No-deposit Entering property illegally

SORN

I had a dreadful experience with my previous agency. I did enter a no-deposit option which was a truly scam, I did agree about it after they sent me a link with all the info and benefits, and they told me it was interest free, I thought I knew enough about it, when I got inside the agency office I did just sign the contract without reading it, and they never gave me a copy of the signed contract during the check in. Then I had so many problems with both agency and landlord that 6 months later I decided to leave the flat (even though my contract was 12 months) mutually agreed with agency without paying any reletting agency fee. After I did communicate my intention to leave the property and asking about the deposit back, I did find out that I was never going to get the deposit back and only after that, by email, they sent me a singed copy of my no-deposit contract. I have never got any benefits I read on the link, they were all scam.

I can read so many other people got scammed with the no-deposit contract. It was my bad not to read the contract.

With both agency and landlord I had the following issues:

·        The landlord entered my property using his own keys multiple times without my permission breaching the tenancy agreement, they need to enter the tenant’s property illegally hoping to find something inside the property to use against the tenant. The only way to stop them entering my property without permission was: I had to tell them that I was going to call the police, and take a legal action against them, only after telling that they never did it again.

 

·        One day while I was on holiday they entered my property illegally they broke the boiler pipe, they did flood my flat, they did remove the carpet because it was all soaking wet and they did
try to blame me saying that: there was a massive leak and I did not report it and they wanted to charge me for the damage. This happed during my last week of tenancy. Then with my cleaner company, who did the end tenancy cleaning, did investigated the matter and we did find out that they were trying to remove the boiler in the flat and caused the leak.

 

 

·        In addition to that I did not have heating for more then 2 weeks while temperature was zero degrees, extremely cold to be without heating in the house.

 

·        I was left without hot water at all in the all flat for 7 days, while it was 35 degrees outside impossible to live without shower, and my landlord over the phone told me to go to live at my girlfriend house if I could not have a shower there because he could not help me. I had to contact my local Housing Department authority to get them doing the repairs.

 

I talked with a tenant who lived in the same flat before me and they’ve been treated even worse. Both agency and landlord enjoy bulling tenants for no reason.

 

I did fill in the Dispute Notification Claim Form with all the details mentioned above and sent it to the agency.

I am not intended to take them to court for now, unless I will be forced to do it.

 

I want to tell them if they do not give the deposit back I will take them to the court for entering the property illegally and for leaving the tenant without essentials for a period of time mentioned above.

 

Ay suggestions will be very appreciative

 

Thank you in advance for your support

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

elsien

I may be missing the obvious here but if it was a no deposit contract, surely there isn’t a deposit to return to you?

jonnydeppiwish!

Why would a landlord willingly damaged pipe work and flood a property they would then have to pay a significant sum to repair?

TripleH

What justification did they give for "entering the flat" when you were away?

Can you ask your ex-neighbours if anyone reported a water leak because this could be reasonable grounds to enter without permission if you were away, but if noone reported a leak, makes their actions suspicious.

propertyrental

From what you say, you did not pay a deposit. So you cannot claim it back..

Entering the flat is not illegal. It is not a crime (unless theft or criminal damage also occurs). Tenants have certain civil (not criminal) rights eg 'Quiet Enjoyment', but landlords also have certain rights eg entering in emergency (flood etc) or to do gas inspections etc.

Ultimately only a judge can decide whose rights take priority in any specific circumstance. If a T thinks a LL is over-using his right of access, there is always the option to change the locks.

Repairing issues need to be dealt with during the tenancy. Once the tenancy ends they are really pretty irrelevant.

Reading documents, any documents, before signing is always wise.

deannagone

Could you get someone to read your thread and amend it?  I suspect if English isn't your prime language, it can be difficult to write on here clearly. What has been entered is a bit confusing so it makes it difficult to give you accurate advice.

But as far as the broken pipe is concerned, do you have proof it was purposely damaged rather than a leak?  If it was so cold, it could be said that water froze in it and caused the damage?  I'm just thinking what the LL might say.

SORN

TripleH said:

What justification did they give for "entering the flat" when you were away?

Can you ask your ex-neighbours if anyone reported a water leak because this could be reasonable grounds to enter without permission if you were away, but if noone reported a leak, makes their actions suspicious.

They said they entered the flat for a viewing, but I had told them I was on holiday I could not give access to the property, they did not care they entered without my permission.

yes the matter was investigated by my cleaner, since the landlord complained about the end tenancy cleaning and I had to forward the complaint to my cleaner which investigated the matter further, interviewed the neighbours and put everything in writing, we know they removed the boiler, after I moved out, so we assume that day they were also trying to remove the boiler but something went wrong they did flood the flat and remove the carpet.

elsien

Please can you explain why you think you are owed a deposit refund when you appear not to have paid a deposit in the first place? 

Genuinely confused by this.

silvercar

“They said they entered the flat for a viewing, but I had told them I was on holiday I could not give access to the property, they did not care they entered without my permission.”

That could be read as you replying that you couldn’t let them in (as you were on holiday), rather than you didn’t give permission.

macman

Why didn't you simply change the lock barrel to prevent the LL from entering the property without prior agreement? It is a five minute DIY job, cost about a tenner.

AlexMac

Sympathies; I guess that if you have now left the flat, only you can decide if you want to

- forget about the past bad experience, move on and learn lessons (read contracts, take advice, don't trust Agents, change the barrel of the front doorlock, keeping the original and replacing it when you leave- as someone says - an easy DIY job; videos on YouTube...)...
or
- enforce your rights if there is a Deposit, maybe with help from the Charity "Shelter" or a local "CAB"; the Citizens Advice Bureau
https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection
and 
https://www.tenancydepositscheme.com/asktds-what-do-i-do-if-my-deposit-isnt-protected/#:~:text=You can contact your local,custodial scheme within 14 days.

Good luck