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Nightmare Landlord - Help!!
bobwilson
Posts: 595 Forumite
We are the quietest tenants a landlord could wish for, and wherever we lived, our landlords have always told us how happy they are with us.
We rented a lovely penthouse flat for one year, and paid 12 months rent in advance (£28,800). During our tenancy we gradually discovered we had a landlord from hell; he was rather aggressive and it reached a point where I had to move out around 6 months early because I didn't feel safe from him, and got permission to rent my empty room out.
It turned out the landlord is a developer and owns several whole block of flats, but we discovered gradually that he took a keen interest in the one we were renting.
Through the year, he breached the tenancy agreement by turning up repeatedly unannounced stating he'd "forgotten how nice the view from the flat is", wanting to show his brother around, forced his way into the property a few times. He would appear on our private roof terrace at random times, gaining access from the fire escape.
After our patience ran out, we tried to tell him we needed notice before he turns up, but the reaction was aggressive.
Everyone told him about the building being in a state of disrepair and dirty (leaking roof, litter, dog poo on walls, broken furniture in hallways, builder's materials left lying around, smell around the building from all the rubbish...etc.), but nothing was done for months. It gradually dawned on us that this luxury flat was not quite as luxury as we had thought, it felt like we were living as animals.
After so many months, he started trying to sell the flat while we were living there. At this point, he had the whole building repaired and cleaned. He arranged estate agent viewings & prospective buyers to come over without our knowledge or permission. When we asked him to check with us first, his response was aggressive and threatened to prevent me from renting out my room. This was one day before the new tenant was due to move in.
The letting agent had been quite rude and defensive towards us over the year. We told them we hadn't received the check in form, and the estate agent said "don't worry about it- nothing can happen if you haven't received and signed it.", we asked him to put it in writing, but he started shouting at us down the phone "NO. I WON'T PUT IT IN WRITING, NO. I RUN A PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS AND WON'T BE CAUGHT OUT BY YOU"
He failed to keep the building maintained, didn't provide us with a check-in form, and at the end of the tenancy, he now wants to keep £500 of our deposit for issues that were there before we moved into the flat.
The flat wasn't clean when we moved in (despite being told it had been "professionally cleaned"), so we had to clean everything. Now, at the end of the tenancy, the landlord wants to take over £200 for professional cleaning, and £300 for other issues that were there before we moved in.
The whole situation is a rather diar and we just want rid of these people, but we also want our deposit back in full, without losing over £500.
It's been almost a month now since the end of our tenancy, and still haven't received any of our £3200 deposit.
What can we do?
We emailed the letting agent, who shrugged their shoulders and said we have to talk to the landlord about it, which is obviously a dead end.
EDIT: The letting agent has now released each of our deposits minus £500, and paid it all into my ex flatmate's account, including mine, without my permission. I don't really know this person as I haven't lived there for months. The letting agent is insisting they don't need my permission to refund my deposit into someone else's account. My ex flatmates are not responding to my texts or emails. So now around 80% of my deposit is in my ex flat mate's account and 20% in the landlord's account.
I contacted MyDeposits about all of this, and they said I can raise a claim against the landlord for the missing 20% but that there is nothing they can do about the letting agent having paid the rest of my money into someone else's account. Meanwhile, none of my money is in my account.
We rented a lovely penthouse flat for one year, and paid 12 months rent in advance (£28,800). During our tenancy we gradually discovered we had a landlord from hell; he was rather aggressive and it reached a point where I had to move out around 6 months early because I didn't feel safe from him, and got permission to rent my empty room out.
It turned out the landlord is a developer and owns several whole block of flats, but we discovered gradually that he took a keen interest in the one we were renting.
Through the year, he breached the tenancy agreement by turning up repeatedly unannounced stating he'd "forgotten how nice the view from the flat is", wanting to show his brother around, forced his way into the property a few times. He would appear on our private roof terrace at random times, gaining access from the fire escape.
After our patience ran out, we tried to tell him we needed notice before he turns up, but the reaction was aggressive.
Everyone told him about the building being in a state of disrepair and dirty (leaking roof, litter, dog poo on walls, broken furniture in hallways, builder's materials left lying around, smell around the building from all the rubbish...etc.), but nothing was done for months. It gradually dawned on us that this luxury flat was not quite as luxury as we had thought, it felt like we were living as animals.
After so many months, he started trying to sell the flat while we were living there. At this point, he had the whole building repaired and cleaned. He arranged estate agent viewings & prospective buyers to come over without our knowledge or permission. When we asked him to check with us first, his response was aggressive and threatened to prevent me from renting out my room. This was one day before the new tenant was due to move in.
The letting agent had been quite rude and defensive towards us over the year. We told them we hadn't received the check in form, and the estate agent said "don't worry about it- nothing can happen if you haven't received and signed it.", we asked him to put it in writing, but he started shouting at us down the phone "NO. I WON'T PUT IT IN WRITING, NO. I RUN A PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS AND WON'T BE CAUGHT OUT BY YOU"
He failed to keep the building maintained, didn't provide us with a check-in form, and at the end of the tenancy, he now wants to keep £500 of our deposit for issues that were there before we moved into the flat.
