Last Month Rent as Deposit - not refundable?

Wanderingpomm

Report them to the council for not having an HMO. It’s illegal and there is a £10,000 fine if they don’t get one once they have been warned.

frey_fi

me and my flatmates are on it!!

G_M

What a lovely contract!

frey_fi wrote: »

-Initial Minimum Term of the tenancy will be: 2 month(s) (I moved in in July)

-Two payments of rent in advance are collected at the start of the tenancy. This means you
must then make each subsequent payment 1 month before the date when the rent will be
due.
Totally meaningless. You cannot be forced to pay rent before it is due! (I think they mean it must be paid a month before the period of occupance the rent covers - appalling drafting)

Finally, if the payment is not made before the second month starts or from the second
month, you are giving notice and consequently you have to leave your room and the
property from the day you have become liable.
Unenforcible. Non-payment of rent (ie arrears) is not the same as giving notice. No court would accept this.
And if it were notice, that suggests zero notice periodd ie rent is due today, you don't pay, so that = notice and you must leavve today!)
Eviction proceedings will take place 00:00h
on the day you become liable.
There s nothing to stop a LL starting 'proceedings' immediately, by serving a S8 ground 10 Notice. but unlikely a court would vict though

-ROOM DEPOSIT: 50[ (returnable, subject to conditions in contract) A License falls outside
of the Housing Act 2004 and therefore deposit are not required to be registered in a deposit
protection scheme.
True. But you are a tenant, not a licencee, so it must be protected. You can claim the penalty.

-In the event of any payment being unpaid for more than 7 days after it is due (whether
legally demanded for or not) or there being a breach of any other of the Licensees
obligations under this Licence or in the event of the Licensee ceasing to reside at the
Property or in the event of the Licensees death this License shall there upon be terminated
absolutely but without prejudice to any of the Licensor's other rights and remedies in respect
of any outstanding obligations on the part of the Licensee.
Unenforceable as you are a tenant, not a licencee

-k) Either party may terminate this Licence by giving to the other written notice to that effect,
the length of such notice to be that stated in the termination section of this contract. Upon
the expiry of said notice this Licence shall end with no further liability for either party save for
liability for any antecedent breach.
As you are a tenant, the LL cannot end the tenancy. Only a court can do so. (though you can give notice and end it)

-n) The 'Period' shall mean the period stated in the particulars above or any shorter or longer
period in the event of an earlier termination or an extension of the Licence respectivefy_

-The Licensee may end the Licence at the end of the Initial Minimum Rental Period by giving
one month WRITTEN notice to the Licensor to confirm ending of Licence, the Licensor will
need to confirm receipt of the Licensee's written notice. - they confirmed my notice

/QUOTE]

A judge would laugh this contract out of court.

You could claim 3 times the deposit as penalty for non registration of the deposit.

You may be able to report the LL to the council is this is a licenceable HMO & is unlicenced. Check the council website for their criteria.

As you are paying 2 months rent ahead at all times, the final rent payment should be 2 months before the tenancy ends. If rent is paid at the start of the final month, that would be an over-payment and should be refunded.

You need to send a 'Letter Before Action'. If you have not yet moved out, you may wish to wait - given that the agents have come in and been agressive in the past, thy may do so again. Sending the letter on the day you move out would avoid that unpleasantness.

Your letter should
* claim the immediate return of the deposit
* claim he immediate overpaid rent
* point out you have a tenancy, not a licence, and that the deposit should therefore have been registered, and unless you receive the amount claimed above, you will also claim the deposit penalty

Does your contract name the landlord? Or just the agent? Send letter to LL and a copy to the agent.

frey_fi

Hi G_M,

Thank you so much for the reply, can you define what makes me a tenant not a licencee? As it says at the beginning of the contract " Note: This is not a tenancy agreement. but a licence to occupy a room in the residence and this license confers no security of tenure."

I know I f****ed up signing this, but I just moved to London at the time and thought most of the stuff they just write in it to be sure (like they do on a pot of paint that you should not eat it)

I probably could claim a lot more, but I just like my overpaid rent back and than I'm gone! Not wasting anymore energy on those idiots..

G_M

Housing Act 1988

1) you have 'exclusive occupation' of your room

2) you do not share any part of the accomodation with your landlord.

saajan_12

The tenancy v licence debate would have signifcant implications on eviction, LL's notice, deposit protection etc but in your case, since you've given notice it doesn't affect you much.

1) Deposit - Only the £50 is a deposit, you were able to use the advance rent as rent had you not paid just before serving notice. As a tenant, this should have been protected so you could claim for the 1-3x £50 penalty but the time / risk of being stuck with court costs should something go wrong makes it probably not worth it.

2) Advance rent - this should be returned whether tenant or licencee, you gave notice per their contract and nothing in the agreement states it can't be returned as a simple accidental overpayment. Write a letter before action and then file a money claim online for the overpayment + £50 deposit. Note they may counterclaim for damages.

00ec25

Wanderingpomm wrote: »

Report them to the council for not having an HMO. It’s illegal and there is a £10,000 fine if they don’t get one once they have been warned.

explain, with references to the legislation, why you categorically state it is a licensable HMO

all we know for sure is OP occupies a property share. That does not make it necessarily licensable

frey_fi

Thank you, G_M, saajan and 00ec25!

I will write them a letter!

For the HMO: A few month ago we received a letter from the Landlord to the Flat. We have not thought about that he could send a letter for the agency to the flat as they have their own address and he obviously should have it?!?! and we just thought it was a letter from the agency to the whole flat, so we opened it. It was from the lawyer stating that they have not paid the rent for the property (even if we all paid it to the agency) as well a saying that the HMO licence is missing. (I brought the letter to the agency and apologised and brought another letter addressed to them which came in the next day immediately to them without opening)
I looked into the HMO thing and got a description fromm the GOV.uk site stating:
Contact your council for a licence to rent out your property as a house in multiple occupation ( HMO ) in England or Wales. A house in multiple occupation is a property rented out by at least 3 people who are not from 1 'household' (eg a family) but share facilities like the bathroom and kitchen.
House in multiple occupation licence - GOV.UK
We are 5 people sharing one bathroom and one kitchen, no living room. (Hallelujah London)

G_M

there is a difference between an HMO and a licenceable HMO.

Not all HMOs need a licence.

Check you council website.

frey_fi

This is what it stated on the site to my council

You must have a licence if you’re renting out a large HMO. Your property is defined as a large HMO if all of the following apply:

it’s rented to 5 or more people who form more than 1 household we are 5 people,
each occupy a room by themselves
it’s at least 3 storeys high it's 4
tenants share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities one kitchen, one bathroom for all of us