Overpayment of rent partially STOLEN due to mixup with dates

thesaint

silk wrote: »

Our notice was handed in on the 20th Oct! I did say this.

Yes, but nothing in your posts tell me whether your notice was valid or not.
Everything else is kind of irrelevant, but interesting.

silk_2

thesaint wrote: »

Yes, but nothing in your posts tell me whether your notice was valid or not.
Everything else is kind of irrelevant, but interesting.

Yes it was valid and it was accepted. I'll post a full email trail since I'm getting nowhere..

silk_2

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Precisely what were the rental-periods in the tenancy? Please note these are not always the same as the rent-due date.

We have found out today that the rolling date is the 26th.

We handed n our notice of tenancy and it was accepted on the 20th Oct, meaning 26th Oct would be our last payment and we had the house until the 26th November.

I accidentally, additionally paid on the 26th November.

I've been saying 26th, but the thing to make clear is that during all communication we'd been told quite clearly the actual date was the 29th. Worse still, I originally asked if it was the 26th (as I thought it was), but they replied on email saying it's the 29th.

We since then worked towards 29th as a mutual date and we did everything we were told to do on or by that date.

Only after accidentally over paying and having some of that overpayment withheld did they tell us that they'd checked their paperwork, that they had made a mistake, and that the last date should have been the 26th. And that we had been charged for the extra days.

We have all of this in writing.

thesaint

silk wrote: »

Yes it was valid and it was accepted. I'll post a full email trail since I'm getting nowhere..

I don't need a full e-mail trail.

What date did your tenancy start, and how long was the fixed term?

donfanatico

OK, write to them, with all the evidence, requesting the refund of xxx within 10 days.

Was the deposit protected? Was it protected within 30 days and Prescribed Info received within 30 days of the start of the tenancy?

When you gave notice did you state the date when you are ending the tenancy?

silvercar

thesaint wrote: »

I don't need a full e-mail trail.

What date did your tenancy start, and how long was the fixed term?

OP said it is periodic now, so we need to know when notice was given at what is the end date of each rent period.

I'm assuming rent is paid monthly and the rent period ends on the 26th as that is when OP thinks the rent should have been paid upto.

But I would have expected OPs notice to say that they are leaving at the end of the rent period and put the date of the tenancy ending in their notice to quit.

Mulder00

Whilst the EA might have given you incorrect information, you handed the keys back on the 29th, so that is when your tenancy formally ended. You are liable for rent on these days (and based on periods etc, you may be liable for more, but you seem to be getting away with the minimum).

leccyblue

I think the OP is being given a hard time here. It's all very well saying "your tenancy finishes when you hand your keys back" etc - which legally no doubt is true, but you're treating the OP as if they are experts in tenancy law. Most tenants aren't - and isn't that what the agent is for - to ask for advice and help?

The point is, the OP submitted their notice. Whether it was 'valid' and would stand up in court or not is irrelevant, because clearly the agent accepted it. OP then contacted the agent to find out when to hand the keys back, and therefore end the tenancy - and was told the 29th.

Clearly, it's the agent here that has not advised their tenant correctly. And since they have mis-advised, in my opinion, I think they should refund the money. Even though technically they are able to make the charge, due to the OP running over the tenancy end date. But, the reason the OP ran over the tenancy end date, is because that's what he was advised to do by the agent.

Had the OP cancelled the standing order, this wouldn't have happened - but OP is clearly aware of this and surely does not need berating.

How you actually go about sorting this is another matter. Personally, I would write a letter to the manager, with copies of all e-mail communication attached.

The reason people are over reacting here is because they know the system, they know that keys should have gone back on the 26th, even if checkout didn't happen until the 29th. And they are right. BUT, you made an effort to check this with the agent beforehand and was told that the checkout and key return would be 29th. The savvy amongst us may still have returned the keys on the 26th anyway - to their office. But that is largely irrelevant since you were told to do both things at the same time on the 29th.

real1314

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I have a feeling that once you contest them having deducting £100 for rent which may not be owed, if indeed your rental-period did end on the 30th, they will tell you that they've deducted £100 in administration charges for returning rent paid but not due.

Cancelling your standing-order would have solved this. But no, someone else is to blame for you being a numpty.

£100 would never be permitted as a reasonable charge for refunding overpaid rent, so it's rather odd to suggest that they might revert to this as a basis for the fee.
It would also be duplicitous to charge a fee on one basis, then when faced with having to refund, change the basis of the fee, so that wouldn't help either.

You seem to be on a mission to prove that the OP is a "numpty" but you're inventing bizarre logic to support your point.

If the agency told the OP that the notice, in line with tenancy terms, expired on the 29th and the OP handed keys back on the 29th, then the agnecy has no basis to charge extra for any excess period which arose only from their mis-advice.

BitterAndTwisted

Last date of tenancy-period appears to have been the 25th of November. Because the keys were not returned by that date the tenant has been charged rent up until the date the keys were handed back on the 29th. Seems fair to me. The landlord could have insisted that the whole montht's rent was due instead.

It's not the landlord or the agent's job to tell the tenant when their tenancy-period will end, or that they should ensure they keys are returned on or before the last day. That is the tenant's responsibility. The landlord or their agent are not the tenant's mother.