Hiya, We're a student flat and have been living here since last September & have had loads of problems with our landlord; for instance the light fitting in my room was sellotaped together (!) and broke when i tried to change the bulb, i was then left without a light in my room for 2 months & there is extensive mould and damp in my flatmate's room and he told her to just wipe it down with bleach. Our kitchen wall is rotted to the point that we can only open our only fire door by jamming a knife in it and wedging it open; and it's rotted because of a leaky boiler we've been bugging them about since November. It's now March and after months of people coming to look at the boiler it's packed in and we have no heating or hot water. On Monday someone came round to look at it but the landlord refused to pay them to fix it, apparently his daughter (the only person we can get in contact with) is sending someone round to fix it for free but this means we've had to wait around for 2 more days. We've also just had to pay a ridiculous gas bill which is 100% due to him not fixing the boiler. They're being really hard to get hold of, they live in Spain so it costs us a lot to call them, and they've ignored most of our emails and texts - only keeping contact with one tenant. So basically, what can we do? He's charging us a crazy amount of rent & the flat is barely liveable!! Thanks in advance to replies Emma

Hi, Not 100% sure of my rights/obligations here, so any help would be greatly appreciated! The LA which my LL used to manage the property on an AST which had fallen into periodic tenancy vanished without trace at the end of February. At the start of March, I recieved a telephone call from the LL informing me that no further payments were to be made to the LA, and that she had not received the rent payment for February. The LL confirmed that she had spoken to the LA before they 'vanished' and that they infoermed her they had recieved the rent, and would pay into heer account. According to the LL this did not happen and she was unable to contact them again. The LL insisted upon a new AST being signed - I did not see the purpose of this, and was loath to do so as my LL has a r3eputation for being 'difficult', but LL stated she would serve notice if I did not sign, and as I did not have a security deposit or moving costs for a new property, I felt I had no choice but to sign. As soon as the new AST was signed, my LL became the LL from hell. She began making demands for receipts for rental payments going back to December 2010, insisted upon late fee charges being paid for December, January and February payments (the rent since August 2009 has been paid either on time or up to 14 days late on occasion, without any notice of any issues regarding this), threatening court action for rent arrears if receipts were not produced etc. Whilst I understood her frustration with the LA, and would have been happy to work with her to get any paperwork that would help her in her claim against the LA, I was shocked and immediately defensive to this seemingly unfair and overly aggressive stance. In subsequent correspondence, the LL has stated that the LA are in administration and made continuous reference to this matter also being a 'criminal matter'. Upon searching rigorously, I managed to locate the majority of my receipts bar one for the amount of £160.00 (I have a dreadful feeling it was located in one of my books which I have since sold in a car boot sale...). LL has stated that according to the Official Receivers there is no record of £160.00 being paid, which I know to be untrue. Several letters later and she is now instructing me that if the £160.00 'arrears' and the 'outstanding late fees' are not paid within 7 days, she will make a claim at County Court. She has also issued a letter titled 'notice of legal proceedings' in which she states that her solicitor is 'looking into a claim for misrepresentation'. A couple of internet searching hours later, and I have my response to that particular letter. I asked the LL to provide details of the Official Receivers several times, as i suspected that the LA were not in adminstration, but had just vanished, and she was attempting to recover whatever losses she had by making demands for payments I could not provide receipts for. Luckily I found the majority, but this last £160.00 is proving difficult! She has made continuous references to the 'Official Receivers' and the contact she has had with them, but upon pushing her for the fourth time for the name of such, her response was as follows: 'In response to your queries regarding the Official Receivers for (LA) I have asked permission to pass their details onto you. As you are not a creditor they have specifically asked me not to do so at this time'. This actually made me laugh, as such information is a matter of public record, and this proved to me that she has not in fact had any contact with a receiver of any kind. I have paid for reports on companies house today, and they confirm that the LA is in liquidation, not administration. The reports were also only filed on 14.04.11, with the 'wind down' meeting having taken place on 31.03.11. As such, the claims my LL has made about speaking to Official Receivers before the company was even in liquidation are clearly lies. I obviously also now have the liquidators details What I would like help with is where I stand on the matter of the missing receipt for £160.00? Does my LL have the right to so aggressively chase for this, even though I have already paid it? Also, does she have the right to begin back-dating late fees when there was no issue raised in the past regarding late payments? Any help is greatly appreciated, I have had to become a rental expert in the last few months, what with the numerous claims about legal and criminal proceedings, as well as several repair issues (a leaking roof is 'non-urgent' according to the LL and the black mould spreading under my bedroom windows, up the wall, and around the back of the wardrobe is 'not harmful and should be cleaned off the wall with a mild detergent'; this advice comes without any testing of the mould, and without her even seeing it!). I have managed to find my own answers on most of the curveballs my LL has thrown at me, but I'm a little stuck on this one! Many thanks in anticipation

Hi everyone, My expensive DSLR camera was damaged (completely kaput) by a leak dripping from the flat above mine. My Landlord says I should claim on my insurance. Is this right? I thought, since the damage was caused by a leak in their property, it should be their insurance. They don't deny the leak but say there is no proof my camera was damaged by said leak. They might have a point but I'd like their insurance people to deal with it, even if to say the same thing (I thought that was what we paid them for). Anyone know what my rights are in this? Thanks in advance for any advice.

