Absolutely right - wrong act quoted. Thanks for pointing it out!!

LBA?? MCOL?? Some people on here are way too familiar with the legal system!!

I have a flat in Surrey that I rent out. It's been rented out for a number of years after I moved out and I always use an agent. I keep it regularly maintained and renovated and always have an inventory drawn up at the start of a tenancy and checked at the end of the tenancy. In May last year I let it out to a couple for 6 months. After 4 months they gave notice but asked if they could extend their agreement on a month by month basis until they could move. I agreed but said if this lasted longer than 2 months they would have to sign a new agreement which would be backdated. They did this for November and then stated they would be moving out on December 26th. This was agreed and I was able to find a new tenant to move in in early January. I was away for New year and got back on the 2nd Jan. When I contacted the agent I found that the tenants were still in there. Eventually after a bit of a struggle, the old tenant moved out in the nick of time and the new tenant moved in. When I inspected the flat I noted that there were a lot of delapidations. Some were my responsibility but the majority were due to the tenants. They had even walked off with a couple of items - one of which was a dehumidifer!! All this was substantiated by the inventory clerk at check out. I went and discussed it with the agent and asked them to contact the ex-tenant and inform them that all this would be held from their deposit. I was shocked with what the agent revealed: - 1) The tenants were DHSS and had not disclosed this until after the tenancy had started. 2) The tenants had been evicted from their previous tenancy (or at least the LL had refused to renew) 3) The tenants had been agressive - verging on abusive - to the agent 4) The tenants had defaulted on the rent for 2 months. One month the agent had paid it from the deposit and the second month the agent had paid me directly and claimed it back from the tenant (I believe). I was shocked. :o The agent did not have my approval to pay the rent from the deposit and had insisted this was better than trying to get them evicted for rent arrears. The tenants proportion of the delapidations was approx £700, rent was £800 and the deposit was £1,200. The agent has written to them regarding the delapidations but with no response. The agent has not (yet) confirmed what has happened to the balance of the deposit. I am debating what to do. Which of the following would people suggest? 1) Do nothing 2) Take the ex-tenant to SCC 3) Take the agent to SCC I am reluctant to do 1) but also fee that 2 would not end with a result as they probably cant pay! Therefore 3 seems to be the only way to get any money but are they legally obliged? All advise or feedback welcomed and sorry for the long post!!!

I feared that was the case. I may propose the "releasing to charity" solution first as a point of principle. Not worth my while taking some to SC Court over £50.....! The though had crossed my mind though.....!! If no court action is taken and no agreement is reached, does the money just sit in the escrow account for "ever"?

It looks like you have already done some of what I commented on: This does not seem overly high. If they have had a professional company come in and all they are doing is passing on the cost to you, all you can do is suggest they use a cheaper cleaning company but I feel you have to pay it! Gardening would be grass cutting. I take your point about the bush but IMO it would be hard for you to prove that this was included in the fee or that it was done at all. As harsh as it may seem you may just have to pay this. First mistake was to do it at your own expense. You should have pestered the LL or their agents until it got done. Having had it done, it was the LL's responsibility to ensure that their agent got a copy of the new key. You should dispute this charge IMO. Totally disagree with it - challange it!! Not a clue what this is. Challange it and see what they say. You are within your rights to ask for clarification. Hope my feedback helps but got some professional advice even if just from CAB.

I am not a lawyer but, IMHO, I would do the following: 1) Request that the balance be paid back immediately. 2) Get them to itemise what each of the items cost 3) Check the tenancy agreement and state (in writing) that the bond/deposit is only intended to cover the cost of delapidations (assuming it is). 4) Write to them to agree (if you do) to the items such as cleaning and grass cutting and then say the other charges are disputed. This will show any court that you are being fair. HTH

It is very remiss of the LL not to have created an inventory at the start of the tenancy - your case is EXACTLY why one is created. Not just to check whether teaspoons are missing!! I hope you solve the problems quickly and without to much pain/heartache!! In the future, if the LL does not provide an inventory, either insist he/she does or get one done yourself. It should cost you around £100 but will save you all this time and heartache when you check out. HTH

Heidi, IMHO it seems that you have been more than fair! I wish you & your husband were my tenants!! IANAL but I think (worst case) your LL should have obtained a quote for the replacement panel and then deducted it from your deposit. However, 2 points seem clear from what you tell me. 1) The balance of the deposit should have been handed over straight away. Just the amount in dispute can be witheld. 2) The panel on the cooker seems to be covered by Fair Wear & tear (FWT). I am not sure legallly she would have a case. I have had some nightmare tenants and I have had some good ones. I aim to be a fair landlord but there are certainly some nightmare ones out there and unfortunately yours eems to be one of them!! Good luck with all this!!

Whose side are they really on? The Landlord? The tenants? Independant? Variable? I always assumed they worked for the Landlord since they were paid by him/her - in reality they nearly always seem to favour the tenant. Comments?

My wife has a flat in North London that we rent out. When a previous tenant moved out we examined that property, as did our inventory company and agent, and noted that the tenant had marked the walls. At some point they must have had posters up and there were other scuff marks that were not shown when they moved in (confirmed by the inventory). The marks were significant enough to justify painting the whole wall which may had led to painting the whole room. Instead of charging for this we counted up the major marks and charged them a set rate for each one coming to a total of £50. We refunded the rest of the deposit and said we claiming the $50 from the deposit. The tenant appealed against this and refused to agree. The agent inspected the flat and agreed with our decision and wrote to the ex-tenant. This has gone on now for over a year with no agreement on the £50 which is still held in the Agents escrow account. How do we move forward? At this stage I dont actually care about the money but a) I don't want the ex-tenant to get it and b) don't want the Agent to hold on to it. Can I ask the Agent to donate it to charity?

I see a number of discusisons around Bank charges. My wife wrote to her branch of HSBC for details of her bank charges - as per the Freedom of Inofrmation action. There response was to send her 6 years worth of statements and state that the charges were contained within those. We had explicitly asked for them NOT to send statements. Whilst I understand the charges are there my question is whether this is within the letter of the Freedom of Information Act act?