Landlord not returning deposit

castor · 26th June 2007, 15:44

Here is the story:

I left the house I was living in on the 23th.

I gave the usual one month notice, and asked him several times on the previous weeks to check the flat and see if it was all ok and all bills payed etc. He said he would check it, told me what should be fixed and I fixed everything.
I also asked him to check if all the bills were on time and he said he would so we could have the deposito on the day we gave him the keys.

We met on the 23th as we had both agreed for him to give me the deposit back (£1500) and I would return him the keys.
We met at the flat and he immediately started shouting and being amazingly rude. He told us he wanted the keys and he would give us the deposit on a later date after checking the apartment and the bills.

We told him we had discussed that previously and we had agreed to do the exchange on the 23. We also told him we fixed everything in the house as requested.
After arguing a lot and he threatned to throw us out and even trying to start a fight he finally gave us £1000 (still missing £500) and demanded us to give him the keys back.

We told him we wanted a date for the rest of the deposit return and he said he had to check the bills etc and would tell us later. (during our stay in the flat we barely manage to speak with him on the phone and we knew we would never be able to talk to him again).
He said he would meet us on the 25 and return the deposit or deduct what was missing from the bills and give the rest.

He never showed up and we have tried to call him since then with no reply at all. What should we do?

castor · 26th June 2007, 15:49

What happens if he trashed the flat and says we did it?

What if he claims that he gave all the deposit back? (not only the £1000)

We also went to the police immediately after that and they said it was a civil issue so there was nothing they could do.

Nightmare4banks · 27th June 2007, 03:13

Hi all!

castor,

I have 3 questions for you:

1.You say in your post "us" and "we".How many people attended this meeting with the landlord when he handed over the £1000?

2.Did you sign any paperwork to confirm receipt of the £1000 from the landlord?Please clarify.

3.Did you return the keys to the landlord?

The answers to these questions should hopefully enable me to assist you further.

castor · 27th June 2007, 10:45

1. I was living with my girlfriend. We broke up so we both had to find a new place. The final month I lived alone in the house.
We both attended the meeting with the landlord.

2. There was no paperwork to confirm the money, he just took a huge stack of £50, counted them and handed £1000 to us.

3.Yes, we had to return both set of keys.He also had a new lock with him that he kept waving saying even if we didnt return them he would change the lock immediately after we left.

castor · 27th June 2007, 18:38

Quick update!!!

He just call me for us to meet this friday, he says he will give the rest of the money but that the house wasnt cleaned (it was as good as we had it when we moved in) and the cleaning will cost £180!

We left the house perfectly cleaned. How can we discuss this issue?
Also £180 for cleaning seems a lot. I also think he will try to charge more money for something else.
Any suggestions? Any thing I should prepare or do so he doesnt try to take even more money?

He also insisted he wanted a forward adress from me and started shouting on the phone when I asked the reason why. Should I give one to him?
Advice would be very good. Thanks

Nightmare4banks · 27th June 2007, 18:43

castor,after reading your last post and in my view:

1.As long as your ex-girlfriend is prepared to go to court if needed the receipt or your concerns about him trashing the flat should not be a
"big deal" as you would be each other's witness.

2.Pay the bills if you have not already done so and give the ex-landlord another say 2 weeks without contacting him.If he does not contact you issue a pre-action letter and then if no joy by then SUE!It is as simple as that!

We will help you all the way here!

By the way,did you have any previous problems with this ex-landlord?

He seems to be a bit of nutter!

Anyway,I hope you find this information useful.

If you have any questions,just ask.

keep us posted.

All the best!

Nightmare4banks · 27th June 2007, 18:51

castor in reply to your last post:

1.Be casual and polite.Ask the landlord to kindly put the breakdown of the costs in writing in order for you to understand how he reached the figure of £180.

2.DO NOT give your new home address.I would suggest that you rent out a mailing address for a couple of quid per month.You can find mailing addresses under accommodation address in the Yellow Pages.

