Moving out: landlord stingy

frugalacademic

Hello

This is for a friend who has some problems with moving out. His contract starts at every 6th of the month and he only gave notice the 8th of January. Any reasonable landlord would say ok, no worries, move out the 6th of February but this landlord says that legally, my friend has to pay one month's more rent. How would you solve this?

Second problem: from what I understand, the house is not in that good shape, the landlord blames the tenants and send a list to do before checkout: my friend needs to clean the whole house, and the landlord will check for damages but the list is so exhaustive that I am sure that he will try to withhold money from the deposit.

However, there is maybe a way out: the landlord only protected the deposit for the first 6 months, after that (when the contract went on a rolling base), the protection was not extended. My friend got a letter from the protection agency and spoke with the landlord but he did not do anything.

So: how can my friend move out the 6th of February without losing money? An amicable solution would seem the best, for example offering to pay half a month but I think that the landlord will not agree. Will an argument around the deposit protection work?

Comms69

frugalacademic wrote: »

Hello

This is for a friend who has some problems with moving out. His contract starts at every 6th of the month and he only gave notice the 8th of January. Any reasonable landlord would say ok, no worries, move out the 6th of February but this landlord says that legally, my friend has to pay one month's more rent. - correct, and perfectly reasonable! How would you solve this? - by paying the additional rent / negotiating a smaller payment for leaving at an agreed date

Second problem: from what I understand, the house is not in that good shape, the landlord blames the tenants and send a list to do before checkout: my friend needs to clean the whole house, and the landlord will check for damages but the list is so exhaustive that I am sure that he will try to withhold money from the deposit. - irrelevant - assuming it is left in similar condition to received and the deposit is protected

However, there is maybe a way out: the landlord only protected the deposit for the first 6 months, after that (when the contract went on a rolling base), the protection was not extended. My friend got a letter from the protection agency and spoke with the landlord but he did not do anything. - Well then the tenant can sue the LL.

So: how can my friend move out the 6th of February without losing money? An amicable solution would seem the best, for example offering to pay half a month but I think that the landlord will not agree. Will an argument around the deposit protection work?

Sure negotiate that you/he wont sue the landlord in exchange for the return of deposit and agreed surrender date of 6th Feb.

FBaby

However, there is maybe a way out: the landlord only protected the deposit for the first 6 months, after that (when the contract went on a rolling base), the protection was not extended. My friend got a letter from the protection agency and spoke with the landlord but he did not do anything.

I would double check he got this right first. Which scheme is he on, and is it custodial or insurance? If it's DPS and custodial, the LL wouldn't be required to re-protect the deposit at the end of the fix term going onto a rolling basis unless there was a change to the tenant, landlord or address details. I thought it was the same for the two other schemes, but won't be for the Insurance type of scheme used.

G_M

Not sure "stingy" is he right heading. Stupid, perhaps!

frugalacademic wrote: »

...His contract starts at every 6th of the month and he only gave notice the 8th of January. Any reasonable landlord would say ok, no worries, move out the 6th of February but this landlord says that legally, my friend has to pay one month's more rent. How would you solve this?
LL is correct.
Negotiate over tea and cake.

Second problem: from what I understand, the house is not in that good shape, the landlord blames the tenants and send a list to do before checkout: my friend needs to clean the whole house, and the landlord will check for damages but the list is so exhaustive that I am sure that he will try to withhold money from the deposit.
Are the things on the list reasonable?
He may be trying to be helpful by pointing out what needs doing in advance, to bring the property back up to the standard it was at when the tenancy started, thus avoiding deductions later.

Compare against the original inventory.

However, there is maybe a way out: the landlord only protected the deposit for the first 6 months, after that (when the contract went on a rolling base), the protection was not extended. My friend got a letter from the protection agency and spoke with the landlord but he did not do anything.
Stupid landlord!

Strengthens your negotiating position.

So: how can my friend move out the 6th of February without losing money? An amicable solution would seem the best, for example offering to pay half a month but I think that the landlord will not agree. Will an argument around the deposit protection work?

They certainly might help since the LL will not wish to pay the penalty.

A dispute over deductions, combined with non-protection, would likely incur a penalty near the top of the scale.

