Advice wanted. Should we withold rent?

spinningsheep

I posted on here about the horrendous state that our house is in, we are definately moving and we have a house lined up, should move in approx 2 weeks. Our current tennancy is up on 20th March. Our landlady is so tight, we reakon, that despite the house being in a better state than when we moved in, from the stuff we have done ourselves, she will be funny about the deposit, trying to charge us for things like scuffed paintwork, when we have cracks in the walls,damp and a hole in the wall that you can see the outside through! So, we are planning on witholding the last months rent of £360, and telling her to use the deposit of £360 as the rent for March. People who we have spoken to, all agree that this is a good move, as we will be square then. We have no inventory at all, so she cant argue that the house is in a poor state when it isnt. Its just that despite us being wronged by her for the last 9 months or so over the state of the house and her unwillingness to do anything about it, i still feel a bit guilty about this, daft I know, but what do others think?

Doozergirl

I don't have that much experience, but I knew that one LL would be difficult and lo and behold she was! Thank God for the letting agent is all I can say. It could have been a lot worse.

I guess the better thing to do would be to leave her a forwarding address for her to discuss any problems. Just not paying the rent doesn't genuinely leave you square but if there is no inventory, she has no proof. If it's 9 months in to a tenancy, then your deposit should have been protected, you should have received details within 14 days of paying your deposit and you would need an inventory...

If you have no proof of where it is being held and no inventory then your landlord obviously has no intentions of doing things correctly. In your situation I would probably do what you are thinking but would leave a forwarding address. If she has no inventory then there's naff all she can do legally.

It's not right, but it doesn't sound like she's done things right either.

spinningsheep

Oh no we've been here 17 months! We resigned the tenancy last Aug, the stuff has started to go wrong since then, thankfully we only resigned on a 6 month lease instead of 12 months. So, we will be paid up until the very end of the tenancy, 20/3/08. we will be leaving her a forwarding address of course, the irony is that its another mutual friend we will be renting off, but he is the total opposite of her, and the house is immaculate. We're just waiting for him to get a completion date on the house he is buying, then we will move.

chappers

Technically no you shouldn't do this but it's what I would do, if you think there is going to be trouble.

Guy_Montag

Did she protect your deposit like a good evil-b!tch-landlady when you resigned the tenancy? I bet she didn't. If not you are entitled to three times the deposit - £1080. Start legal proceedings today, before you move out, just to be on the safe side.

Make sure she hasn't protected your deposit, then call the CAB or Shelter to ask how best to proceed.

spinningsheep

I know for a fact that she hasn't protected the deposit at all. Our ORIGINAL tenancy was started prior to the scheme being implimented so I understand, but as far as I understand it, when we RESIGNED the tenancy in Aug 07, she should have put the money in the scheme then. But, we dont want to fall out at all if at all possible. She is a friend,well, of sorts, and we don't want to jepordise that if we can help it. We're not doing a flit or anything, its just that we know what shes like with money, and so does everyone else who I have spoken to about this who knows her, and I just have "a feeling" that she may try to withold some of the deposit, and the last thing I want is to have to go down the court action route. We would be moving out all being well by the 2nd week of March, so, if she was to really take umberage with us witholding the rent, could she evict us, or would the whole procedure take longer than a fortnight?

Doozergirl

You'd have to be 8 weeks in arrears for her to start proceedings and then the process would take even longer, so no, she can't evict you before you plan to leave.

spinningsheep

Cheers Doozergirl, thats a relief if she starts getting shi**y!