Deposit crisis - help!

DaftyDuck

Always, always the less said the better!

See...

relentless20

Thanks so much guys, I think I may wait until she next emails me before sending it - have made the changes!

DaftyDuck

Wise.

I will write a bit more now. You are in a very strong position. You are in the property, your tenancy has startef, you are not late with the rent, and have never been. It will cost them a considerable sum to try to evict you, and will take them a long time. My guess is (and I admit to being a legal idiot, who has a solicitor as a friend, and defers anything legal to him) they would utterly fail to evict you on Sect 8 12, as they breached their own contract in allowing you to move in. You have email proof of trying, at the time, to pay.

But, all that may be guff and wrong. Hence the advice, say nothing unless you have to.

Those crooks and low life on tv programmes we none of us ever admit to watching know their stuff, when they answer all police questions with " no comment"... even to confirm their name!

muz3562

relentless20 wrote: »

Great point. Thanks! (I'm not confident they DO know that if I'm being perfectly honest, but the shorter version makes much more sense.)

That is not really your issue . If they dont know then they will soon find out when they instruct a solicitor . Either way it would be very unlikely that they proceeded with it . And certai

need_an_answer wrote: »

I would be tempted to not tell them of overseas travel in case they feel they have more leverage over the remaining housemate in your absence

It s none of their business either!

"due to personal circumstances and a change in salary date......pay this deposit on 6th July.

Yeah actually I missed that , definately dont tell them about overseas travel , its not their business anyhow . And even if it has been planned in advance they might reasonably ask why you could not pay the deposit but could afford overseas travel .

saajan_12

I would certainly NOT write all that to the agency. What is your aim?
* If to encourage the agent/LL to not take action, this will only rile them up / educate them they can (try) serve notice making it more likely they get it right. If it does get to court, you could be liable for costs - why take the chance..
* If to demostrate to a judge / arbitrator that you're being reasonable, you can do that much more simply by clearly stating your timeline of payment and that it is in both your interests to wait for that. Your statement of rights just makes it SOUND like you're taking advantage of the system (even if you're not)

relentless20 wrote: »

This is my draft email to the agency:
Dear...

As you mentioned breach of contract in a previous email, then I assume the legal action you intend to take is by asking the landlord to issue us with a section 8 on grounds 12 (breach of contract). - either they know this so no point or you're informing them the route is a contract breach. You cannot simply 'ask someone to move out' as you wrote in your previous email. - That's something you need to tell your housemates, not the agent. There is a procedure to follow and this is a Section 8 notice, as I'm sure you're aware.

A Section 8 notice gives us 14 days before you take any action, and then it's another 4-6 weeks before we appear in front of the judge, which will cost the landlord £335 plus legal fees if they choose to instruct a solicitor. - Sounds like you're trying to take advantage of the long timelines. If you want to get this message to teh LL then say it more calmly As Section 8 Ground 12 is a discretionary ground, it's unlikely that any judge will award possession for non-payment of a deposit, especially given: - why point out the weaknesses in their case as you'll only show them where to work harder. As you said its discretionary and if you sound difficult / gaming the system, the judge could use their discretion to evict anyway.

a) the number of times I attempted to get in touch with you regarding other matters which went completely ignored and would have afforded us an opportunity to discuss this; - not really relevant

b) instead of responding to my initial email on this matter on May 18, you visited the house and informed my housemate that she was at risk of eviction; - not really relevant, 18 May wasn't that long ago so not terrible of them to not respond as quickly as you'd like.
The point here is visiting the property (without notice?) for no reason (e.g. repairs / inspections?) but to threaten eviction is bordering on harrassment. If it comes up, focus on the harrassment rather than the speed of email responses.

c) instead of communicating with me on this issue you have chosen instead to communicate with my housemates individually, of which I had no knowledge and has added to considerable confusion. - annoying, but not really relevant.

d) I have asked you on two separate occasions to outline the legal action you are planning to take and you have not said anything more than 'legal action'. I have a right to know what legal action you are planning to take and you have not provided this. -
They don't have to tell you what legal action, until they serve the proper notice (though trying to resolve before escalating would improve their chances in their legal action).

- So 4 reasons about how well they've communicated, which they don't actually have to do (ie no obligation to you, they may have an obligation to the LL. None of those are much grounds to defend an application for eviction. Your defense would be that you're no longer breaching (as you've paid it off before you're evicted) or that its not a material breach as its just money they'll return cos you won't cause any damage.

Essentially you're asking the landlord to evict tenants because you failed to collect a deposit before letting someone move in and also failed to collect the deposit in the 2.5 months following move-in. This is a major failing on your part, regardless of whether the issues with the previous tenant's deposit were unresolved. I would be very surprised if the landlord is willing to incur costs of going to court and the cost of the house being unoccupied over this failing. - No its technically YOUR responsibility to pay deposit etc. The agent may have let the LL down in not ensuring it was paid but that contract has nothing to do with you.

Due to overseas travel and changes in my salary dates, I have looked closely at my financial statements and I will be able to pay this deposit on July 6 when I return from overseas. - I wouldn't mention overseas travel, as it sounds like you're not trying to pay your obligations first, even if that's not the case. Just say "due to changes in my salary dates I will be able to pay on 6th July. Pursuing eviction would be longer than this and unnecessary since I will be fully compliant with the tenancy agreement, the best way to mitigate costs would be to wait for the 6th July. It's likely that issuing a Section 8 notice and awaiting a court date will take several weeks, at which point I will no longer be in breach of contract and the landlords will have incurred unnecessary fees.

The decision to begin eviction proceedings against tenants can only be made by the landlord and not the agent, and so I assume the landlords are aware of the situation. Therefore I am copying this letter to them via post.

I hope we can resolve this amicably by allowing me to make payment on the date specified. Unless you are serving a Section 8 notice to all tenants, I wish to hear nothing further on the matter. - Agree that the house visits and back-and-forth discussion is added stress you don't need and could even be harrassment, but then you keep complaining they haven't responded to you in time - can't have it both ways.

Kind regards
Relentless20

Dear agent/LL
I fully understand I am yet to pay £xxx in deposit for this property. As explained many times, due to changes in my salary dates, the earliest I will be able to pay this is 6th July. Other than this, we as tenants have paid the rent on time and fulfilled all obligations.

Further, pursuing eviction would take longer than this and unnecessary since I will be fully compliant with the tenancy agreement by 6th July. Therefore, it seems the best way to mitigate costs would be to wait for the 6th July. This will not change so I do not see the point in continuing discussion on this.
Regards
Relentless