Return of deposits

gemando

I moved out of my student house at the end of june (contract ended on 30/06/13). We signed the end of tenancy agreement form, which states that the deposit will be returned within 6 weeks of the end date of the tenancy. According to the MSE page on renting, deposits should be returned within 10 days, so I can request immediate repayment of the deposit or do I have to wait for 6 weeks?

Also I have no idea if the money was in a protected deposit scheme or not although I'm guessing it's not worth asking about it now (unless that would force them to give the whole deposit back, which is currently looking unlikely)?

Werdnal

You can enforce the suggested penalty of 1-3x the deposit value for non-protection, up to 6 years after the tenancy ends.

Write to the LL, requesting confirmation of the deposit scheme your money is with, so you can apply for its release. There is guidance and a template letter on the Shelter website for this situation.

dimbo61

It is 10 working days so could be up to 2 weeks if you left on a friday ?
Now you can check on the 3/4 DPS schemes if your deposit was protected.
The Lanldord should have given you details of where your deposit was registered within 30 days of you paying it.
Contact the LL or LA and ask for your FULL deposit back NOW

gemando

Werdnal wrote: »

You can enforce the suggested penalty of 1-3x the deposit value for non-protection, up to 6 years after the tenancy ends.

Good to know I've got time! I read on the shelter website that it can be more difficult if the house was left unclean etc. I personally did my share, but a few of my housemates did not do their share and their rooms are untidy and unclean.

Werdnal wrote: »

Write to the LL, requesting confirmation of the deposit scheme your money is with, so you can apply for its release. There is guidance and a template letter on the Shelter website for this situation.

I'll go and read it, thanks.

gemando

dimbo61 wrote: »

It is 10 working days so could be up to 2 weeks if you left on a friday ?
Now you can check on the 3/4 DPS schemes if your deposit was protected.
The Lanldord should have given you details of where your deposit was registered within 30 days of you paying it.
Contact the LL or LA and ask for your FULL deposit back NOW

10 working days would be last friday (or this monday just gone) as the tenancy ended on a sunday.

I checked them all but couldn't see anything. I'll recheck them as I'll need to take screenshots as evidence.

To my knowledge, they didn't tell us if our money was protected. My other housemate was head tenant, to whom they would usually send any information like that (except that they were useless at actually telling us about stuff!) I'll check with him.

I'll probably just use the Shelter letter template for it.

Werdnal

gemando wrote: »

Good to know I've got time! I read on the shelter website that it can be more difficult if the house was left unclean etc. I personally did my share, but a few of my housemates did not do their share and their rooms are untidy and unclean.

Did you have a joint tenancy for the whole property, or did you have individual room agreements with shared kitchen/bathroom?

If the first, you are all jointly liable for any loss or damage anywhere in the property.

If the 2nd, you cannot be liable for repairs to the other tenant's rooms, but any losses in the communal areas would be shared between you all UNLESS you can get the specific culprit to take liability.

The 1-3x non protection penalty is a long winded and costly court claim, but the LL may not know this, so could use as a lever to get your whole deposit back.

However, are you sure there was no damage, cleaning, repair costs etc that you are actually responsible for? Was there a written check in and check out inventory for the property? If LL want to claim on the deposit, they normally need proof of start and end condition to apportion blame, so no evidence would make this very difficult for him.

gemando

Werdnal wrote: »

Did you have a joint tenancy for the whole property, or did you have individual room agreements with shared kitchen/bathroom?

If the first, you are all jointly liable for any loss or damage anywhere in the property.

If the 2nd, you cannot be liable for repairs to the other tenant's rooms, but any losses in the communal areas would be shared between you all UNLESS you can get the specific culprit to take liability.

The 1-3x non protection penalty is a long winded and costly court claim, but the LL may not know this, so could use as a lever to get your whole deposit back.

However, are you sure there was no damage, cleaning, repair costs etc that you are actually responsible for? Was there a written check in and check out inventory for the property? If LL want to claim on the deposit, they normally need proof of start and end condition to apportion blame, so no evidence would make this very difficult for him.

I honestly have no idea what kind of tenancy it is, as when I asked the letting agents they didn't seem to know! We all signed on one contract so I assume it's a joint tenancy.

They have said they will just take it from the total deposit (I think) however they will be sending all the remaining deposit to me and it's up to me to redistribute it to my housemates. I'm planning to share it back out based on the damage etc, so if one housemate incurred £100 damage/mess in his room then I'll give him £100 less. Any communal damage will be shared equally.

My room was left as I found it (in better condition actually!)

I'm planning to send them the Shelter template letter on monday which hopefully will at least get them to start the process of returning deposits. I'm planning on challenging any unreasonable deductions and asking for before and after evidence. Unfortunately I don't think anyone took photos when we moved in (I was late to move in so couldnt take photos as everyones stuff was already there), and I took photos when I moved out of some of the house but there were two housemates who had yet to move out so they probably don't count as evidence. Supposedly one of them took an inventory when we moved in but knowing him I doubt it. I don't know if the letting agent/ landlord did an inventory.


Life lesson: Don't live with untidy, disorganised people who don't pull their weight or think to do an inventory etc!

dimbo61

Really it is up to the Landlord to do the inventory !!!
He/she needs evidence of what the property looked like when you moved in and any damage when you moved out.

gemando

dimbo61 wrote: »

Really it is up to the Landlord to do the inventory !!!
He/she needs evidence of what the property looked like when you moved in and any damage when you moved out.

That would require having a decent landlord!

I know they took photos when they inspected the house as one of my housemates were there and saw them.