Rent Refund

[alymac]

HELLO
i had a six month tenecny with a lettin agent, it started on the 4/11/05 which would tack me to the 3/5/06

when i took up the tenency the rent was due on the 4/11/05, this is 12 days before i get paid, and asked if i can pay on the 16th whick i was told yes but you will have to pay up up untill the 16th which is a further 12 days rent,
ok this is fine and was took that the extra rent will be paid back at the end of the tenency.

i was due to move into my new house on the 28 th aprill and the lease was due to expire on the 3th may. nice timing i though,

i did not move on the 28th due to a glitch so was looking at moving at the end of the next month, so i email letting agent to ask for one month extenstion,this was ok by him so this would take me uo untill the 3 june,i moved on the 26 may,

i handed back the keys on the 3/6/06.

i got email yesterday to say that he was returning my deposit minus £12 cause the oven was not clean.

i emailed to ask about the overpayment on my rent as was told that i had paided up untill 16th june, and was not returning the extra rent.

i was told by one of his staff i would would recieve this money at the end, this is why i paid the last months rent in full,

rent £500 per month
6 months £3000
7 months lease £3500
paid £3700.12
£200.12 over payment


who is in the right i agreed to a six moths lease, he agreed to a month extenstion. i paid for 6+1 plus 12 days

[barracad]

Originally Posted by alymac

i emailed to ask about the overpayment on my rent as was told that i had paided up untill 16th june, and was not returning the extra rent.

And what did he say in response to this?

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi all!

Alymac,in my view:

1.Do not complain about the £12 as it is your word against the letting agent's word unless of course you took photos of the property before leaving.

2.You should be entitled to receive the full refund of the overpaid rent- £200.12.

3.Issue a Letter before Action(always send by Recorded Delivery and keep the stub as proof) and if the letting agent does not refund the full rent in say 1 month take the letting agent to court.It is as simple as that.

Follow other threads that I have posted before regarding dealing with deposits which should help you to sort out your claim together the letter before action which can be found on this site in the library.

I hope you find this information/suggestions useful.

aIf you have any questions or need more help,just ask.

Keep us posted.

All the best!

Before you send your letter to the letting agent,post it here so we can help you with it

[alymac]

i received my deposit back on Saturday £588 which is only £12 short as he said about the oven

i also asked the letting agent about having a phone line put as it was a new flat there was none,i was told that the landlord would go halvers which i never received.

part of the lease was that i would have the carpets professionaly cleaned, which i never as they were clean,the letting agent states on his last letter that the carpets were clean but cant tell if i had them cleaned but said that the telephone money he would keep to cover the carpets getting cleaned!!.


i emailed him on Saturday asking for my money and stated that i would do everything in my legal power to reclaim my money.

i will send him a lba letter at the end off next week.

[alymac]

typed out letter, please feel free to make any changes to the draft.

Is it the owner or letting agency that i need to address the letter and action against?
RECORDED DELIVERY.

LETTER BEFORE ACTION.

date

my address

there address

I am very disappointed that you have failed to respond to my email dated the (date).

I would like to draw your attention to the terms of the lease which you agreed to at the time i took the lease on.

1.I agreed to pay you the sum of £500 per calender month from the 4th of November 2005 to the 3rd of May 2006, a six month short stay lease. Payable on the 1st of each month in advance totaling £3000.

2.You agreed to let me pay on the 16th of each month, i was told by you, i would have to pay up until the 16th, this was 12 days,4th to the 12th which was at £16.67666 per day =£200.12 this was in keeping with the terms of the lease, the rent must be payed in advance.

3.You also agreed to let me stay on for one complete calender month after the 3rd may, in your email on the 31st may 2006. Which now takes the end of the lease to the 3th of June, i left the property on the 26th may and returned the keys into you possession on the 3 June 2006.

