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Hi, new to this particular thread, but have used forum sucessfully to sue Natwest.
Anyway, I write on behalf of my daughter.
She recently finished her degree at Cardiff Uni. She rented a room in the same house for two years. She left owing no outstanding monies and I personally cleaned her room impecably. Her landlord, refuses to give back her 250.00 bond because she was late paying her rent twice. Can anyone advise.
Please can you clarify - when you say she was late paying her rent, I assume you mean that all rent has now in fact been paid up, and the deposit isn't being held because rent is still outstanding?
If so, the landlord has no right whatsoever to withold the deposit or any part of it as a charge for 'late payments' or similar.
Opinions given herein are made informally by myself as a lay-person in good faith based on personal experience. For legal advice you must always consult a registered and insured lawyer.
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Posts
136
Re: Landlord Wont Give Back Bond
I'd get the landlord to put it in writing the exact reasons for with holding the bond. If it's due to late payment of rent that has now been paid, he's got no legal standing what so ever.
Agree 100% with JJS, no legal basis for this being withheld IF it is due to late rent not outstanding rent.
7 years in retail customer service
Expertise in letting and rental law for 6 years
By trade - I'm an IT engineer working in the housing sector.
Please note that any posts made by myself are for information only and should not and must not be taken as correct or factual. If in doubt, consult with a solicitor or other person of equal legal standing.
Hi,
As said she left no outstanding monies. She has paid everything up to date. She was late but always paid before the month's end - she was a uni student after all, he must have gotten that from many other students.
She has threatened leagl action, but he replied 'bring it on'. He owns the lettting agency. He has given back the bond to the other 5 flat mates.
Proceed with legal action then. Its a complete no brainer this one.
7 years in retail customer service
Expertise in letting and rental law for 6 years
By trade - I'm an IT engineer working in the housing sector.
Please note that any posts made by myself are for information only and should not and must not be taken as correct or factual. If in doubt, consult with a solicitor or other person of equal legal standing.
Theres you answer then, you need "to bring it on".
Write a letter asking for a reason as to why deposit is witheld, if no reason other than the one hes already mentioned then you would like the deposit returning in 14 days.
If this isnt successful, then a letter before (lba) action giving a further 14 days and then you will submitt a claim to the county court (fill in the N1 claim form and send it along with your LBA).
When that 14 days up, you "bring it on" and submit the claim.
Out of interest, you say the LL is also the letting agents, are they members of any professional organistaion by any chance? or one of the unis 'registered landlords'? if so I would suggest a compalint to them in addition to the above court action.
The LL is a letting agent, but he also let thru 4let, which is the co. that my daughter has a contract with.
Ok phoned letting agent number and told them we had a copy oth the contract and they appear to be breaking the law. The girl would not help until I told her I had contacted Cardiff Trading Standards and the NUS and would be pursuing a legal claim, when she backed down a little. She would not give an address to me for the rogue B*****d but will give it to my daughter tommorrow when she goes to see them. She did not like the mention of trading standards and said she would do all she could to settle the matter and she herself on behalf of 4let.co.uk do not recommend his behaviour. It would appear that he has parted ways with them and they no longer represent him.
Will post when I get further info.
Bit more info if it helps. As I said she let thru 4let.co.uk Cardiff. But half way thru the last year, Rehman the landlord ceased using them and took the money himself in cash each month and refused to issue receipts. The kids did not sign a new contract. 4let did not inform them of any change to the contract, 4let did not tell them that they were no longer the agents. Infact only the LL verbally did. So I take it as - the original contract being the only one - is the leagal and binding one. Am I correct? And if so, 4let are legally culpable?? Please advise. And if so do we issue legal proceedings with them????????????????(4let .co.uk)
The contract has always been with the landlord, therefore it was and is the landlord that is legally culpable NOT 4let.
7 years in retail customer service
Expertise in letting and rental law for 6 years
By trade - I'm an IT engineer working in the housing sector.
