trouble with 2 letting agencies

[its_me]

Hello all,

 

We are having trouble with 2 letting agencies.

1st agent's story - We were renting a flat in harrow till aug'08 and the agent after 4 months of follow ups has sent us the deposit but deducted £200 for no reason. I very well know that there was nothing wrong with the flat and that I had returned it to them in a better condition than they had given it to me. I have recently sent an email to the landlord (who lives in dubai and i dont have his address) asking him to return the balance to us. I gave him time till 9th dec and I am guessing he would not reply.

My question is, is it worth going to the court for £200. we gave the depost in aug'07 so it shoould be covered by the govt. scheme, but he hasnt given us any proof of where our money was.

 

2nd agent story - we rented a flat in nottingham in aug'08 and had a 12 month contract. but the agent sent us a letter a week ago informing us that the landlord wants to sell the property and that we have to empty the flat by jan'09 (giving us 2 month notice). I told them they cannot do this as we have a 12 month contract but they asked us to read the contract again and when I did, it says term of contract 12 months on the front but on the last page they have added a line saying that only the landlord can give us to vacate in 6 months by giving us a 2 month notice....

my question is do we have any right not to vacate.

 

hope u guys can help... we are new in this country and are not very aware of all the letting laws

 

thanks all

[Steve__M]

1. You have the option to sue your agent/landlord under the tenancy deposit protection legislation.

 

 

 

2. Check your contract again. If the contract gives the landlord the right to break the contract early without giving you a similar right then it is against the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts legislation. See 3.65 in the following document.

 

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/unfair_contract_terms/oft356.pdf

 

I am not sure how these rules are enforced though.

 

Note that you do not have to leave on the stated date. If you do not leave then the landlord will need to issue a section 8 notice to quit and then apply to the court for your eviction. However, you would probably be liable for the court costs (not sure how much). I would guess that it would be at this point where you would defend the eviction using the Unfair Terms legislation.

[its_me]

1. is it worth to sue him for £200? could we loose the case as well??

 

2. this contract is too confusing for me....there r 2 lines in the contract that makes me feel tht ur right about unfair terms

On the first page of the contract the Term of Contract is 12 months. Then under the 'At the end of the tenancy' clause it says 'After the 11 months of the tenancy, to give the landlord not less than one calendar month's notice in writing of the determination of the tenancy'

Then at the end, just before the signatures it says ' IT is hereby agreed that in accordance with the Housing Act 1996 the Landlord may terminate this Tenancy by giving not less than the required two month's notice in wrting to the Tenant at any time after the commencement of the tenancy PROVIDED that the tenancy shall not be detemined before six months from the commencemet date of the Tenancy. Any such determination pursuant to the provisions of this clause shall be without prejudice to the claim of either arty against the other in respect of any antecedent breach or non-observance of the provisions of this Agreement'

 

he wants us to vacate the property by 29th jan'09 and we are travelling from begginging of feb to 2nd week of march,,,,,,,,what if he gets a court order when we are not in the country,,,,what happens then??? can he throw our stuff out of the flat and leave us homeless when we are back.......

 

when we 1st got the notice we thought that we dont mind moving as long as we get a flat in the same building and we are renting a 2 bed flat right now so thought could do with a downsize and move into a 1 bed to save some money (it would be an inconvenience to move just before travelling but I could compromise) but this agent has a monopoly in this building and im sure he wont find a 1 bed flat for cheaper rental than we already have...and also he says he would charge us the £190 admin fee again..... so £380 of admin fee in 1 year....

[Steve__M]

1. Start by writing a letter before action. You could win an additional 3x penalty from the landlord.

 

2. You could start by trying to negotiate, using the Unfair Terms document as a bargaining tool.

 

I don't know how long it would take landlord to get an eviction notice. It would seem the timing is not great for you.

[Esio Trot]

2. Check your contract again. If the contract gives the landlord the right to break the contract early without giving you a similar right then it is against the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts legislation.

I do beg to differ here, as it is not quite so black and white.

 

Bear in mind that the OFT issued this document, the reading of it seems as though it is the law. However, it is only what the OFT thinks should be the law - some parts of it are so fanciful it is pie in the sky. I know of one case where a landlord was sued - the case was lost even though a paragraph from this document was quoted as the judge thought it most unreasonable.

[its_me]

1. Start by writing a letter before action. You could win an additional 3x penalty from the landlord.

 

2. You could start by trying to negotiate, using the Unfair Terms document as a bargaining tool.

 

I don't know how long it would take landlord to get an eviction notice. It would seem the timing is not great for you.

 

 

1. can u help me as to what should i say in the letter?

 

2. the timing could not be worst..... should all r current correspondance with the agent be in writing or a phone conversation would be ok as well.?

[its_me]

I do beg to differ here, as it is not quite so black and white.

 

Bear in mind that the OFT issued this document, the reading of it seems as though it is the law. However, it is only what the OFT thinks should be the law - some parts of it are so fanciful it is pie in the sky. I know of one case where a landlord was sued - the case was lost even though a paragraph from this document was quoted as the judge thought it most unreasonable.

 

what do u think we should do then?

[Steve__M]

1. Start by writing a letter before action. You could win an additional 3x penalty from the landlord.

 

For the above, read the stickies and the various threads on TDS.

 

For the below, heed Esoi's cautioning post. I did say:

 

2. You could start by trying to negotiate, using the Unfair Terms document as a bargaining tool.

[its_me]

1. I sent an email to the landlord and he lives out of UK to inform him of the situation and forwarded a copy to the agent. I gave the landlord 7 days to reply back (which ends on tuesday 9th dec) as i know tht none of them are going to reply, I would sending them another email on tuesday to give them the 14 days notice required by the county court. I have couple more questions please. I had read through the posts on TDS and noticed they all were mostly based on the case where the entire deposit was not returned but in our case £210 have been deducted without giving us any reason... on an N208 form what amount should I be claiming (that is if can make a claim on it)

and the landlord doesnt live in UK and i dont have his address... if i do win the case then who pays my money back?