Recovering deposit

hughlle

Hi all. I'm having trouble recovering an unprotected deposit having moved out of a flat, with landlord refusing all forms of contact.

First off, I know that I should have taken action and done certain things, but university was proving stressful, I had other worries at the time, and I made mistakes

The rent was a shared flat and a SHT, and the dposit is listed as being for damage or rent arrears (No damage was caused other than some stains on the wall due to the ever present mold problem in the flat, and a small hole in the brick wall when I had to try and put up my own curtain rail (some plaster cracked and fell out while drilling))

As it stands, per the contract (and law) my deposit should be in an authorized scheme, and within 30 ays, details provided to me. This did not happen so I demanded a number of times for the paperwork, and the best response I got was of course, I'll be over later tonight, but instead of paperwork he just gave me a can of pilsner..

Here are some issues with the whole situation though.

Rent was cash in hand for all tennants (he has a long sob story about being blacklisted by banks so cannot have a bank account)(and this is a 4 bed flat in London so that could be a lot of tax free income...). I demanded receipts but none came, he just asked that cash was left in an envelope in a kitchen cupboard and he would just pop in, grab the money, and leave before anyone knew he was here (he would let himself into the flat day or night without prior notice. Despite all rooms being let, his named address was the flat so I don't know if that constitutes a workaround for the requirement to give notice prior to entering the flat, and the contract stating I may quietly enjoy the premesis without any interuption by the landlord (it was constant interruption)). As such, I have no record other than the withdrawal of cash from my account every month.

I also left a month before my contract was up as the building owners were knocking on the door talking about bailiffs and court for the landlords significant arrears with his ground rent, and threatening to change the locks on the door to the building and prosecuting for trespass if we attempted to gain access to our flat, and our belongings, I felt forced to leave early.

So far he has not responded to any of my attempts despite other tenants telling me that he had someone move into my vacated room within 2 days, and that he was still around and not back at his house in Cyprus.

I'm off to the CAB tomorrow for some advice, but anyone have an inkling of what my chances or options are? Or has the refusal to offer receipts mean I've not a chance?

As it stands, I'm thinking that my only real option is to go to small claims court for the unprotected deposit and hope that that mitigates any made up argument of not paying rent etc that he may attempt to use against me. While compensation plus deposit sounds nice, as I'm just about to enter third year of uni, I don't really fancy the hassle and distraction.

Many thanks, Hugh.

G_M

Good grief - why do people get themselves into these situations!

hughlle wrote: »

Hi all. I'm having trouble recovering an unprotected deposit having moved out of a flat, with landlord refusing all forms of contact.

First off, I know that I should have taken action and done certain things, but university was proving stressful, I had other worries at the time, and I made mistakes
Yup!

The rent was a shared flat and a SHT,
1) do you mean AST?
2) Was it in your sole name, or a joint tenancy will the names of all occupants on the same contract?
and the dposit is listed as being for damage or rent arrears (No damage was caused other than some stains on the wall due to the ever present mold problem in the flat, and a small hole in the brick wall when I had to try and put up my own curtain rail (some plaster cracked and fell out while drilling))
This is damage for which you can be charged

As it stands, per the contract (and law) my deposit should be in an authorized scheme, and within 30 ays, details provided to me.
Correct
This did not happen so I demanded a number of times for the paperwork, and the best response I got was of course, I'll be over later tonight, but instead of paperwork he just gave me a can of pilsner..
???
So presumably you then wrote to him.........???

Here are some issues with the whole situation though.

Rent was cash in hand for all tennants (he has a long sob story about being blacklisted by banks so cannot have a bank account)(and this is a 4 bed flat in London so that could be a lot of tax free income...). I demanded receipts but none came, he just asked that cash was left in an envelope in a kitchen cupboard and he would just pop in, grab the money, and leave before anyone knew he was here
Oh good grief! And you paid rent like this month after month? :eek:
(he would let himself into the flat day or night without prior notice. Despite all rooms being let, his named address was the flat so I don't know if that constitutes a workaround for the requirement to give notice prior to entering the flat, and the contract stating I may quietly enjoy the premesis without any interuption by the landlord (it was constant interruption)).
Is this an HMO? Ie does each occupant rent their own room and share communal areas? If so, the LL has right of access to common areas.

As such, I have no record other than the withdrawal of cash from my account every month.
:eek:

What about the deposit?
3) Did you get a receipt when you paid?
4) Is the deposit mentioned in your tenancy agreement?

I also left a month before my contract was up as the building owners were knocking on the door talking about bailiffs and court for the landlords significant arrears with his ground rent, and threatening to change the locks on the door to the building and prosecuting for trespass if we attempted to gain access to our flat, and our belongings, I felt forced to leave early.
5) Neither you, nor your landlord, could be evicted by the building owners without a court order. Since (it seems) they did not have a court order, you had no reason to leave
6) So you left before the tenancy ended - you owe rent up to the tenancy end date, NOT the date you left.

So far he has not responded to any of my attempts despite other tenants telling me that he had someone move into my vacated room within 2 days, and that he was still around and not back at his house in Cyprus.
He lives abroad? So how did he collect the rent in cash each month....?
What address did he give you "for serving notices"? The UK or Cyprus?

I'm off to the CAB tomorrow for some advice, but anyone have an inkling of what my chances or options are? Or has the refusal to offer receipts mean I've not a chance?
What you seem to want to claim is the deposit. Since you have not mentioned
* how much it is
* how/when you paid
* whether you got a receipt
* whether it is in the tenancy agreement
it is hard to answer you!

Plus of course, you owe further rent.

As it stands, I'm thinking that my only real option is to go to small claims court for the unprotected deposit and hope that that mitigates any made up argument of not paying rent etc that he may attempt to use against me. While compensation plus deposit sounds nice, as I'm just about to enter third year of uni, I don't really fancy the hassle and distraction.

Many thanks, Hugh.

My guess is that this landlord is not going to suddenly return your deposit.

As it's not protected, you can't use a deposit scheme.

So yes, court action is the only option.

Assuming you can prove you paid a deposit of course.

The rent arrears will be offset against any award you receive.

ThePants999

If he's not even managing to pay the ground rent, I suspect that even if you win in court, you're simply going to be added to a long list of creditors... sorry

nkkingston

So the let was very clearly illegal, and as people are figuring this out he's going to be facing issues with the freeholder, his mortgage company, HMRC, and probably a bunch of other people he's stiffed. Though you have just as much right to your money back as they rest of them, all of their claims are going to be much larger, putting you at the bottom of the queue.

hughlle

Cheers for the replies. It was rude of me not to have gotten back, it's been a hectic summer.

As to how people get themselves into this kind of mess, sometimes things happen. As a university student I did not have the money to get myself a fancy London apartment (it was the only one available within my budget at the time due to location and specific requirements) nor the time to try and rectify the situation once it started to unravel. Have spoken to the letting agents and it appears that the bloke has done a runner. Live and learn. I might consider one of these no win no fee deposit recovery companies, but for now it's time to start looking for a flat for my last year so more important things to think about.

Thanks, Hugh