4.I have paid you the sum off £3700 which you don't dispute for a seven month stay at the property which there is an overpayment of £200.12 which I'm seeking back from you, if you do not comply fully within 14 days than i shall begin a claim in the small claims court against you for the full amount plus my costs and without further notice.

5.Should this claim go to court,i will be seeking statutory intrest on the amount at a rate of 8% in accordance to section 69 of the 1984 county court act.

yours sincerely

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi all!

alymac,good you got your deposit back.
A good start.Now it is time to kick some agent a**!

Your letter is fine.However,I would suggest that you make the slight amendments as written below:

a.Type in "RECORDED DELIVERY" above Letter before Action.When a judge sees that the agent has not responded he/she will not be very impressed.Make sure to retain the stub and make copies of it if you have to go to court.

b.Insert numbers as bullet points i.e.

1.I agreed.....

2.You agreed...

3.You also agreed...

4.I have paid you the sum....

This is because if your case does go to court you have limited time to put forward your side of the story.It is also much easier for the judge to refer to and so the agent CANNOT avoid any issues outlined in your "Letter before Action" Letter if you had written it in paragraph format.

Anyway the letter is fine now.

If you have any more questions,just ask.

Keep us posted.

All the best!

[Nightmare4banks]

alymac,you should also add at the end of your letter:

I would suggest that you make it point no 5

5.Should this claim go to court,I will be seeking statutory interest on the amount at
a rate of 8% in accordance to Section 69 of The 1984 County Court Act.

Now the letter is perfect in my view.

[Nightmare4banks]

almac,

In order to ansewr your question correctly regarding the address -

Who do you pay your rent to thelandlord or the agent?

[alymac]

i pay it to an agent, i dout the land lord will know about the extra rent, is it the owner of the LA or the LA to be taken to task.

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi all!


Alymac,before I answer your question do you have the landlord's address?


Please clarify.

[alymac]

not the landlord but i do know there names,i have the la address

[alymac]

something else that might be of interest as i have just reread his email, he states that the extra rent is for just changing the date? and cant refund the money, also i asked at the time of paying the extra rent, what happens at the end of the lease regarding the overpayment, i was told i would get it back with my deposit or the last month would be reflected to take it in to account there was no way i would have paid it if i was not going to get it back.(I'm Scottish).

the person who i was dealing with at the LA is no longer working for them as the owner told me if that makes any difference to my claim she was a Representative of his company,

[Nightmare4banks]

alymac,according to what you say -

you pay the rent to the agent and not the landlord.

Are you on speaking terms with the landlord?

If yes,you want to contact him(in a non-confrontational manner) and give him 1 week to see if he will refund the money because remember the agent was acting on behalf of the landlord so if you sue you really should sue the landlord.Maybe this sounds abit strange but this is how "agency" law works.

I am sure that the agent thinks you will not contact the landlord but you give the agent a little surprise!

More than likely the agent has pocketed your £200 without the landlord's knowledge as you said.

However,legally the landlord is liable because he has hired the agent to deal with tenants etc.

Anyway,after you contact the landlord inform me about you progress or otherwise.

[alymac]

i have no way off contacting the landlord, i have his name only as it was on several letters sent to the property, i will sent the lba to the owner/manager of the LA branch, this has to be sent out on monday as it is in keeping with my timetable, what do you think to the amount of time to put on the lba 14? 28 ?days?

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi all!

Alymac,please note:

1.The landlord has committed a criminal offence by not revealing his address to yourself. Not a very good business practice!

2.You should allow a maximum of 1 month from issuing the LBA to taking the matter to court.This is because court action should be a "last resort" option.

3.Make sure to send the letter to the letting agent by Recorded Delivery.Retain
the stub in a safe place.

Also,please read through my previous posts regarding tackling this sort of dispute.


If you need any more help,just ask.

Keep us posted.

All the best!

[alymac]

hi everbody. re. letter before action.

letter now on its way to my old lettin agent, giving 28 days to act,