Can I ask for my deposit back?

G_M

dirty_magic wrote: »

..... She said she's not getting any rent from the tenant this month as it's been taken up by agents fees,

Was this discussed as a condition of Early Surrender?


The law is unclear because your agreement with her was verbal & unclear.

But it seems:

a) you signed a contract to pay rent till 15th March
b) she agreed verbally to an Early Surrender dated whenever a new tenant took out a new replacement tenancy
c) however you did not agree whether rent would cease to be charged from that date till 15th March
d) nor did you discuss/agree whether the agency fees would be charged to you as a condition of her agreement to Early Surrender

Your best bet it to claim that that (c) IS what you undertood/agreed, an therefore you should only be charged till then, and (d) is NOT what you discussed/understood, so cannot be introduced now.

I would stop discussing this and write a letter making a claim, and justifying that claim as above.

dirty_magic

Thanks for the help! The problem is I can't put anything in writing as she's moved from the address we hold for her and she hasn't given us her new address.

I feel so awkward speaking to her about it, it would actually be easier to do it in writing.

ETA: There was no mention of agency fees. She just said she'd find a new tenant asap so we wouldn't have to pay. It just took a bit longer to find one than planned so I cancelled a month early with her permission to make sure I got the deposit back.