Landlord Issue
Discussion
Basically there was 6 of us living in a student house last year. we have left the house CLEANER than when we arrived last year. The landlord stated obviously keys were to be refunded, house cleaned, bills paid as per usual before giving us our deposit on the house back individually.
We all ensured the house was clean, bills were paid, refunded the keys and showed the landlord evidence of this along with obviously 'can we have our deposits back please pretty?'. I'm sure this will not surprise you but we have had no correspondence from this Landlord. Arguably he owes us £200 each (deposit was £250 minus £50 admin fee resulting in £200 each to be refunded).
What to do? I'm not sure whenther to leave it or not seeing as its £200 but its the principle of it really...
P.s if this is in the wrong section let me know where to put this thread.
We all ensured the house was clean, bills were paid, refunded the keys and showed the landlord evidence of this along with obviously 'can we have our deposits back please pretty?'. I'm sure this will not surprise you but we have had no correspondence from this Landlord. Arguably he owes us £200 each (deposit was £250 minus £50 admin fee resulting in £200 each to be refunded).
What to do? I'm not sure whenther to leave it or not seeing as its £200 but its the principle of it really...
P.s if this is in the wrong section let me know where to put this thread.
If you're going to roll over and take a £50 admin fee on a deposit, then you might as well let him have the whole lot! Write to him, giving him 7 days to respond (send it recorded) saying that as you did x,y and z you expect your deposit back by return. Find out about the legality of charging an admin fee on a deposit too.
How do you refund a key?
As far as I am aware an administration fee cannot be deducted for the process of returning the deposit. Don't waste time with an uncooperative landlord, just put in a complaint to the deposit scheme holder. You should have been told who this is at the commencement of the tenancy.
As far as I am aware an administration fee cannot be deducted for the process of returning the deposit. Don't waste time with an uncooperative landlord, just put in a complaint to the deposit scheme holder. You should have been told who this is at the commencement of the tenancy.
Maxf said:
If you're going to roll over and take a £50 admin fee on a deposit, then you might as well let him have the whole lot! Write to him, giving him 7 days to respond (send it recorded) saying that as you did x,y and z you expect your deposit back by return. Find out about the legality of charging an admin fee on a deposit too.
The admin fee was in the written contract when we all signed it, and we all knew and took it due to rent being a paltry £65 a week for what we had, an house with parking etc (in the long run i was happy to waive £50) but now the deposit issue is still there and has been going on for 2months approx now. PurpleMoonlight said:
How do you refund a key?
As far as I am aware an administration fee cannot be deducted for the process of returning the deposit. Don't waste time with an uncooperative landlord, just put in a complaint to the deposit scheme holder. You should have been told who this is at the commencement of the tenancy.
You post it back to them / give it to them in person. As far as I am aware an administration fee cannot be deducted for the process of returning the deposit. Don't waste time with an uncooperative landlord, just put in a complaint to the deposit scheme holder. You should have been told who this is at the commencement of the tenancy.
Jasandjules said:
Write to the Landlord, asking for
1. The TDS account number (unless you already have this)
2. The full refund of all deposit monies within 7 days.
Send it recorded delivery.
Regardless if we have paid bills or not? is this a legally binding thing as it is stated in the contract yet when i try and show proof there is no communication. 1. The TDS account number (unless you already have this)
2. The full refund of all deposit monies within 7 days.
Send it recorded delivery.
No wonder he owns 185 houses in sheffield, probably ripped off all the students in sheffield!
PurpleMoonlight said:
If the household bills were in the tenants name then the deposit cannot be retained to cover any charges as they are not the landlords liability, they are the users.
It's 'return' the key, not 'refund' the key by the way ....
thats what i thought but theres no bloody correspondence from him even though i have sent him proof of this. 'return' the keys, i haven't done so due to lack of correspondence and rightly so! i stated once i hear from him re the deposit etc i will send the key back however he hasn't so i haven't and would like to know where i stand legally in order to force him to comply. It's 'return' the key, not 'refund' the key by the way ....
just wish he was binded by a contract like we were for fairness. he could literally turn around and say house damaged repaired now then i wouldn't have a leg to stand on would i?
PurpleMoonlight said:
Have you returned the keys or not?
You said in your first post you had, now you say you haven't.
If you do not the landlord would be within their rights to have new locks fitted and charge you for them.
i was going to, i offered to return them in june however heard nothing from him re deposit refunding so i withheld the keys would have been easier if he corresponded to my emails stating this and that - even if he did charge me for the locks the sum outstanding would be deducted by £50 making £150 refundable. You said in your first post you had, now you say you haven't.
If you do not the landlord would be within their rights to have new locks fitted and charge you for them.
PurpleMoonlight said:
You think?
Call out a locksmith, change locks, several new keys. You could end up owing the landlord money.
You can't complain to the deposit holder if you have not complied with the terms of your lease, which would appear to be the case.
it states in the contract he will charge £50 for keys/lock (which i would have given back if he responded accordingly), i complied and waited for a response and got none and have attempted to do so several times, it is not me not complying with the terms of my tenancy - i clearly have complied and waited for a response. which is why i want to know where i stand due to ZERO response. Call out a locksmith, change locks, several new keys. You could end up owing the landlord money.
