Landlady illegaly witholding deposit

dorondj · 6 November 2012 at 7:01PM

Hi. I need help please urgently!! My old landlady has been withholding the deposit from our old house which we moved out of in July, and despite repeated requests has not given it back. Granted, we did destroy it a bit but what student doesnt. Anway, she took off damages and said she was going to give us 100 pounds back each, which she hasnt done now because one of our former housemates didnt pay for 8 weeks. basically she said that because he did not pay she is taking it away from us. i am pretty sure that is illegal??

also, she did not register us with the tenancy deposit scheme which is law. i am on money claim to make a claim against her, am i able to claim the 100 pounds she offered to us or the full amount that i paid in the beginning despite her taking money away for damages? the damages included things such as a kettle and to clean the garden, even though the builders were there anyway already...

Regards, Doron

chib · 6 November 2012 at 7:06PM

Hi Doron,

Do you have any proof/evidince of paying her an original deposit?

Not to drift away from the topic, but I think "Granted, we did destroy it a bit but what student doesnt." is an awful attitude to have - I don't know of any students that have destroyed properties throughout their studies.

I can understand her reasons for refusing to pay back any deposit if she wasn't getting paid.

Regards, Chib.

00ec25 · 6 November 2012 at 7:33PM

dorondj wrote: »

. Anway, she took off damages and said she was going to give us 100 pounds back each, which she hasnt done now because one of our former housemates didnt pay for 8 weeks. basically she said that because he did not pay she is taking it away from us. i am pretty sure that is illegal??

you were probably (please correct me if wrong) on a joint and severally liable contract - that means if there is a shortfall on the rent the LL can chase any one and everyone for it so yes she is legally entitled to hold back money to cover the missing rent because you are as much liable for the rent as the person who did not pay

that said as you have already started a court action them what you should concentrrate on is the fact the LL did not register the deposit in a scheme - that is the illegal part not what she is deducting

she will counter claim against you for damages and missed rent. If you have an inventory showing condition at start of your tenancy then she will win on this one, if no inventory then she will lose

dorondj · 6 November 2012 at 8:13PM

i missed no rent to her, and the contract was not joint liability. however i do not have an inventory i should have made one

hcb42 · 6 November 2012 at 10:20PM

if between you you destroyed her place and didnt pay the rent, then while she might be wrong about the deposit side of things, two wrongs dont make a right, I would NOT expect students to wreck a place any more than I would expect it of 35 yr old professionals.

CAB_National_Representative · 7 November 2012 at 12:11PM

dorondj wrote: »

Hi. I need help please urgently!! My old landlady has been withholding the deposit from our old house which we moved out of in July, and despite repeated requests has not given it back. Granted, we did destroy it a bit but what student doesnt. Anway, she took off damages and said she was going to give us 100 pounds back each, which she hasnt done now because one of our former housemates didnt pay for 8 weeks. basically she said that because he did not pay she is taking it away from us. i am pretty sure that is illegal??

also, she did not register us with the tenancy deposit scheme which is law. i am on money claim to make a claim against her, am i able to claim the 100 pounds she offered to us or the full amount that i paid in the beginning despite her taking money away for damages? the damages included things such as a kettle and to clean the garden, even though the builders were there anyway already...

Regards, Doron

Hi Doron - we'd recommend reading our information on Adviceguide about tenancy agreements, rightful witholding of deposts and getting a deposit back. As you'll see from the information there, what your next steps are will depend on the type of tenancy agreement you had. And we'd suggest getting advice from your local bureau on next steps.

Landlady illegaly witholding deposit

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