Deposit Refund Refusal

EvilDes

maninthestreet wrote: »

If you do get this deposot money back, and it's given to you in cash, please check the notes carefully - especially if they are Scottish notes.

:laugh: Very good! Made me chuckle!

Pinkshoes - that was my thinking on the matter. She agreed. We payed what we owed. Lef the place in a good state, and have never, not once, given her any problems. I won't let it die. If we don't get our money back, I will proceed to make sure prospective tenants are aware of the problems in the apartment, and the fact we never got our deposit back.

I will, as per normal, keep everyone updated.

Guy_Montag

EvilDes wrote: »

:laugh: Very good! Made me chuckle!

Pinkshoes - that was my thinking on the matter. She agreed. We payed what we owed. Lef the place in a good state, and have never, not once, given her any problems. I won't let it die. If we don't get our money back, I will proceed to make sure prospective tenants are aware of the problems in the apartment, and the fact we never got our deposit back.

I will, as per normal, keep everyone updated.

That's a good point by pinkie - at least it's some evidence that an agreement was reached.

Good luck.

pinkshoes

When you paid the extra 2 weeks rent, did you pay cash/cheque (i.e. she physically had to accept it), or did you transfer the money by direct debit?

If you paid by cash/cheque, and she physically took the money, then that's an agreement. Especially if it was a cheque, and the cheque has been cashed.

EvilDes

Yes, all our rent was paid by cheque each month, as was the final payment of 2 weeks.

thesaint

The landlady agreed to leave early, but nothing you say states that she wouldn't hold you responsible for the rent until either someone else moved in, or your fixed term expired.

I believe she will state that she did not say that she would terminate the contract. This may not be the truth, but as you don't have any proof to the contrary, you are left high and dry.

She was correct in stating that it wouldn't affect your deposit, because it doesn't, but, since you failed to make rent payments she used the depsosit money in lieu of this, most AST's stae this in their terms.

You can forget about the noise upstairs, it is too late to do anything about it now.

As for her not seeking the rest of the money that you may or may not owe, I would not place much importance on this. In this country, tenants can leave debts of thousands of pounds and the authorities are not interested.
Hence most landlords take it on the chin and move on.

franklee

EvilDes wrote: »

Can I ask though, in these terms, what exactly is meant by her mitigating her losses?

It means that the landlady cannot just sit back and charge you rent till the end of your contract. She is obliged to make her best efforts to re-let the property so as to lessen the amount of rent she has lost by your leaving early and thus the amount you may be charged for (if you are liable which you would be without her agreement you could leave). This means it must be properly advertised etc. If the property was off the market for repairs, or was used for a friend or relative to live there etc. then the landlady cannot charge you. So check that everything possible has been done all this time, and is still being done to re-let the property. Also query why it's been empty so long. Although let down buy one lot of tenants you should question why haven't others been found after all this time? Why expect it to be empty till June when your contract ends?