Hi Rebel11, Thanks for the response and the link - interesting read. My thoughts were that as my mortgage (paid up and closed) was with a building society (still is one today) then the 'stay of execution' for the banks is muted and that I could therefore look into claiming all/any unfair charges levied onto the mortgage account (note: I also had a savings account (still do) with them at the time and buildings insurances, etc). Am I correct in assuming that the best place to start would be to request all documentation via a SAR and see what I can find? Can this be done from outside the UK and will the normal 40 day window need to observed? As I am not in a hurry the time window is of no real concern. Thanks once again G

Bump - anyone??

Hi, Been reading up on claiming 'unfair' charges from banks/CCs/mortgages, etc. and was wondering if there is a limitation as to how far back you can go. Also, in respect to mortgage, we sold up and moved abroad in 2006 (current temp is 26c and sunny,slight wind) and prior to this had to fight off several repos during the 90s, sucessfully without any sols. I am sure there will have been multiple charges added to the mortgage and if not 'out of time' how would I go about claiming these back, baring in mind now outside the UK?? Don't personally think I would get anywhere with the CCs as we always paid up in full (or at least above the minimum) so more than likely there are no 'unfair' charges to be claimed. Still have UK based CCs that are still in use and registered with non UK address..... Thanks for all and any information. G

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Question: Is there a time limit to bringing this matter to court for the return of deposit Update: Been trying to contact other joint tenant in order to get written confirmation to proceed in joint claim. As such I now intend to adjust the figures and make claim for my portion so need to know if I still have time, btw LA has still failed to provide details of landlord, LL also has not replied to any mail sent forwarded by the LA. Any information gratefully welcome P.S. tenancy was in Scotland and now living outside the UK - so can proceedings be raised online with a non UK address

Update: Got e-mail from letting agent stating that landlords name is as described in the agreement and thier address is ..... c/o the letting agent...... Have contacted the council as I cannot find the details in the landlord register - they will get back to me soon (I hope) Do I need the Landlords address if we decide to take claim to court? or can this be done using a c/o address? Thanks will let you all know how things progress

Bump and an update I have attached the LBA that I intend to send to the letting agents via e-mail and special delivery tomorrow. Still do not have the landlords address - checked the address and landlords names on the landlord register and could not find any matches to the name that appears on the tenancy agreement. LBA was drafted using a template found on this site. Should I also mention in the LBA that neither parties gave notice in accordance with The Rent Act Scotland and as such this may be construed as an unlawful eviction as the letting agent forced the ending of the tenancy. Any and all help greatly appreciated... 17th May 2010 Dear Sirs, I am writing to you concerning my tenancy of the premises at 999 The Street, Any Town. As you have failed to inform me of the landlords address please forward a copy of this to them so that matters can be completed timely. Please address all correspondence to the above address, or vial e-mail to me@myemail.xyz, no other form of communication will be acknowledged (especially telephone calls). I request that you return my deposit of £1450.00 plus £41.70 (premium payment for inventory) less £79.16 (already paid to Mr X) and less £167 (to cover rent arrears and take into consideration compensation for severe lack of hot water and heating during the tenancy) therefore making the total refundable as £1245.54 (I have not made any allowance for interest accrued on the monies that were/should have been placed into an interest bearing account), as the premises were left clean and in good repair when the tenancy ended. Allowing for fair wear and tear, the premises were left in the same condition as they were in at the beginning of the tenancy. The deposit must not be regarded as extra rent, to be used to improve the condition of the property. Any amount deducted from it must be equivalent to the amount needed to replace “like with like”. For example, if the carpet was worn at the start of the tenancy, you cannot retain the amount that would pay for a brand new carpet. You cannot deduct the replacement value of any item, even if it was brand new at the start of the tenancy, as this would be "betterment". You can only deduct from the deposit a percentage of the item's value, based on (a) its on condition at the start of the tenancy (which you must prove using the inventory from the start of the tenancy), and (b) the expected life of the item. As you have neglected to inform me of what your claim for damages is in relation to I have not allowed for this deduction. You will note that on the exit inventory (where the claim is indicated) that this relates to a single composite item however on the incoming inventory the composite items are shown individually. Also I would like to point out that the incoming inventory was not given to me until approximately 9 weeks into the tenancy and also the outgoing inventory was not conducted in my presence, even though you had sufficient time to arrange for this. I request that you provide me receipts or invoices for all/any work carried out. The onus is on you to prove that there are circumstances justifying the retention of any part of the deposit, and to date you have not provided any such evidence. I will therefore be in a position to demonstrate that it is unreasonable for you to keep any part of the deposit, other than those indicated above, should you be unable to produce the requested evidence and matters proceed to court. You must remember that the deposit is my money. You must account for it properly. It is a common misconception that the deposit belongs to the landlord, but that is not the case and withholding it without proper grounds is unlawful. I require your reply to arrive no later than 14 days after the date of this letter, together with your cheque for any amount not in dispute made payable to MR Y. If I receive no satisfactory reply by then, I will begin a county court action for recovery of my deposit without further warning. I look forward to hearing from you within 14 days. Yours faithfully,

