artwillson Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 This is my first posting. I am looking for advice relating to my ex landlord not returning all of my deposit. In Dec 2011 I moved into an unfurnished house and paid a deposit of £1650 to the owner via a bank transfer. I had met the owner once at the property prior to taking up the tenancy but as they lived quite away from the property I never met them again. When I moved in I picked the keys up from next door. There was no inventory and I signed nothing at the time to say I was accepting the property as it was. I had already signed a short hold tenancy agreement prior to taking the property. I gave notice as per the terms of the tenancy agreement in Oct 2012 and moved out at the end of Nov. I saw no one when I left the property I just cleaned the property and left everything as it was before I moved. I have always paid the rent on time and the property was left in a good condition. However, now my ex landlord is withholding £350 from my deposit for "cleaning" I dispute this and have asked for all the deposit back. It no turns out the deposit was never placed with a secure deposit scheme and the landlord now lives in Australia!! The contact address I have on the tenancy agreement is for the landlords parents. How can I go about getting my money back? Any advice would be greatly accepted. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozza Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 (edited) Where abouts is the property you were renting? england, scotland, other? Edited December 17, 2012 by Rozza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisH Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 If the tenancy was in England then under the Housing Act 2004 the landlord has broken the law by not protecting your deposit. You would be entitled to sue him for the whole deposit, plus three times the deposit as a fine, plus interest on the deposit, plus your court fees. There was previously some confusion over whether a tenant can bring a case after the end of a tenancy but this has now been clarified: you definitely can bring a case. The judge now has discretion to award you between one and three times the value of the deposit, rather than a fixed value of three times. I did this in 2010 and the process was quite straightforward. I was awarded the full amount, as detailed above, of around £8000 (this from an original deposit of £1800). The issue will be getting the money out of the landlord at the end. Mine went bankrupt to avoid paying the full amount and paid £4000 (plus £1200 previously paid). The bailiffs charged £1000 as their fee – so in the end it was well worth my while! Search around here or on Google for N208, Housing Act 2004 etc. and you should see a good range of information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 If the landlord is permanently out of the country, enforcing any judgement against them would be a waste of time. But if the landlord has UK assets (like the house you rented), you can eventually seize those to get your money. That's a longwinded process, and the ultimate conclusion would be to 'repossess' the house and sell it, claiming your money (plus, by then, lots of legal costs) from the proceeds before paying the landlord what's left. See kaladorm's thread on this board. If it's in negative equity then that doesn't get your money back, but you could still take a charge on the house (meaning your landlord can't sell until you've been paid) and revisit your rights at a later date. IANAL. You probably want to consult one after reading the kaladorm thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@contradevian Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Is there a cleaning clause in the AST? There usually is one. If the landlord is overseas how did he determine you were in breach of any cleaning obligations. Also did you obtain any evidence prior to leaving such as taking photographs of the rooms and carpets? Also any AST should contain an address for the landlord in England and Wales, otherwise the agreement will not have complied with section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, which means that rent will not be payable by the tenant. The address can be that of an agent if the landlord is living abroad or in Scotland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadget Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 It no turns out the deposit was never placed with a secure deposit scheme.... This is the only important sentence. Make a claim for non registration of the deposit. Should be quite straightforward. You will get the full deposit back and also between 1 and 3 times the deposit as a fine... Your landlord has broken the law and will be punished if you can be bothered to fill in a form... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 This is the only important sentence. Make a claim for non registration of the deposit. Should be quite straightforward. You will get the full deposit back and also between 1 and 3 times the deposit as a fine... Your landlord has broken the law and will be punished if you can be bothered to fill in a form... Unless it's an extraditable offence(!), landlord can stick two fingers up at UK court. Hence the potential need to go the kaladorm route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna_1980 Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 £1650 is a very handsome sum, and withdrawing £350 is not reasonable - i think the landlord is just running a nice scam on a side with the deposits, sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadget Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 (edited) Unless it's an extraditable offence(!), landlord can stick two fingers up at UK Except by definition he has property in the UK. If he doesn't pay up A charge will be put on the property and eventually it'll get seized. There's a long thread on here of someone who went through exactly this process. It got to the stage where the landlord realised he was about to lose the property and finally paid (far more than if he'd just paid up in the first place Edit to add: i see that is exactly what you are talking about. But no need to worry the OP. Unless the landlord is very stupid he'll pay up. Edited December 18, 2012 by gadget Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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