Sorry for leaving such large time gaps between my posts, as I was waiting for a response and did not want to be too pushy. Reiterating on my last post, do you have any pointers that you wouldn't mind letting me know of so I can attempt to pursue this in a court? It will be stressful for me to do it later on as I will be back at university and would love to get this submitted to a small claims court as soon as I possibly can. Thanks so much

Thanks for the response Steve__M. At that point I moved out at the end of September (the 6 month contract was supposed to finish at the end of November), and I had paid rent for the period that I had stayed for (at this point they had the 1 extra month of rent which was my deposit money). I have written numerous emails to them saying I will pursue in small claims which was greeted with a response of "your deposit is protected, will resolve this in court, send me your address or will get you tracked down", and we know that it was not protected at all. I'm not exactly sure how to pursue this in court, would you mind kindly giving some pointers? Also do you have an opinion on keeping the 'security' for the last month of rent? I've read some points online where people have said that if they want to do this then it should be for a certain specific month of rent, e.g November 2016. Thanks

It has been a while, I still haven't take action as I do not fully understand the legality of using a 'security' sum of money for an (unspecified) last month of rent. Should I still pursue? Thanks

Cheers for the suggestion Tony. Is this information available from the local Borough Council?

No worries stu. I will take a look into the HMO side of things as well as checking if it's registered with the local council, thanks for that suggestion. Do you (or anyone else) have any ideas about the whole 'rent for your final month' thing? It seems like a grey area online and I'm unable to find any concrete law on it. Many people are saying that it is okay only when rent in advance is only used for a specific period.

Bumping this as I haven't really gotten anywhere with it. Anyone have any opinions?

It's a 3 bed flat in a modern new tower block in London Docklands. Not sure if it is a HMO (does it need to be with a 3 bed?). My room was an ensuite, the sitting area was originally joined with the kitchen but the LL converted it to a bedroom so he put up a stud wall.

Can I bump this?

LL owns multiple flats. This is his business, buys flats and rents rooms. He was not living in the property so I believe the AST stands. From the Op I occupied from June 2016 until start of Oct 2016, contract says it ends on the 30th November. Even with a fully written out permission email from them to say that I can leave and no further payments are required, can they still persue the rest of the rent?

Thanks for clarifying everyone. Just steering the thread back to the original questions... What do people think of that taking money in advance for the last month of rent part?

Are you 100% sure on this...? With all due respect,everything I've seen online has said an AST can be on a room too. https://m.spareroom.co.uk/content/info-flatsharing/rights-for-renters-for-tenants-and-lodgers

Sorry for the slow reply, I have been away for a couple of days. The LL is also the manager of this 'company' based in London Docklands. They are a limited company which you can find that he has multiple companies under similar names which vary frequently.

Thanks for the response, apologies for the slow reply I have been away for a couple of days. The contract is titled as an AST. It looks like one of those generated online. The landlords 'company' specialises in renting these rooms out, why would this not be an AST in this case?

Sure, this is the only clause in the deposit regarding a security deposit: "Security - £940 to be paid on the signing hereof to the agent for the landlord to be dealt Within accordance. This security deposit will be used to pay your last month rent, then 30 days notice is served"

Renting a room, the contract is an AST.

A question I also had was, seeing as my contract says that the "Security deposit" would be used as my last month of rent, does this not need to be protected? Does this count as rent in advance or a deposit? It's unclear to me. Does this completely invalidate my claim?

Hi, Got a bit of a fiddly situation here so I will try my best to summarise clearly for everyone. I moved into a flat (from Spareroom) on the 1st June 2016 (tenancy expired on 30th November 2016), I found it a month or so before and they wanted a £300 (cash) holding deposit as they don't take card. I was moving out of London a few days after and was in the middle of exams and I knew I needed a place so (stupidly) I paid it in cash and went for it. Thankfully it all seemed legit, got the keys on the first and again had to pay my first months rent and the deposit via bank transfer in their office (Rent £940 + Deposit £940 + Admin £149 - Holding Fee £300 = £1729). I paid it got my keys and moved in. I asked about the deposit scheme etc over the next days where I was told "don't worry it's protected". This is where I started finding it all to get weird. Speaking to the existing flatmates, none of them received any TDS numbers or anything. I kept asking just to get the same response. So 3 months go by, after hearing nothing I knew I wanted to claim. However a friend had a room their flat which was over the road and was perfect for me so I started enquiring about leaving the tenancy early etc, and I got 3 options. Find my replacement and I pay half a month of rent, they find a replacement and I pay a full month or rent, or I just pay the remaining rent and leave. I tried for a month to find my replacement which brought me to September to no avail. I then emailed saying "Is there a possibility I could leave and you could keep my deposit?" which got a reply of "I will keep trying to rent your room, keep paying as normal" so no confirmation that they would take my suggestion of keeping my deposit. Knowing that they haven't protected my deposit I asked them again "I can't find anything about my deposit in the TDS" in which they replied with "The money you paid for the deposit will be used to pay for the final month of the tenancy". Is this even allowed? My contract says: "Security - £940 to be paid on the signing hereof to the agent for the landlord to be dealt Within accordance. This security deposit will be used to pay your last month rent, then 30 days notice is served" (that's the exact wording, notice the bad spelling/grammar). I then followed up with them with the standard "Within accordance of the law, it is your duty to protect my deposit in a TDS" in which they said the manager will call me. I spoke to the manager (who is also the Landlord, I think this is pretty important) on the phone and they pretty much said "Don't worry you can leave the contract and i'll adjust the deposit". I thought screw it, I'll take that and then approach the deposit after I have confirmation I can leave so I asked for the email confirmation and they sent over the following: "As advised please do not pay your rent on 1st October 2016. Please then returning the keys this Saturdays drop me a text, then keys are left at the concierge. You are released from 6 months contract as per conversation with [Landlord Name], no further payments are required." I took this as pretty concrete evidence that I can leave, so I did. Moved into my new place and I'm happy here. Now I want to claim back my 'protected' deposit. I emailed the manager saying what's happening to the deposit and that I'm happy to not pursue this in court if it is returned back in full and I gave them a time frame to do so. He replied with "you broke your tenancy etc and that they will chase up the remaining payments". Unless I accepted a £500 return of deposit. When I spoke to him on the phone before he offered £500 deposit back which I said no to and that I'll be chasing up the full deposit. He has also reassured me that "Danny from accounts has said your deposit is protected" which is incorrect given what his colleague told me before. Basically I just want my deposit back, multiple people have mentioned that I can claim between 1-3x the deposit, I do not mind what I claim as long as I get my initial deposit back. Almost a year after moving in I still haven't seen a sign of it, and I don't think the other tenants have either. Do you think that leaving the tenancy early may hinder my chances as claiming this deposit back? I believe they are separate matters, I believe that he had ill intentions with the deposit by choosing to manage it himself and no protect it, which seems like it has broken all of his responsibilities. But also a separate matter of leaving the tenancy early where I suggested that they could possibly keep the deposit, which not reciprocated, but then got an email after the phone call which clearly stated when I could leave and who gave permission and also that no further payments are required. Sorry for the wall of text, it has been a complicated and stressful process and any help/advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much, Buneet