You can't complain to the deposit holder if you have not complied with the terms of your lease, which would appear to be the case.
I personally checked through the contract and made sure everything met its requirement before we all left the property. and complied with the end requirement minus the keys obviously as i wanted to make sure... but no response despite emails / phone calls.
i guess maybe i'm £200 out of pocket along with the other tenants + him changing the locks however the point still stands there were 6 of us therefore 6x£200 = £1200... i doubt it costs that much to change the locks. its the principle, he knew what he was doing i think.
Personally I think you are being an arse about not sending the keys back and will have lost that money, secondary you signed a contract stating he would take £50 out for admin fees, so can you really complain at that.
If you dont get anything from an email then send a recorded delivery letter stating he has 7 days to pay it back, asking for the Deposit number he has used and bring that up at the same time if you didnt receive that at the beginning of the tenancy .
There are many ways to deal with this situation above board, but at the moment you are making yourself out to be the one in the wrong here.
If you dont get anything from an email then send a recorded delivery letter stating he has 7 days to pay it back, asking for the Deposit number he has used and bring that up at the same time if you didnt receive that at the beginning of the tenancy .
There are many ways to deal with this situation above board, but at the moment you are making yourself out to be the one in the wrong here.
Du1point8 said:
Personally I think you are being an arse about not sending the keys back and will have lost that money, secondary you signed a contract stating he would take £50 out for admin fees, so can you really complain at that.
If you dont get anything from an email then send a recorded delivery letter stating he has 7 days to pay it back, asking for the Deposit number he has used and bring that up at the same time if you didnt receive that at the beginning of the tenancy .
There are many ways to deal with this situation above board, but at the moment you are making yourself out to be the one in the wrong here.
Under the Housing Act 2004 and the TDS, upon receipt of the Deposit, a landlord/agent must both protect the Deposit and notify the tenant/s within 14 days, the scheme the Deposit is protected under, and details of how the scheme is operated.If you dont get anything from an email then send a recorded delivery letter stating he has 7 days to pay it back, asking for the Deposit number he has used and bring that up at the same time if you didnt receive that at the beginning of the tenancy .
There are many ways to deal with this situation above board, but at the moment you are making yourself out to be the one in the wrong here.
A landlord/agent needs to obtain confirmation from the tenant/s that they have complied with the above two provisions of the TDS, this usually being by the landlord/agent sending the tenant/s two copies of the deposit Protection Certificate, asking for one to be signed and returned to the landlord/agent.
I believe the Deposit, once protected under the TDS, is protected immediately, that protection and the raising of any dispute, being up to 3 months from the end of the tenancy.
Usually in a multiple let, there is a leading named tenant, and it is for that named tenant to first request the return of the Deposit, once a refusal comes back from the landlord, to then immediately raise a dispute with the TDS scheme holding/protecting the Deposit.
If the OP has not been informed of the named TDS scheme, then there is the possibility that the Deposit has not been protected.
As the last poster stated, the OP has not helped his case.
Wings said:
If the OP has not been informed of the named TDS scheme, then there is the possibility that the Deposit has not been protected.
And if your deposit has not been protected by the landlord you can take them to court and be awarded up to three times the value of your deposit. Suggest you start these steps.Well if the OP goes to court he will need to get his story right. Starting by saying he returned the keys and then admitting he didn't will make him look pretty stupid.
If I was the landlord I'd take the view that the keys had to be returned as a condition of getting the deposit refunded. Despite an assertion to the contrary, we now know that keys were not returned. Therefore the deposit was not refunded. Simples.
The landlord may be a rogue but that doesn't mean you have a case or will win in court.
If I was the landlord I'd take the view that the keys had to be returned as a condition of getting the deposit refunded. Despite an assertion to the contrary, we now know that keys were not returned. Therefore the deposit was not refunded. Simples.
The landlord may be a rogue but that doesn't mean you have a case or will win in court.
E36GUY said:
And if your deposit has not been protected by the landlord you can take them to court and be awarded up to three times the value of your deposit. Suggest you start these steps.
Unfortunately you are wrong, for case law now accepts that where a landlord has not protected a Deposit under the ACT, then during the tenancy AND before any case comes to Court, all the landlord needs to do to escape being in breach of the ACT, is either return the Deposit to the tenant/s, or to register/protect late the Deposit.In the OP’s case, the tenancy has ended, and the tenancy has ended some 3 months earlier, so well outside the provision of the 3 month protection period for the Deposit, after the end of a tenancy.
Simpo Two made a sound point on the handing over of the rental property’s keys, the correct way to ending a tenancy is the physically handing over of keys, not leaving them in the property, not under a flower pot, not posting them, or as in the OP’s case, kept hold of the keys.
Depending on the true facts, the landlord could not only charge for new locks and keys, but also a lost period of rent, being unable to re-let the premises, due to the uncertainty of whether the OP/tenant has actually terminated the tenancy/premises.
Landlord has contacted me, issues have been resolved, keys returned and deposit recieved in the form of a cheque (lets hope it doesn't bounce!)... He finally responded but as to why he didn't correspond for so long is still unknown.
I'll leave it anyway, he said he had already had re-let the house out so no worries on anything of that sort.
I'll leave it anyway, he said he had already had re-let the house out so no worries on anything of that sort.
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