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Immediate Advice Required! Landlord not clear of repaying deposit!!


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:idea: This may seem to be a long post... but just adding the details. Can someone please advise me as to what action I should take now?

 

We started initially with a 6 months contract through agent in Feb 2006 and then extended the contract for another 6 months in July 2006. During October 2006 the landlady informed us that she does not wish the agent to manage the property but as we are in a contract so we should still continue. :o We requested the agent to hold the deposit and not to pass the deposit to the landlady.

 

We were away for holiday in January and had informed our landlady of our absence but she posted a written request to empty the house by 14th Feb 2007 during our absence. We received request on 5th Feb and absolutely gobsmacked :x as we had informed her that we would wish to continue our stay in the house. Spoke to the landlady, she said she wishes to sell the house and on mutual agreement we went for a month by month roll over.

 

During this period because of numerous house viewings it was difficult for us to stay with a kid for us as both of us are working and we had most viewings during evening and that too with less than 24 hrs notice. We tried to accomodate as many of them as possible but started hunting for a house and let the landlady know on 3rd May that we are searching for a house and will eventually empty the house not finalising the day of move.

 

Next week we updated her that we'll move out by 3rd June but she started saying that we need to pay till the end of payment month i.e. 14th June. We did not wish to get into any arguments hence after requesting couple of times we decided to pay the money till 14th but handover the house by 9th June as we were paying for the other house from 3rd June.

 

On 9th June the landlady came to the house and we went through the inventory list with her. All details other than the carpets cleaning were okayed by the landlady. She took possession of the keys and said that she has a chemical that she wishes to try on the carpet otherwise she may need to get the carpet cleaned. :(

 

We just told her to keep us informed of whatever she decides or the quote she gets for the carpet. After 2 weeks of continuous followup she said she's not got anyone for the job.

 

We found a professional cleaner who quoted £50 for the job. We passed on his details to the landlady so that she can get time fixed on Friday the 22nd June. We did not hear anything back from her. On 26th June we called her back to find out and left a voicemail, she called back to say that she's asked someone to come at the flat today to estimate.

 

We called back at 6:00 pm today to find out that she's asked another person to do the job at £80 and giving us reasons that this person is from a reputed company and has got recommendations and that his schedule matches hers. :mad: We argued that we coud get it done cheaper and that too of the same quality from professional cleaner and now she's giving all sort of reasons to get the job done at a higher price and also saying that she'll inform the agent only when the job is completed. I'm not sure that she'll inform the agent or not.

 

She's not ready to meet so that we can get the clearance letter from her. We're already going to complete 1 month since we've vacated the house and this is getting on our nerves. We are a bit soft and hence do not wish to get into arguments. The agent is also not helpful and says that they will go by the landlady's words only.

 

Please, Please, Please suggest what we can do.

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rdx 0202,after reading your post and in my view:

 

1.Keep the agent out of the equation as any disputes of this nature can only be resolved with the owner.

 

2.Give the landlady say 2 weeks and do not contact her daily to deal with the matter and if all fails send a pre-action letter to sue.Then wait up to 1 month and if there is no joy - SUE! It is as simple as that.

 

3.Hopefully you will not need to sue.However,if you do we will help you all the way.

 

I hope you find this information useful.

 

If you have any questions,just ask.

 

Keep us posted.

 

All the best!

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Hello rdox, just enlighten me... you signed a contract with the agent? Yes? If as you say you signed another 6 month contract with the agent in 2006 your point of contact is with the agent office and absolutely nothing to do with the person who owns the building..Let me state this clear. YOUR CONTRACT IS WITH THE AGENT.THE OWNER OF THE PROPERTY HAS NO SAY...until the contract ends in..guess what?December!!!! 6 month contract from July till....December.

The fact that you accommOdated viewings has nothing to do with the contract.YOU facilitated the viewings.NO ONE HELD YOU DOWN.

As for the carpet cleaning...GET OVER IT. £30 difference in price? What the hell. Settle down in your new home with your wife and child and think yourself lucky that 30 quid is all you have to worry you.

I wish you all well

Kind regards.

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Hello rdox, just enlighten me... you signed a contract with the agent? Yes? If as you say you signed another 6 month contract with the agent in 2006 your point of contact is with the agent office and absolutely nothing to do with the person who owns the building..Let me state this clear. YOUR CONTRACT IS WITH THE AGENT.THE OWNER OF THE PROPERTY HAS NO SAY...until the contract ends in..guess what?December!!!! 6 month contract from July till....December.

