breached lease and as he had to paint and fill pin holes from some pictures on the wall - he is not giving us anything and we will need to take him to court.

that was Friday and i now dont know what to do!

it is worth saying that i know he did not pay the deposit into a protection scheme and when asked he is not even aware what that is and laughed at me. and there was no inventory for the flat. I know he is going to be as difficult as he can be for no reason.

Thanks and sorry for the essay.


HP

tim123456789

A LL (nor anybody else) is entitled to make a charge for a technical breach of a lease. All they can charge for is the actual damage caused.

You can sue him for the return of the money and as he didn't protect the deposit you can also sue him for (up to) three times the amount.

Threatening to do the latter might focus his mine on the former.

G_M

Do you have a receipt for the deposit cash you paid? Is it signed? Dated? Stated as deposit?

Do you have a tenancy agreement in the landlords name?

Did you give correct notice to end the tenancy (read this post here)? (or do you have written consent for Early Surrender of the tenancy?)

Write a letter to the landlord named on your tenancy agreement, at the address "for the serving of notices".

Dear Mr Landlord,

Letter Before Action

Further to our various conversations (and previous correspondance dated xx/xx/xx?), I am writing to ask that my deposit of £750 be returned to me at the above address (into my bank account/whatever) within 5 days of receipt of this letter.

Please note that failing this, action will be taken via the courts not only for return of the full deposit, and court costs, but for the penalty of 3 times the deposit for failure to protect the deposit in a recognised scheme, as laid down in the Housing Act 2004.

Yours sincerely,

A Tenant

Read:

Deposits (Rules on deposit protection)

Housing Act 2004 (Deposits; Houses of Multiple Occupation; etc)

Localism Act 2011 (section 184 - updates to deposit scheme rules) Plain English explanation!

Yorkie1

Just checking, OP, are you in Scotland or in England / Wales?

houseplant

Thank you for your replies

I am in London.

I dont have a seperate receipt for the deposit in cash but it does say £750 paid as deposit on the lease itself.

Weirdly i noticed a few days ago when i was looking at the lease that he has printed is name on the lease with a different name than what he has signed it.

The name he signed it in is the same name his bank account and business card etc are in but he printed a different surname??

This could be another family name but i do not know. Does this affect things?

G_M

houseplant wrote: »

Thank you for your replies

I am in London.

I dont have a seperate receipt for the deposit in cash but it does say £750 paid as deposit on the lease itself.

Weirdly i noticed a few days ago when i was looking at the lease that he has printed is name on the lease with a different name than what he has signed it.

The name he signed it in is the same name his bank account and business card etc are in but he printed a different surname??

This could be another family name but i do not know. Does this affect things?

If you want to sue someone you will need to :

1) know who to sue - name/address
2) be able to prove you had the relationship (LL/Tenant) you claim
3) you paid what you claim you paid

Can you prove who you paid rent to for this year? Cheques? Bank transfers?

houseplant

Yes we paid everything by bank transfer except the first two months which i went into his bank and paid the money in cash as i did not have a standing order set up then.

I can prove i took the money out of my bank but not what i did with it, i stupidly didnt keep the receipts

HP