Please note that any posts made by myself are for information only and should not and must not be taken as correct or factual. If in doubt, consult with a solicitor or other person of equal legal standing.
4let acts as the landlords agent. In a legal sense, this means that they are one and the same person.
7 years in retail customer service
Expertise in letting and rental law for 6 years
By trade - I'm an IT engineer working in the housing sector.
Please note that any posts made by myself are for information only and should not and must not be taken as correct or factual. If in doubt, consult with a solicitor or other person of equal legal standing.
By trade - I'm an IT engineer working in the housing sector.
Please note that any posts made by myself are for information only and should not and must not be taken as correct or factual. If in doubt, consult with a solicitor or other person of equal legal standing.
In respect to yourself, nothing. It is ENTIRELY the landlord. However, the landlord can in turn then seek legal recourse against the agent.
Basically the chain works like this:
Tenant -> Landlord -> Agent - where the arrow means "is contracted with".
7 years in retail customer service
Expertise in letting and rental law for 6 years
By trade - I'm an IT engineer working in the housing sector.
Please note that any posts made by myself are for information only and should not and must not be taken as correct or factual. If in doubt, consult with a solicitor or other person of equal legal standing.
In respect to yourself, nothing. It is ENTIRELY the landlord. However, the landlord can in turn then seek legal recourse against the agent.
Basically the chain works like this:
Tenant -> Landlord -> Agent - where the arrow means "is contracted with".
Thank you Sir,
Very interesting. The only reason why my daughter and her fellow students went with 4let was because they were afraid of being 'burnt'. 4let was a registered agency and therefore they thought this afforded them safety against the likes of the rogue landlords out there. So for future info all of our children going to uni be advised a reputable letting agency means SQUAT - you are still at the mercy of theives like Rahmen, your signed contract with the letting agency is worthless. Why then do we have contracts ant tandc's?????????????????? ????????????????????????? ???????????????
Would recommend that you edit that - libellous post.
7 years in retail customer service
Expertise in letting and rental law for 6 years
By trade - I'm an IT engineer working in the housing sector.
Please note that any posts made by myself are for information only and should not and must not be taken as correct or factual. If in doubt, consult with a solicitor or other person of equal legal standing.
MrShed and I have tossed this matter about in other threads and forums - and I contend that the above may not be the only avenue.
Originally Posted by JEC
Bit more info if it helps. As I said she let thru 4let.co.uk Cardiff. But half way thru the last year, Rehman the landlord ceased using them and took the money himself in cash each month and refused to issue receipts. The kids did not sign a new contract. 4let did not inform them of any change to the contract
No new contract was signed, so the original one is the only legal base to work from. The first point to establish is whether the deposit was held by the agent as Stakeholder or Landlords Agent, if the former, then 4let should be named on any legal action.
Although 4let are "agents" for the landlord and the landlord is ultimately the person responsible in all other aspects of a tenancy, this does not override the duty of care that holding deposits as Stakeholder entails.
A “Stakeholder” is a person or firm who holds the deposit as a quasi-trustee on behalf of both parties [this may vary in Scotland] and who cannot release it without the consent of both parties.
ARLA also state that money being held as Stakeholder is a quasi-trustee position on behalf of both parties
Many agents do not realise that if the TA is silent on how the deposit is held, the assumption in law is that it is Stakeholder.
JEC's daughter needs to carefully read the contract she signed before embarking on a dedicated course of action.
On some things I am very knowledgeable, on other things I am stupid. Trouble is, sometimes I discover that the former is the latter or vice versa, and I don't know this until later - maybe even much later. Read anything I write with the above in mind.
MANY THANKXXXXX
It prompted me to talk to a solicitor within the CAB who specialises in Cardiff with contractual law and he has come up against this before and advises the same. The letting agent is the contractual party with my daughter. The letting agent's agreement says they will hold the bond and it would be returned if the terms and conditions are met. They agree they were. However, for some reason they gave it to the landlord, the rest you know.
Landlord Wont Give Back Bond
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Originally Posted by MrShed
Re: Landlord Wont Give Back Bond
