private landlord questions and advice needed

[leeroy2009]

i am about to move out of my current home into a council house.

 

i currently live in a private rented house landlord gets his money on time every time from the housing benifit payed directly to him (council only let you have a property with them if you have no rent arrears from your current landlord, he has confimed to them we have no rent arrears)

 

i have lived in this house for 8 years approx, i give him bond but cant remember the ammount, this was confirmed on the original tennancy aggrement that i can no longer find, infact im not sure when i actualy signed a recent tenancy agrement or even if there is one in force

 

im just wondering what i can do if he refuses to give me my bond back?

 

it was a unfurnished property when i took it on, but some carpets were left by the previous tennants, some i have replace with wooden flooring and a new carpet.

 

the house is fairly good condition, however i have had to remove alot of skirting boards as the were simply falling off the walls as they had rotted (i replaced some at my own expense when i laid the wooden floor in the sitting room, landlord is fully aware that there is a problem with damp and rot with the woodwork in the house, ie skirtings and one window frame which is about to fall out, the kitchen walls are crumbling and hughe chunks keep falling out, i have made no repairs to the kitchen as this is not my respnsibility, also there is a gap of approx 3 years where no gas safty check was carried out - he will not be able to supply the gas safty checks unless he falsely obtains them, however a gas safty check was carried out about a month ago as i kicked up a fuss about the state of the house etc, the gas safty check was the only thing he recitiged, he was not bothered about the rot to the skirting bords etc)

 

all i want is my bond back when we finaly move out, if he wants me to leave the wooden floor he can of course buy it from me as i will be uplifting it and taking it with me for the new house.

 

my bond is in none of these protection things and i only found the existed form reading these forums, he may have no problem returning the bond to me but i cant remember the amount i gave him.

 

where do i stand if he refuses to return my bond, many thanks

[Kentish Lass]

If you have not signed a new AST agreement since 2001 i.e. if the original tenancy rolled over to become a periodic tenancy, the deposit would not have had to be protected.

 

You might have a problem if in lifting the wooden flooring you damage his property? Not sure where you would stand regarding that.

 

The fact that you do not have the paperwork, and can't remember the amount could be a bit of a problem. It is possible that your Landlord won't remember how much it is either!!

 

I think you will just have to wait and see, or maybe have a chat with your LL about it.

[leeroy2009]

ok

 

i now have his details and the recipte for the bond

 

the tennancy was a assured shorthold tenancy, the last agrrement i signed was in 2001, i know that i have signed nothing since and the bond will not have been protected.

 

can someone help me with a letter before action and will a n1 claimn do it

 

cheers

[NewSAHD]

I think you will just have to wait and see, or maybe have a chat with your LL about it.

 

Leeroy2009, hi, you seem to be jumping the gun a bit with the formalities. Is there a reason why you are wishing to "formalise" matters in the way you appear to be suggesting? *

 

Kentish Lass is right, why not have a chat with your landlord?

 

You could do it quite informally, by asking what date/time (which, obviously, you may already know ) would he like to meet you there to check you out of your home, so that you can -

 

1. confirm meter readings with you (gas, electricity, water)

2. confirm handover of all keys and that property/doors/windows left secure

3. confirm that he is happy with condition (you might want to leave this out of any initial exchanges, so that he does not think about this too soon, will leave this to you to decide!) and

4. confirm when/how can you expect to receive your deposit of £X back

5. also, if tenancy agreement allows for interest to be repayable on the deposit confirm this too - but likely agreement won't allow for interest though

 

If he has an email address you can have a simple, but "friendly" exchange of emails to confirm the same - and document what is being / has been agreed between yourselves.

 

Letters of action are all very well, but surely you want the maximum amount of your deposit back with the minimum of fuss / comeback?

 

A letter before action from you to him might also prompt him to re-think the condition/cost of repair of the property he is taking back too and re-think what, if anything, he can deduct from your deposit/charge you separately.

 

Hope this helps and good luck with the move.

 

(* Just seen your original post was in July, sorry, appreciate now there might be good reason for getting 'formal')

Edited November 5, 2009 by NewSAHD

[leeroy2009]

its time to get formal as he has ignored me since i moved out a few months ago despite many emails sent to him and text messages.

 

i lived there for approx 8 years, in that time there was a max of 4 gas safty checks done - yes 4.

 

i want to lba him, giving him time to pay my original deposit back, with no costs added or interest.

 

i want to make it clear to him in lba that should he not settle within the lba, that if i am forced to go to court then the court claim will consist of the following

 

bond returned

8% interest

all costs

and and and, i will require copies of every gas saftey check certificate for the past 8 years (which he wont be able to supply most of them because he never had the checks done.

 

i want my bond back, should he ignore the lba then its off to court, i will also see what legal action i can take regarding the gas saftey checks

 

its in his interests to refund my bond.

[NewSAHD]

OK, cheers, that makes more sense now.

 

Plus, you've pretty much said in your post what you need to say to him anyway Perhaps others will comment and I will come back to this to this thread too, as rushing out on the school run now

 

Make sure you also provide him with copies of emails/texts/a copy of the original agreement too showing the deposit paid. You want to make it clear to him - and, if needs be, later make it clear for the Court - that the evidence/documentation is clear and all you want is your money back, which you have been chasing for 4 months now!

 

Send it all by recorded delivery/by hand AND get proper confirmation that it was delivered/received. There's a Court form that can be used to help with this too, don't recall the reference, it's been a long time since I had need to look at it. Will look it up later.

 

Where did the 8% come from, the agreement itself? If so, make this clear too. If there is an interest provision it will say something like x% above base or some such.

 

Someone here will be able to help with the wording*, but you can then later, easily, make a small claims court application on line if you wish too

 

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp

 

How much is the overall sum you are seeking?

 

As for gas safety there's not a lot you can do, really, if he had a current one at the time you left. If he is ignoring you can always bring it to the attention of the local authority etc. Is someone living in your old home, if so, they may want to know too...

 

Best you get your letter before action out, then an online application out pdq, whilst avoid stirring up too much trouble. It's your money you want out of this after all. Which is pretty much where you are coming from, of course!

 

If he's ignored you this long though it seems he may respond to a letter before action, but I'd give him 14 days tops, with summons to follow (perhaps) but if you go straight for him through the courts be prepared to lose the application fee - if he's going to pay he's more likely to do so once he's got your letter.

 

Best of luck!

Edited November 5, 2009 by NewSAHD

[leeroy2009]

cheers mate, the 8% is the amount of interest you are allowed to claim in the court.

[Steve__M]

Landlords are only required to keep gas certificates for 2 years. Also, the remedy is to get environmental health involved. I would concentrate on just the bond. Best of luck.

[leeroy2009]

asking for the gas saftey certifactes was a way of making him pay without having to go to court, but thanks for the comments.

[leeroy2009]

won won won

 

landlord settled out of court, he gave me cheque for bond which has now cleared.

 

thank you for your help.