The flat wasn't clean when we moved in (despite being told it had been "professionally cleaned"), so we had to clean everything. Now, at the end of the tenancy, the landlord wants to take over £200 for professional cleaning, and £300 for other issues that were there before we moved in.
The whole situation is a rather diar and we just want rid of these people, but we also want our deposit back in full, without losing over £500.
It's been almost a month now since the end of our tenancy, and still haven't received any of our £3200 deposit.
What can we do?
We emailed the letting agent, who shrugged their shoulders and said we have to talk to the landlord about it, which is obviously a dead end.
EDIT: The letting agent has now released each of our deposits minus £500, and paid it all into my ex flatmate's account, including mine, without my permission. I don't really know this person as I haven't lived there for months. The letting agent is insisting they don't need my permission to refund my deposit into someone else's account. My ex flatmates are not responding to my texts or emails. So now around 80% of my deposit is in my ex flat mate's account and 20% in the landlord's account.
I contacted MyDeposits about all of this, and they said I can raise a claim against the landlord for the missing 20% but that there is nothing they can do about the letting agent having paid the rest of my money into someone else's account. Meanwhile, none of my money is in my account.
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Comments
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Are you in England? Is the deposit protected? If yes, contact whatever company is holding it and request that it is released.
If no, WRITE to the LANDLORD (not the agent) and remind him that he was obliged to protect it, and as he hasn't you will be seeking legal advice to take him to court, where he can be penalised for up to 3x the original deposit amount, if he doesn't return it within 7 days.
The other issues prior to you moving out are irrelvant now.0 -
Assuming there was an inventory when you moved in does it mention the condition? For example, does it say that the apartment was professionally cleaned? If so, did you raise an objection and add a note to the inventory before you signed it? Does the contract mention anything regarding professional cleaning at checkout?
If the deposit is protected and no inventory is signed and the contract does not state you must have the property professionally cleaned at exit then they cannot make deductions for that. However if you've signed something agreeing to it (or confirmed it was professionally cleaned at the start of the tenancy) you're out of luck and will need to pay up.0 -
Edit: Ignore me.
As the rent is over £25k (figure needs verifying) - I don't believe you have an Assured Shorthold Tenancy .... there's something different if rent value is over this amount. This something different = different rules.
Edit: It's now £100,000 I believe.0 -
We're in London and it is protected under MyDeposits apparently.
We never saw the inventory that was taken when we moved in.
I have just now discovered that the estate agent deducted the disputed amount, and paid all 3 of our deposits back into one tenant's account, instead of splitting it between all 3 of us. This apparently happened some time ago without my knowledge and my ex housemate hasn't paid anything into my account. So in other words, my ex housemate has 80% of my deposit, and the landlord has the rest. This is a nightmare.0 -
We're in London and it is protected under MyDeposits apparently.
We never saw the inventory that was taken when we moved in.
If you did not sign an inventory your deposit is safe, they cannot make reductions for damage and/or cleaning if they cannot demonstrate the problems happened during your tenancy. No signed inventory = no demonstration you have changed the condition (for better or worse).0 -
If you didn't see it, you didn't sign it, contact Mydeposits, request your full deposit back on those grounds and the LL can go fly a kite...0
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Apparently the estate agent has transferred most of my deposit into my ex housemate's account. I've not heard from my ex housemate for weeks, I'm not related to her and I have no way of knowing where she is.
The estate agent said they only legally have to pay all 3 of our deposits back into ONE back account, and it's up to us to distribute it between ourselves.
So now I have to chase myDeposits, the landlord, and my ex housemate?
It all just seems extremely unprofessional.0 -
We're in London and it is protected under MyDeposits apparently.
We never saw the inventory that was taken when we moved in.
I have just now discovered that the estate agent deducted the disputed amount, and paid all 3 of our deposits back into one tenant's account, instead of splitting it between all 3 of us.
This doesn't make sense.
If the deposit was protected, then the Estate Agent can't just "deduct a disputed amount" if it is protected, they would have to raise a claim to keep part of the deposit with TDS. The lead tenant would then accept this, and have the deposit returned minus this amount, or dispute it, then TDS would decide if it would be deducted before returning the full or partial deposit.
From what you have said it has been returned to the lead tenant (not you) now anyway.
Have you spoken to him re the return of your deposit?
If he is refusing to re pay you what you are owed, then send him a letter before action requesting your money back, and if you hear nothing, file a case at the small claims court.0 -
Apparently the estate agent has transferred most of my deposit into my ex housemate's account. I've not heard from my ex housemate for weeks, I'm not related to her and I have no way of knowing where she is.
The estate agent said they only legally have to pay all 3 of our deposits back into ONE back account, and it's up to us to distribute it between ourselves.
So now I have to chase myDeposits, the landlord, and my ex housemate?
It all just seems extremely unprofessional.
If the estate agent has transfered the deposit in to your ex FM's account then it doesn't sound like it was protected.
You will need to contact your ex flatmate. Do you not know where she works, or can someone tell you where she lives?0 -
Start by contacting MyDeposits here: http://www.mydeposits.co.uk/tenants/get-started/register-a-dispute/ and see what has happened. All sounds very strange to me too.
Were you given the prescribed information about MyDeposits by the LA/LL? How to access the website etc?
If you weren't then this is a statutory obligation for the landlord to do and you can still take him to court for failure to do so.
Check first and then come back for more support.0
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