Return of Lodger's Deposit

pinklady21

I once had a similar issue - and there was a written agreement. A lodger left abruptly, I retained his deposit to cover my losses until I found a new lodger, and he got his solicitor to send me a letter demanding I repay him in full!
I think I was in the right, but in order to make it go away, I agreed that as a gesture of goodwill I would return 50% to him in full and final settlement. This was accepted and he did indeed go away.
So - o/p it depends how willing you are to fight it - you might win, you might not win. But if you want it to go away, try negotiating first.

ThePants999

Let's explain something that's been hinted at but not made clear. There is very little law related to this that states what you can and can't do - the only bit of relevant law here says that notice must be "reasonable". Beyond that, there is only a contract. A contract existed between you and your lodger, but its terms have not been written down.

So if this goes to court, a judge is essentially going to be trying to figure out what the terms of the contract were, from evidence you both provide about communications you had regarding the contract. Emails, text messages, whatever. If the judge cannot reach a conclusion on what you'd agreed about term/notice, e.g. because it was all verbal and you're each claiming something different about what you each said, they'll be trying to decide what you intended from the evidence of your actions, or failing that too, come up with their own interpretation of "reasonable".

The fact that rent was paid monthly will act in your favour, as a common understanding of "reasonable" is one rental period. However, another standard principle is that ambiguity in a contract shall be interpreted to favour the party who received it rather than the party who offered it, which could be applied here as "the landlord offered a contract without stating the terms, so favour the lodger". You've basically just got to guess as to what the judge will decide - it's a gamble I'm afraid. That said, at the small claims court, the only costs the lodger will be able to claim in addition to this £400 is their court fees and interest. Interest on £400 is not significant, and I think the court fees for a £400 claim would be something like £35 filing fee and £55 trial fee - so if they really take it to court, and you lose, you're only really losing a hundred quid or so as compared to caving in now. I'd be tempted.

I also agree that a compromise could be the way forward - but if you go down that route, make an OFFER of what you think is reasonable, clearly labelling it "without prejudice". I wouldn't personally recommend simply keeping £100 and returning the rest - to my mind, that actually strengthens your opponent's position, as it basically conveys that you're making it up as you go along rather than trying to adhere to what you believed were the terms of your contract.