The fact that you accommOdated viewings has nothing to do with the contract.YOU facilitated the viewings.NO ONE HELD YOU DOWN.

As for the carpet cleaning...GET OVER IT. £30 difference in price? What the hell. Settle down in your new home with your wife and child and think yourself lucky that 30 quid is all you have to worry you.

I wish you all well

Kind regards.

 

Could you be less wrong?

 

Contract is between agent and Land Lord and a seperate contract between Landlord and Tenant. The Tenant has NO CONTRACT WHAT SO EVER with the Agents. You state that the tenancy then ended in December? erm no it didnt, it lapsed in to a periodic.

 

I have noticed a couple of trollish posts from you. Dont post cause your giving wrong advice.

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YOUR CONTRACT IS WITH THE AGENT.THE OWNER OF THE PROPERTY HAS NO SAY...until the contract ends in..

Sweet Jesus. Precisely opposite.

 

The fact that you accommOdated viewings has nothing to do with the contract.

have you seen the contract? If not, please do not shout at people because actually most contracts will contain a clause about allowing viewings in last weeks of the tenancy.

 

Very worrying indeed.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

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Hi all!

 

I would just like to add by saying:

 

1.All agreements are with the owners.The agents do the credit searches,referencing and vetting of tenants etc.Also the collection of the rent and evictions if istructed to do so by the owner.

 

2.Hiowever,in most cases the actions of the agents are the responsibility of the owners i.e.if an agent breached the quiet enjoyment of a tenant the owner would be liable.The only exception to this is if the agent for example physically assaulted a tenant the owner would not be liable in this particular case.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi All,

 

Just left the things with landlord for two weeks... No response.. Sent a letter specifying the details and requesting for deposit to be returned in the next 14 days. As I did not have the landlord's address got the same from the agent and sent a registered post copying another one to the agent. Although the letter has reached the agent, the landlords is not yet delivered.

 

What can I do now? I'm happy to clear off whatever she's asking for..

 

Please help

 

Rdx0202

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Hello rdox, just enlighten me... you signed a contract with the agent? Yes? If as you say you signed another 6 month contract with the agent in 2006 your point of contact is with the agent office and absolutely nothing to do with the person who owns the building..Let me state this clear. YOUR CONTRACT IS WITH THE AGENT.THE OWNER OF THE PROPERTY HAS NO SAY...until the contract ends in..guess what?December!!!! 6 month contract from July till....December.

The fact that you accommOdated viewings has nothing to do with the contract.YOU facilitated the viewings.NO ONE HELD YOU DOWN.

As for the carpet cleaning...GET OVER IT. £30 difference in price? What the hell. Settle down in your new home with your wife and child and think yourself lucky that 30 quid is all you have to worry you.

I wish you all well

Kind regards.

Reply to rowansgran vbmenu_register("postmenu_955418", true); :

 

When I started renting the contract was done through the Agent.. but still the contract was between the landlord and myself, with the agent acting as a primary contact for the landlord. After 8 months the landlord wished to manage the letting herself and hence the contract continued for the next 4 months. After this 1 year period, we wished to continue as a monthly carry over and hence there is no contract now between ourselves and the landlord.. Hope its now much clear.. :)

 

As far as the point of viewings is concerned, I don't mind for viewings and I'm aware that most viewings happen during end of tenancy, but the problem was that we did not ever get notice for even 24 hrs and with both of us working it was a big task to go home and clean first as we may be having a viewing just 1 hr later in the evening. What I meant to make a point was that even if we were so flexible, she's now being fussy to give us back what's legally ours.

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tbh I wouldn't bother replying to rowansgran's post up there - as stated, the majority of it is nonsense.

 

Nightmare4Banks: 2.Give the landlady say 2 weeks and do not contact her daily to deal with the matter and if all fails send a pre-action letter to sue.Then wait up to 1 month and if there is no joy - SUE! It is as simple as that.

