Renting Disaster - Need Advice

NettieSmith1993

Hi guys,

So myself and 3 other friends have rented a 4 bedroom flat in Glasgow through a lettings agency. Everything seemed to be going okay until my friend went to collect the keys from the agency, where she was told that there was outstanding money on the deposit (a sum of £900) which she paid.

After getting into the flat we had a chance to look through the contracts, which directly contradicted this additional deposit, after querying this and asking for our money back we were told the contracts were initially incorrect due to an administration error and that if we weren't happy paying the additional money we were welcome to get out.

Whilst moving in we discovered damp in one of the bedrooms. After taking photos we contacted the lettings agency who arranged for a contractor to come and look at the issue 2 weeks after it was reported. The issue was a leaking chimney, which was fixed relatively quickly. However, the issue of the damp which had already seeped in remained. The contractor advised that the brick and the plaster would be wet - the whole wall would have to be replastered to allow it to dry. After explaining this to the lettings agency they arranged for someone to fill in some cracks that had appeared and to repaint.

To cut a long story short we've been through Shelter, the council and the environmental agency who have all said that it needs to be replastered as it won't dry for at least 1-2 months (during which time it isn't advisable for someone to be sleeping in that room).

My flatmate who's room it is is moving out, but after the many disagreements and general stubbornness and unwillingness to sort anything out with the lettings agency I would also like to move out.

In the contract it says by moving out before the end of the tenancy I would lose the deposit. Is there any way to get around that, seen as it's been less than one month and already one room has been deemed uninhabitable?

Further to this I really need advice on the deposit issue, where the landlord changed the contract after it was signed due to "admin error".

We only moved in on the 1st July so I would ideally like to get this sorted before 1st August!

Thank You

Poten

Its probably a good thing that the deposit contains an extra £900. It doesn't expose you to any more liability as if you had caused more damage than the original deposit was the LL could have claimed that from you anyway. Given what you have said about your LL/Agents I'm going to go out on a limb and assume they probably haven't either protected your deposit or supplied the prescribed info. People who cant get their own paperwork right would be unlikely to get other paperwork correct. This is punishable by a fine of 1-3x the deposit. So if the deposit is £900 larger, then their fine is potentially £900-£2700 larger than it would have been!

Is the deposit protected already and do you have the PI?

I'm not entirely up to date with legislation in Scotland but I'm assuming your choices are to either:

(i) Liase with (which means nag, chase up and beg) your councils officers for bits of paper to force the LL to do something. Then liase with (same as above) the LL in order to get the works carried out which will probably be less pleasurable than pulling out your own teeth.

(ii) Offer/take an early surrender.

Pixie5740

There's 4 of you living in this property so it'll be classed as a HMO. Does your LL have a HMO licence and is he registered with the local council as a LL? Both are legal requirements in Scotland.

If you moved in 1st July you've only been living there for 21 days so you need to hold your horses. There was an issue with the chimney which has now been resolved. Who has said that the room is no longer habitable? The council? Have they actually come out and looked at the property? Has the damp been reported in writing to the LL? Shelter Scotland has a template letter you can use. If your LL doesn't carry out repairs you can apply to the Private Rented Housing Panel (PRHP) but I can't see how you'd have got to that stage in 21 days.

Your flat mate can move out. You can move out. However, that won't mean an end to your tenancy agreement you'll still be liable to pay the rent.

As for the deposit you've paid the deposit asked of you and I assume it had been protected. That doesn't mean to say that your LL couldn't take you to court for unpaid rent or damages over and above the value of the deposit at a later date though.

theartfullodger

Presumably you can prove all the deposit including the £900 was paid.

If not all the deposit you paid was protected then you can sue landlord for up to 3xdeposit (3x total-deposit) and from what you say probably win.

Definition of what a deposit is is here
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2006/1/section/120

120 Tenancy deposits: preliminary

(1)A tenancy deposit is a sum of money held as security for—
(a)the performance of any of the occupant's obligations arising under or in connection with a tenancy or an occupancy arrangement, or
(b)the discharge of any of the occupant's liabilities which so arise.

Just because landlord says it is something else - eg "fairy dust" doesn't stop it being a deposit.

See advice here on letters to send, suing etc
http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/paying_for_a_home/deposits/tenancy_deposit_schemes