Landlord withholding deposit??

[mack187]

Hello

I am wondering if someone can give me some good advice, My Girlfriend and 4 housemates moved out of their shared accomodation on 30th June 2006 because it was the end of their contract, they were told they would get back their deposit subject to deductions and all bills being paid, the landlord contacted them to tell them of some small deductions which were accepted and all bills have now been paid..... 4 weeks later still no deposit, the girls contacted the landlord to find out why? He says he needs a letter from Npower addressed to him stating that the bills are Paid (which they are) Npower say they dont do this but he is welcome to phone them to find out, He has point blank refused this saying he is t busy and why should he take time from his schedule, he has been unscrupulous from the start but this takes the cake, where do the Girls stand legally? All bills have been paid and the contracts have been signed over to the new tenants, The landlord must know the bills have been paid and is just playing silly buggers, whats the best way to approach this to get it sorted quickly and also make him know not to try it on with others

Thanks for any help

Regards

Tristan

[blacksheep1979]

alter the LBA in the templates library and if he refuses take him to the small claims court, if you have final bills dated up to or after her tennancy agreement finished that are paid he doesn't have a leg to stand on.

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi all!

Tristan,in reply to your posting and in my opinion:

1.The landlord can deduct reasonable justified amounts from a deposit as that is the whole objective of giving the ladlord the deposit in the first place.
This is so that the
2.As long as the bills were never in the landlord's name during the tenancy he would have nothing to worry about.He is either one of two things very wary about the bills or trying to use them as an exuse to delay or repay less amount of the deposit further down the line.

3.A good landlord would not whinge about contacting Npower - all he would need would be the "Final Reading" from your girlfriend and her friends.This is so that the "Final Bill" can be issued for them.Any other usage after that would either be his or the new tenants responsibility.

4.Finally,I think this landlord needs his a** kicked,so send him a Letter before Action(template in library) and allow him up to 1 month to cough up and if he doesn't -SUE! It is as simple as that!

Read through the other postings and threads associated with deposit disputes within the Landlord and Tenant section on this forum.

I hope you find this information useful.

If you need any help or have a question,just ask.

Keep us posted.

All the best!

[mack187]

Just a quick update, the landlord now claims he has sent the deposit back, HOWEVER he has sent ONE cheque to one of the housemates rather then sending the people back their cheques individually, I really think he is just doing this because he is a lazy B******d!!!!!

Everyone paid their deposits seperately so surely they should get them back seperately, I dont actually know if he has done anything wrong?? But this could bring with it a multitude of problems:- For instance he doesnt even know if the people involved are in contact or even get on but he has sent ALL the money to one person- Im really angry about this and want to know if he has done anything wrong because the guy is basically a very bad landlord and I want people to know so others dont have to suffer

Any advice is greatly appreciated

[m3shl]

Sadly for your girlfriend this is pretty much standard practise to return the deposit to one of the tenants in full. Regardless of how many tenants there are and how they paid originally. The tenancy is probably Joint and Several and the deposit shown on the agreement will be the whole amount due. It is down to all the tenants in the household to discuss what proportion belongs to them with each other.

If a landlord or agent agrees to pay each individual their share, this creates further delays in getting all tenants to agree in writing what their share is and what deductions they are responsible for.

Sorry it's not the answer you are looking for. Your girlfriend needs to get onto her housemates and failing that issue a small claim against the person who has the monies to get her share returned.


M