 

So read up on the Small Claims process (the bank FAQ in the bank section is a good guide for this) and post up your Letter Before Action before you send it off, so someone can check it over :)

-----

Click the scales if I've been useful! :)

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Hi, Last week landlady called up to say that she's received the letter was was about to reply. The agent told her to confirm that all bills were paid.. and she wanted to confirm the same. As I pay by Direct Debit there was nothing to show other than the bill , but she required confirmation for utilities and council.. Specifically called up the utility companies to allow them to provide the information if the landlady calls them and gave her the land lady's number.. After a week, today called up to check if she's informed the agent and she says she does not have the time to call up the companies but has written emails and is waiting for their response..... Please advise what to do... I'm in a fix trying to help and provide all information but seems that she's trying to move away from responsibilities... I know i cannot force her to call but just producing the bills is no good for her (in her terms) as it does not prove that we've paid.... Please advise.

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Hi, Last week landlady called up to say that she's received the letter was was about to reply. The agent told her to confirm that all bills were paid.. and she wanted to confirm the same. As I pay by Direct Debit there was nothing to show other than the bill , but she required confirmation for utilities and council.. Specifically called up the utility companies to allow them to provide the information if the landlady calls them and gave her the land lady's number.. After a week, today called up to check if she's informed the agent and she says she does not have the time to call up the companies but has written emails and is waiting for their response..... Please advise what to do... I'm in a fix trying to help and provide all information but seems that she's trying to move away from responsibilities... I know i cannot force her to call but just producing the bills is no good for her (in her terms) as it does not prove that we've paid.... Please advise.

Hi,

 

Can someone please help?? I've spoken to the Utility companies.. they cannot issue anything in written other than the last bill..

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Just a point of clarification.

  • Who actually holds your deposit?
  • Is it held as Landlords Agent or Stakeholder?

Look at your last tenancy agreement to find out about stakeholder. If the tenancy agreement is silent and doesn't say, then it is held as stakeholder.

 

If held as stakeholder, then the agent can release all but the disputed amount now.

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.

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Whether or not you have paid your utility bills and council tax has nothing whatso ever to do with them. If you havent paid then any debt is with an individual not a property. Stick to your guns. Write and inform them that you can confirm all bills have been paid, but you will not be providing evidence of this due to the risk of identity theft. Give them until XX date to return the deposit. Make this one your letter before action. I found that filling in, printing off, and sending with the LBA the N1 county court claim form to show you are serious also helps. Do that today. They are taking you for a ride.

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  • 3 weeks later...

URGENT.... PLEASE ADVISE...

 

Hi... Its been a month still no sign of clearance.. I've provided with bills that state the utilities are cleared rather than she calling up the companies which would have taken just 10 min.... two weeks back had a chat with her and she confirmed that she'll update the agent for release of the deposit, but then she went on holiday... Now I've lost my patience and wish to send a letter before action.. Can someone please confirm if the text is fine..

 

address>

Address>

Dear XXXX,

Re: Return of deposit for >

This is in continuation to our earlier correspondence for the remittance of the deposit amount (letter dated 09th July 2007 & letter dated 27th July 2007) and our regular communication regarding clearance of the utility bills (phone conversation on 19th July 2007 & phone conversation on 3rd August 2007).

To my dismay even after your agreement with me to call up the agent, to provide a verbal consent, before you leave for the holiday (on 3rd August 2007), this is still pending. Now that you have all the bills required and we’ve agreed for the carpet cleaning charge of £XX, this issue is nearing 3 months since our handover of the flat on 9th June 2007.

We’ve left a message with your daughter (phone conversation on 9th August 2007) and left a message for you to contact the agent by Saturday 18th August 2007 to provide a verbal consent. I've confirmed with the agent this morning that there is still no communication from your end.

Please send us the copy of carpet cleaning invoice with the deposit amount cheque of £XX/- (>) to above mentioned address by 31st August. Any further delay than this will force us to take further legal actions and we would be forced to add up legal fee, communication charges till date and interest on the outstanding balance @ 8%.

Yours Sincerely Dated: 20th August 2007

(rdx0202)

[Copies To]

>

>

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I would keep it simple;

 

Letter Before Action

 

Further to my previous communications you have failed to return to me the deposit of £xxxx for xxxx Address xxxxx the tenancy for which ended over three months ago on xxxx Date xxxxx, or a list and accompanying recipt for intended deductions and the balance of the deposit.

 

If I have not recieved either of the above by xxx date 14 days from tommorrow is you post tonight xxxxx i will submit the attached N1 claim form to the county court without further communication.

 

I look forward to your prompt response.

 

 

- I would fill out the N1 claim form and include a copy in the letter. This is what I did and it definatley focuses the mind of the LL.

 

Paul

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