Can I / Should I withold rent?

SparklyHats

Story short, been renting a place for five years and expecting to be there for another ten, just before Christmas the LL arrived and gave us a s21 as they want to move back in.  It's all been very underhand as they'd only said to us a few months earlier that whilst their plans were changing, we were still secure.  Christmas miracles happen and we've already found a new place that we love, signed, get the keys tomorrow, with a plan to have a month overlap to make life easier.   BUT......    LL has already started to make veiled threats to withhold from the deposit (1.5 months) about silly things to do with garden (It's not unkept, at all, but it IS big by standards and this is the middle of winter - go figure) and we just feel like it's going to be a scrap at the end of it all, plus after five years in an old house there's a fair amount of normal wear and tear.  Today should be rent day but I've yet to pay it, thinking that effectively it's the same money which ever end of the month, and if the LL IS going to be a pain then if they make to keep the deposit then we're only half a month down on the deal, which I can stomach.  The tenancy was originally with a guarantor, and they are up to speed with all of this and equally prepared to tell the LL to, er, go away.  Rent also isn't part of a credit scoring scheme so that can't backfire.   But are there any hidden risks to be aware of?

princeofpounds

Presumably your deposit is protected in an arbitration scheme? Then it will up to the landlord to evidence any deductions, which you will get an opportunity to challenge. What they threaten now isn't really very relevant. Just pay your rent and deal with the deposit as a separate issue, as you should. If you don't pay the rent, then you'll just get that taken off your deposit and you'll still have to deal with the other proposed deductions exactly the same. 

AdrianC

The LL cannot unilaterally withhold anything from the deposit - they have to prove to the protection scheme's arbitrators that the deductions are justified.

Whatever you do, you MUST pay your rent.

RAS

After 5 years, the LL is going to struggle to justify any deductions except for serious damage and lack of cleanliness. Make sure any hedges are cut and pretty much ignore the rest of the garden.

Clear and clean the house to the standard you expect in your new home.

And pay the rent.

FaceHead

If the landlord tries to make unreasonable deductions, the deposit protection scheme will find in your favour. You've got enough to worry about, so try to ignore you LL, and just pay your rent and leave the place in a decent state so that they have so basis for a claim on the deposit. 

Is there a 5 year old inventory? Without evidence of the condition when you moved in the LL really has no chance of getting any deductions.

SparklyHats

princeofpounds said:

Presumably your deposit is protected in an arbitration scheme? Then it will up to the landlord to evidence any deductions, which you will get an opportunity to challenge. What they threaten now isn't really very relevant. Just pay your rent and deal with the deposit as a separate issue, as you should. If you don't pay the rent, then you'll just get that taken off your deposit and you'll still have to deal with the other proposed deductions exactly the same. 

agreed, except the point of my logic is that they end up only holding half the cards they do now - keeping the numbers simple if rent is £1000, at the end of this month they 'hold' £1000 + £1500(dep), of which we argue over £1500.  If I don't pay then it's £1500(dep) less the £1000 as a rent deduction so my maximum loss is £500.

SparklyHats

FaceHead said:

If the landlord tries to make unreasonable deductions, the deposit protection scheme will find in your favour. You've got enough to worry about, so try to ignore you LL, and just pay your rent and leave the place in a decent state so that they have so basis for a claim on the deposit. 

Is there a 5 year old inventory? Without evidence of the condition when you moved in the LL really has no chance of getting any deductions.

I've no doubt that things would be found in our favour, it's just the hassle and delays of that arbitration - basically the 'can I be arsed' factor.

SparklyHats

RAS said:

After 5 years, the LL is going to struggle to justify any deductions except for serious damage and lack of cleanliness. Make sure any hedges are cut and pretty much ignore the rest of the garden.

Clear and clean the house to the standard you expect in your new home.

We're not bad tenants, in fact bizarrely we actually own our own property and are LL's ourselves, and overall the place is in better condition for minor works that we've just gotten on and done, and we'll be doing all the normal and right things moving out, I just don't think it's going to be plain sailing with the LL who's a bit of a battleaxe.

SpiderLegs

The OP thinks it’s unfair that the LL (potentially) wants to use their own opinion to decide what deposit deductions are made.

Their solution is to instead use their own opinion to decide what deposit deductions are made.

SparklyHats

OK, whilst it does grate slightly, I'm seeing sensible advice here - so have just paid this months.  As pointed out, aggravation that we don't need right now.  Although, if the LL messes me about then i'll be calling up all my old warehouse squatter friends.....  

steampowered

Check if you need a reference from your landlord for the new place.

If you don't need a reference, and if you think that your landlord is going to mess you around with deposit, personally I would be tempted to withhold the final month's rent. Let the landlord take the unpaid rent from the deposit. That stops you having to mess around with a fight under the tenancy deposit scheme and waiting months to receive your deposit back if the landlord starts taking the proverbial.

Doing this would be a breach of your tenancy agreement, as you are required to pay rent on time. Your landlord could bring a small claims court case against you to recover the unpaid rent. However, it would take months for the case to get anywhere near a courtroom, and by then the landlord would have been paid by the TDS scheme.