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

FBaby

Stupid landlord!

G_M how are you basing this just from what OP's written? I am interpreting what he wrote that he thinks the LL should have re-protected the deposit after 6 months, but how are sure of that from what his post?

I know that you don't have to do that when you go from fixed to rolling with DPS unless the details are changing. I've inquired with them and they confirmed.

Pixie5740

FBaby wrote: »

G_M how are you basing this just from what OP's written? I am interpreting what he wrote that he thinks the LL should have re-protected the deposit after 6 months, but how are sure of that from what his post?

I know that you don't have to do that when you go from fixed to rolling with DPS unless the details are changing. I've inquired with them and they confirmed.

The OP reads as if the OP's friend received a letter from DPS telling him it was no longer protected.

fishpond

Instead of "the LL is stingy".
Why did your friend not read the contract and give the correct notice?
Why does your friend appear to have done very little upkeep to the property---- ie the tenants responsibilities?

Apparently some tenants do give notice at the correct time, and also manage to do some cleaning.

chucknorris

frugalacademic wrote: »

Hello

This is for a friend who has some problems with moving out. His contract starts at every 6th of the month and he only gave notice the 8th of January. Any reasonable landlord would say ok, no worries, move out the 6th of February but this landlord says that legally, my friend has to pay one month's more rent. How would you solve this?

If this was me (I am a landlord), I would give him the option of either going ahead as planned, but if I do not get a replacement tenant in time (I probably would), then no problem, otherwise he would either have to pay part of the additional month. Or the tenant could withdraw the notice and issue it with the correct timing for the following month.

Second problem: from what I understand, the house is not in that good shape, the landlord blames the tenants and send a list to do before checkout: my friend needs to clean the whole house, and the landlord will check for damages but the list is so exhaustive that I am sure that he will try to withhold money from the deposit.

Of course he has to clean the whole house, we are fed up being unpaid cleaners for lazy tenants. Although at last we have stopped being fools, and the last few times this happened, we got a professional clean done and charged the outgoing tenants (yes the inventory signed stated that the property was very clean to a professional standard when they moved in).

However, there is maybe a way out: the landlord only protected the deposit for the first 6 months, after that (when the contract went on a rolling base), the protection was not extended. My friend got a letter from the protection agency and spoke with the landlord but he did not do anything.

If so, the landlord has been an idiot allowing a bad tenant to get the better of him, due to his incompetence, hopefully he will learn from that.

frugalacademic

Hi
Thanks for all the replies:
1) He received a letter from mydeposits that the deposit was not protected anymore
2) Cleaning the whole house: his parts and general cleaning yes, but the LL implies that the house needs to look pristine. So if another housemate leaves, for example, a dirty cabinet then the LL would say that it is my friend's fault. Obviously, a tenant needs to clean but it looks more that the LL is looking for ways to be able to deduct from the deposit. He has shown me some emails with the LL and in every issue, the LL is attacking my friend.
3) Read the contract correctly: He sent his notice the 8th of January to leave the 6th of February. His month normally runs from the 6th of the month. We are talking about two days of difference, not a week or more. Any reasonable person would agree to let the contract end. I think paying an extra week would be acceptable but not a whole month.

kerri_gt

frugalacademic wrote: »

3) Read the contract correctly: He sent his notice the 8th of January to leave the 6th of February. His month normally runs from the 6th of the month. We are talking about two days of difference, not a week or more. Any reasonable person would agree to let the contract end. I think paying an extra week would be acceptable but not a whole month.

Sorry but a contracted date is a contract. Put the shoe on the other foot - what if the LL wanted his rent paid two days early because 'it was only a couple of days difference' or your friend had agreed a moving out date then the LL wanted to move someone else into their room two days before that 'because it was only a couple of days difference'. Best your friend can do is try and negotiate the date.

G_M

FBaby wrote: »

G_M how are you basing this just from what OP's written? I am interpreting what he wrote that he thinks the LL should have re-protected the deposit after 6 months, but how are sure of that from what his post?

I know that you don't have to do that when you go from fixed to rolling with DPS unless the details are changing. I've inquired with them and they confirmed.

I took it from the OP's statementt that

My friend got a letter from the protection agency and....

but I agree there's an element of doubt.