Landlord didn't register the house, wants to hold money for bills

[AKL]

Hello All,

I've had a look through some of the other posts but they don't seem to fit my problem:

Me and my two other flatmates moved out of our flat on 30th March 08 after mutually agreeing with the landlord to terminate the lease after 7 months.

The three bedroom flat we were renting consisted of the first and second (top) floor of a 3 storey terrace house. The ground floor was being rented to a separate group of tenants, but we shared the same front door onto the street. According to our contract, we were renting flat 51B and they were flat 51.

When we moved in, we tried to register the utilities in our name, and even though there was a separate gas meter for our apartment, we were told that it was not registered. We informed the real estate of this and they said they would look into it. That was the last we heard of it until, just before we were moving out, we received a council tax bill in our names for flat 51. We phoned the council to say we live in 51B, not 51, and it was at this time that we discovered that the landlord had not applied for planning permission to separate the flats.

So, when we had received a letter from the real estate saying that we had to show them copies of the final bills in order to get our deposits back, we reminded them of the situation. They remembered, and said that in that case we would get our deposit back irrespective of the utilities. Obviously that didn't happen.

Now, our lease states that the agent must tell us within ten working days whether they wish to withhold any deductions so as to compensate the landlord for losses caused by any unpaid accounts for utilities for which the tenant is liable. The real estate rung us this morning (14th April) to tell us that the landlord wished to withhold £70 per month x 7 months = £490 for the utilities. By my calculations that makes it beyond ten working days, and the fact that it says compensation means that he has to be out of pocket and have some sort of bill / receipt / invoice, no?

I have a couple of questions:
1) Can he withhold our deposit?
2) Do we have to pay the bills?
3) Do we have to pay the council tax?
4) What's the best way to proceed from here in order to avoid court proceedings?

Sorry for the epic length of the email, but any advice is greatly appreciated.

p.s. NEVER RENT THE PROPERTY AT 51 GRANBY STREET

[Planner]

They cant wothold anything without showing that what they are witholding is correct. Whats the landlord going to do with the £70 x 7? hes certainly not going to pay any bills with it because it seems there are no bills to pay!!! nice little earner for him.

You deposit will be in one of the TDS schemes (you should know which one and thats where the 10 day limit comes from). I would dispute the amount directly with them and let the landlord provide proof of where this figure has come from.

[Conniff]

Is this Granby St Devonport ?

If so, Plymouth City Council have no interest in your welfare or the rights and wrongs of anything. As the ct bill is in your name, they will just go right to court and get a liability order against you.

[Lula]

sounds more like Granby St Leicester

[AKL]

Thanks for the responses. I'm getting in touch with the TDS to get the money back, see what they say.

We are talking with the council about the tax, and this should be sorted out.

It's actually 51 Granby St London, near the top of Brick Lane.