Hi Mazbck - thanks for this. I have looked up both the proprietors name (as detailed in the schedule) and the address but cannot get matched. Only find one entry which appears to be for the whole house and not individual flats. Am I doing something wrong here with the search? Anyways I intend to fire off a LBA so any help in drafting this would be appreciated. BTW - letting agent has still not confirmed landlords name/address details to date. Thanks to all

Hi - another update Shelter Scotland have confirmed what we have found about the law regarding unlawful evictions. They seem to think that this was the case but since our son is no longer there it would be pointless progressing this. Any thoughts on this? Also the letting agents have replied stating that all deductions made are valid and undisputable - looks like we will have to go to the small claims court for this. They are still witholding the landlords address so should I make a claim against them and the landlord? Will update when I have more to say...

Quick update Given up trying to contact council or shelter - getting nowhere fast. I have managed to send an e-mail to Shelter - hopefully get a reply soon.

Hi, Thanks mazbck - didn't know it was a public holiday. Will try calling on Tuesday as suggested. To Aviva - deposit statement only shows total amounts and is not broken down by tenants - so therefore all figures are combined totals no split evident. Will let you all know the outcome of dicussion with Shelter tomorrow - hopefully. Just a quick qestion - if we decide to take the deposit dispute to court which process would be valid as we are non-residents of the UK

Hi, Yes both boys paid a deposit each - equivelent to one months rent a piece (two months in total). As far as we know he has received similar from the letting agents but has done nothing about it, other than to take his check and cash it then disappear - last contact was somewhere in the caribean. He is fully aware that he had rent arrears (our son was fully paid up until the end of February) and that the amount is slighty more than the deposit he paid (if letting agents figures are to be believed). He is not fully aware of what is going on at the moment. Is it necessary to involve him as he has obviously taken what was not rightfully his and possibly damaged our potential claim? Thanks for any and all advice. Will try and call Shelter again on Monday or the Aberdeen council

Hi. Update on position. Still trying to contact Shelter Scotland with regards to unlawful eviction but getting nowhere - keep hanging on waiting and listening to muzak until nearly deaf but will keep trying. Got e-mail back from letting agents regards deposit statement. They are adament that invetory and tenancy agreement setup fees are valid and non-disputable. Have googled this and found that these are in fact 'premiums' and prohibited under Scottish law. Also found out that most agencies will dispute this until claim lodged at courts when they will payup before it goes any further. I have now asked them to confirm all rental payments made as they claim that payment was continually late and that the landlord is therefore entitled to claim for the associated bank charges (not mentioned in the lease that any late payment charges can be administered and the calculation rules). My son has confirmed that occasionally payment was a day or two late but never a month behind (until the end when his friend failed to make his contributions - for january and february we beleive, which is one of the reasons for asking for the rental summary). They have also stated that they are in possesion of two boxes of personal items that were left behind. What is the situation regarding them sending them on to us - would we be expected to pay the costs (I have no objection to doing this if reasonable)? They are also denying that the boiler was in disrepair during the tenancy - although they have stated that they will 'look into this further'. Hope to post some more when I get through to Shelter Scotland

Quick update. No response from letting agent as yet regarding the deposit statement queries that were sent back. Didn't give them a time ultimatum - should I do so now and re-attach the original e-mail? Any update on the last posting I made? Thanks

