Ex Landlord asking for money back 'wrongly paid'

goldenboy1

The tenancy for my uni house ended on 31st June with a lettings management agency who act on behalf of landlord.

Several days before this I received an email from them saying they had received an overpayment of rent and this would be transferred into my account. At the time I was not aware I had overpaid but just assumed they had taken too much over each month and were paying it back now the end of the tenancy, so did not query it.

Several weeks later it was paid into my account.

I have now received an email saying that they made a mistake and are asking me to send the money back to them.

This all sounds rather disorganised, but I want to know if there is any action they can take against me? As they did not transfer money into an incorrect bank account, they knowingly sent me the money and are only now asking for it back.

Where do I stand.

duchy

I'd ask them for a full statement of owings and payments over the term of the contract and ask them to identify where the error occurred so you can check the figures before arranging to reimburse them.
I might be tempted to deduct an admin fee if they are one of those agencies that are especially greedy over fees themselves too

mrginge

As above. You need to establish whether they owed you this money or not.
If you are owed it you keep it.
If not you pay it back.

If not and you decide to keep it, they can sue you for it. You will lose and probably have to pay costs.

goldenboy1

I suppose I need to back track all the payments which is a pain.

If worst case scenario that it was a mistake paying me the money, do they have a cause of action reclaiming it with the bank? Because they cannot say they transferred it to the incorrect account or anything. I have email and paper evidence of the invoice they sent for this overpayment which they now claim is an error/mistake.

mrginge

goldenboy1 wrote: »

I suppose I need to back track all the payments which is a pain.

If worst case scenario that it was a mistake paying me the money, do they have a cause of action reclaiming it with the bank? Because they cannot say they transferred it to the incorrect account or anything. I have email and paper evidence of the invoice they sent for this overpayment which they now claim is an error/mistake.

No, they have an action against you.

goldenboy1

Also, does it make a difference the amount? The figure is around £240.

princeofpounds

No. Work out if you owe it. If you do, pay it. Stop hoping this is free money.

G_M

They sound inefficient. But that does not alter the basic rights involved:

If they owe you money, they should pay you.

If you owe them money, you should pay them.

densol_2

I'm not suggesting this for one minute but the thought made me laugh.

Ask for a full breakdown
Employ an accountant to check it
It's correct
Send a letter saying - I employed an accountant to check the figures - they are correct - he charged me £239 fee so here's a pound back ! Lol

In all seriousness - it's retaining a credit unlawfully if you keep the money from a genuine mistake - so you do need to pay back if correct x

Mallotum_X

If it's not yours you must return it. However I would ask the. To provide a full breakdown to show why it's needed to be returned. They may decide it's not worth the effort.

goldenboy1

duchy wrote: »

I'd ask them for a full statement of owings and payments over the term of the contract and ask them to identify where the error occurred so you can check the figures before arranging to reimburse them.
I might be tempted to deduct an admin fee if they are one of those agencies that are especially greedy over fees themselves too

They charged a 20 pound admin few to send it in the first place!