Anyway,I hope you find this information useful.

castor · 27th June 2007, 18:52

Thanks for the quick reply.

Yes, he was by far the worstl landlord I ever had. We were living on a ground floor flat (the whole 3 floor house belonged to him) and he decided to do some rework on the 2nd floor.

While doing it he threw all the garbage, broken glas from windowss, cables, cigar bums and even bricks from the repairs into our garden/patio. When we confroted him about the issue he said that was normal and that is the way things are, always saying it was his house and he could do it the way he wanted to.
He also entered the house several times (without our consent) to get tools or materials that felt into the garden.

All the bills for the house are payed and I have the receipts.

So what should I say to him when he presents me a bill or something from the house cleaning people when we meet this Friday?

Nightmare4banks · 27th June 2007, 19:15

castor,in reply to your last post:

1.Good question!The bill seems excessive plus the fact you say that you handed over a clean flat.

2.Personally,I would see to get as much money back of the deposit without having to go through the legal channels.

3.If he gives you back £320(£500 he owes you less than £180) - I would take it and run.Then sue him for the balance!It would be up to judge to decide if the £180 was excessive or not.

4.You could possibly sue him for any disruption he had caused you but that would depend on the severity and how long you suffered.

5.Make sure to take with you a witness(your ex-girlfriend would be the best person here) and meet him in a public place i.e. pub.

I hope you find this information/suggestions useful.

ONE FINAL QUESTION...

By the way,did you take photos of the flat prior to departure or not?

castor · 27th June 2007, 19:25

Thank you for amazing advice. No, I completely forgot to do so, there are no pictures of the house before we left.

Nightmare4banks · 27th June 2007, 19:43

castor,in reply to your last post:

I know my advice is amazing!(lol!)

Don't worry we will nail this landlord's a**!

All you have to do is keep me posted.

rowansgran · 28th June 2007, 15:42

Hello Nightmare, your advice is sound.Castor,DO NO BE INTIMIDATED,I know you don't like the stress,no-one does, that is EXACTLY how these people manage to screw more money from us.
Accept the money he gives you, get a receipt, have a witness to co-sign the receipt, and after you pocketed the money, tell him you are going to file a small claim against him..ON NO ACCOUNT give him your new address.
Kind regards....

Nightmare4banks · 29th June 2007, 02:40

rowansgran,I know my advice is sound!lol!

Anyway,I hope it goes well for castor.

castor · 2nd July 2007, 10:40

Hi, what a surprise, the landlord didnt show up, AGAIN!
He tried to schedule for today (Monday) but we dont know what to do, its the third time now and for sure he will do this again, just schedule and then not show up. And the worst thing is that he doesnt even give reason.

Should I keep trying to meet him?

Curlyben · 2nd July 2007, 10:57

Give him a third chance and as and when he doesn't show sue his bottom.
A LBA threat maybe all he needs to recant and pay up.

Esio Trot · 2nd July 2007, 17:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Curlyben

Give him a third chance and as and when he doesn't show sue his bottom.
A LBA threat maybe all he needs to recant and pay up.

Don't bother scheduling a meeting. Just work on documentary facts.

Did you sign a condition and inventory report before moving in? If not the landlord is stuffed. Just do a final demand, then letter before action, then a cc claim. Before embarking on this action though, you must do a land registry search to check that he is the owner.

castor · 2nd July 2007, 21:20

Ok, stupidly I gave the landlord another chance and...he didnt show up, half an hour in the rain waiting for the bastard. Once again tried to call him and he didint answer the phone.

I want to sue the f***ing idiot the best I can.
He only gave me £1000 from the 1500 but there is no proof whatsoever, I'm so ****ed off I feel I want to demand for the whole amount, is that viable?

Anyway, what is the first step now to start the process? I read a few other posts and people wrote registered letter is that the way to start?

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