Hi MrShed details as requested: 1. Short Assured Tenancy entered into 3rd October 2009. Deposit of 1450 GBP plus first months rent of 725 GBP in advance. 2. Son and friend effectively unemployed from 1st January 2010. Informed letting agents around 11th January of same and requested early termination without cost - denied. 3. Friday 5th February received telephone call from letting agent informing my son and his friend that they were to vacate the premises by Monday as they had a buyer/rentor that wanted to move in immediately. As they were in Germany with us they declined at which point the letting agent became very abusive verbally. 4. On or about 11th February another telephone call was received by my son demanding that the apartment be vacated by Friday 13th so that cleaning, etc. could be done over that weekend. Again on the same basis, buyer/rentor required immediate occupancy. This they argued was too short notice to vacate and ensure the rooms were in good order, packing and storage of personal items, etc to which again the letting agent became abusive. The letting agent then reluctantly allowed them till Monday 15th at which point the keys were to be returned 5. Monday 15th February property vacated and keys returned to letting agent. 6. 26th February my wife travelled to Aberdeen to assist our son to transfer back to Germany with as much possessions as he had managed to secure and place with various friends. They both returned on 28th February. My wife and son have also informed me that they had recieved eletronic copies of the exit inventory, deposit account statement and a copy of the tenancy agreement which I have now reviewed. They have also responded to the letting agent in regards the deposit deductions (I have attached a copy below). I cannot find anywhere the landlords address, only his name. Also the tenancy agreement does not state 'joint and several' on page one nor the signatory page, but I did find a section buried in the middle of the agreement after section titled 'Dispute' but with no heading itself. The agreement also states that the deposit will be placed in an interest bearing account - no alowance for the interest has been shown on the deposit statement. E-mail sent to letting agent regarding deposit account: Thank you for providing the information I requested. Please be advised that I am now disputing several items contained therein as follows: Deposit Account Statement 1. Inventory costs - please remove all items relating to this charge as it is prohibited within the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 2. Damages - please remove this charge as it has not been qualified correctly and we did not remove any items from the property 3. 60% carpet clean - Please reduce this to 20% as all carpets in the property were badly marked and extremely grubby upon entry (as evidenced in the inventory) 4. Penalty Half re-check - Please remove this charge as the tenancy agreement has no provision for penalty charges and this fee is prohibited under the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 5. Penalty Admin set up of tenancy fee - Please remove this charge as the tenancy agreement has no provision for penalty charges and the fee is payable by the landlord only (as is the inventory costs - as defined in the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984) 6. Arrears of Rent - Please qualify how you came to this figure. As for myself I had made payment of all rents due up until the next due payment on 3rd March 2010. Any unpaid rents are due from Mr. X solely as confirmed to your office staff in person at the end of January. At the point of departure from the tenancy I had in fact overpaid my due rent. You are also aware that the boiler/heating system was not working correctly for the duration of this tenancy. The property having been inspected by a member of the renting agents office and confirming to me verbally, and with your office by telephone in my presence, within the first week of tenancy that this was in fact correct and the system required repairing and possibly maintenance carried out. We contacted your offices several times during the ensuing months to have this corrected as the apartment was at times excessively cold. The repair/maintenance did not occur nor was it scheduled to occur prior to our departure. Please provide an amount to compensate for this fact. Please also provide details of the interest bearing account (bank details, type of account) that the deposit was placed into. Also the amount of interest received. Please amend the account statement as requested and forward the same by e-mail for confirmation. Please also advise if you are in possession of various personal items that were left behind at the property owing to the express nature of departure, as requested by your office staff. If you are in possession of any mail for L then please forward this to the address below: END OF MAIL Thanks for any advice given on any or all matters and agin my aplogies for the length of this mailing

Thanks MrShed I will post as much information as I can get out of him tonight.

Hi responders, I understand that there is a difference between Scottish and English law relating to this matter - any advice given will be greatly appreciated. We will try and contact 'Shelter Scotland' in due course (possibly after the Easter break). To answer MrShed: From what I can fathom they were told that a new buyer/rentor was available and they had to leave pdq. I will be speaking to my son later tonight and hopefully get more details and will post them with any other pertinent details. Thanks

Hi There, I am new to this forum and would like some advice on the following matters. I live in Germany and the matters concern my son who was in a Short Assured Tenancy in Aberdeen (Scotland). He has since returned and I have just found out various matters concerning his accomodation and lack of deposit return. Basically: Tenancy commenced 3 Oct 2009 (6 months) until 3 April 2010. Rent of 725.00 GBP per month payable on 3rd of each. Tenancy was between my son and a friend (joint). He was employed until end of December 2009 in Aberdeen, at which point he and his friend were 'let go' (not enough work for them). They informed the letting agents in early January 2010 (re: unemployment, might have difficulty with rent, etc) and commenced applying for various benefits. They also requested if it would be possible to be released from tenancy without cost, this was denied, so they were not due to leave until April (I had personally informed my son that come to the worst I would pay his rental portion). Towards the end of January my son was becoming depressed due to lack of work, cold flat (boiler and heating system not working - since tenancy began and letting agent was well aware of problem) so I brought him and his friend to Germany for a weeks holiday (also gave them access to internet to chase for work in the diving industry). He arrived here on 1st February. On the 5th February he received a telephone call from the letting agents demanding that they vacate by monday - obviously not possible as they would not be in the country - which they rightly denied. The contact person was extreemely angry and disrespectful to him over the telephone. They both returned to Aberdeen on the 8th February. On the 9th they again received a telephone call demanding that they vacate the premises by friday (12th). This they said was too short notice. Due to the distress, despondancy and general depression they were in they decided to leave on Monday 15th. They managed to place most of their belongings with friends but had to leave some items behind. We managed to get flights to bring my son and most of his belongings back to Germany, my wife having to fly out to help. The keys were returned on the 15th. He has recently received the deposit statment with various deductions (including rent arrears owed by the friend). They also deducted the fees for drawing up the tenancy agreement, costs for the inventories, and penalty fees due to ealry termination of tenancy. He is still awaiting shipment of some of his belongings, including receipts and the tenancy agreement and inventory (ingoing). I have requested via e-mail some of these from the letting agents so that I can review what is stated against what was deducted. My questions are therefore: 1. What deductions can reasonably be claimed from the deposit 2. What recourse for rebate due to faulting heating/hot water 3. No notice to quit issued - does this equate to unlawful eviction with harssment (two vociferous telephone calls demanding their immediate departure) 4. Apartment was clean and tidy on departure - what normal charges can be levied for cleaning, etc. In Germany no matter how clean your apartment a company is always used to do this anyway at your cost. Hope someone can advise and I apologies for the length of this post Thanks in advance