I have some issues with my LL, and have spent many an hour hammering the internet for information – I require additional clarification on what I’ve found out so far, any advice would be much appreciated! I have been a tenant with the same LA for over 2 years and lived in two properties through them. I moved into my current rented property in September 2009, when my LL purchased the property I was renting at the time, and I agreed to rent her property through the same LA. In January this year, the LA asked that all payments should be made to them in cash as they were ‘having problems changing banks’. Whilst this seemed a little strange, I had no issue or cause for concern as I had an excellent relationship with the LA, they had gone above and beyond their legal duties as LA, and I was very happy with the admirable way they looked after the tenants as well as the landlords. I made payments in cash, and received receipts for the same. At the start of March, I received a phone call from my LL stating that I should not make any further payments to the LA, and that she would provide bank details for me to pay rent directly to her. She informed me that she had not received payment from the LA for February’s rent, and that she could not get in contact with anyone from the LA (office closed, no-one answering phone etc). She did confirm that at the end of Feb she spoke to a lady at the LA over the phone; it was someone she had not spoken to previously, and the lady stated that she was ‘a family friend helping out’. The LL told me that the lady confirmed that Feb rental had been paid, and that payment would be made to my LL asap. According to the LL, no payment was made. My LL shortly afterwards posted the new tenancy agreement (AST for 6 months), and after adding some additional terms and conditions, I signed the AST. I would have preferred to move out of the property (I have met the LL and she can be very difficult, especially when you are voicing her errors or issues!) but as I did not have a security deposit (the LA had used the deposit as a rent payment on the previous property when my partner had to have emergency heart surgery and our funds hit the floor), and did not have the money to move, I didn’t see I had much choice. In the same correspondence, the LL also made additional claim that the LA had gone into liquidation, however, despite requesting the information three times in writing, she has yet to provide details of the Receivers, which makes me suspect that the LA has simply vanished and is not actually in receivership. Under the new AST, the rent for March fell due on 21.03.11, however, following issues with my tax credit payment I was only able to pay £150.00 (the rent is £525.00 per cal month). I informed the LL of my circumstances in writing and confirmed that a) if the tax credit issue was resolved quickly, the rent would be paid as soon as I received the shortfall payment or b) if the issue was not resolved quickly enough, I would pay £50.00 on 25.03.11, with the full outstanding balance to be cleared on 01.04.11. My LL has now stated in writing that unless payment is made in full by 25.03.11 for Feb rental (under the previous AST and already paid to the LA), and Mar (under the new AST), she will go to CC for a possession order. I have looked up the terms and understand that she is not in a legal position to seek such an order as there is less than two months rent arrears and the offer/reasons for late payment I have made for the arrears is reasonable, and also that she has not supplied any Notice of Intention. She also claims that she has filed a complaint with the police in regard to the LA, as it is a criminal matter, and that she requires receipts for payments made to LA dating back to Dec 2010, despite confirming in writing that she has received the rental payments for Dec and Jan (albeit late). Sorry to go on, but I wanted to provide a full background, and would appreciate greatly any advice offered on the following points of concern: As far as I can tell, the non-payment of rent by the LA is a civil matter, not a criminal matter as it involves the breaking of a contract by the LA, and as such the LL would have to sue the LA. Is this correct? Is there a difference to LL/tenant obligations if the LA has just vanished rather than gone in administration? Can my LL demand receipts for a 3 month period even when she has confirmed payment received for 2 of them? And what happens if I cannot find all receipts? (I am currently missing one receipt for a payment of £160.00). Am I legally obliged to provide any receipts at all? I am a good tenant, and always make my rent the first bill I pay; I am in no way trying to get out of paying anything. I understand my LL concerns about the loss of her money, but I do object to being treated like I have done wrong and being threatened with eviction when she has no right to do. I am also having a nightmare with trying to get her to understand that whilst the boiler is indeed covered by a Home Care agreement as has a safety certificate, the other gas appliances do not have the same, and her Home Care agreement does not cover these. This is the mentality I am dealing with, so I need to be 100% certain of my legal obligation so that I can be sure where I stand, and not be harassed or bullied which is what I feel she is trying to do (repeated mention of it being a ‘police matter’, demands for rent confirmed as already paid, threats to evict etc). I feel she is trying to railroad me, and, with her coming to inspect the property on Saturday (I can’t wait ), I want to be able to firmly stand my ground should she make any demands that she is not legally entitled to do so. Thanks so much in advance for your help!!

We started privately renting our current property Aug 2009, we noticed a musty smell in our ensuite bathroom immediately. we tried to contact landlord to no avail. We wrote to her and the letter was returned, this was late 2009. We have still not heard from her so 6 weeks ago our washing machine broke which was her property so we tried calling her again but could not get hold of her. The outsides drains were also blocked so we took action and got environmental health to track her down and get it fixed. The outside drains were fixed immediately by her 2 weeks ago, and she said she would get "her" plumber in to fix washing machine, the musty smell in the ensuite and also our gas boiler needs to be serviced because its been over 18 months since its last service. We are still trying to get her to fix these problems but still to no avail. We finally spoke to her this evening and she has tried to say that it is our responsibility to fix the washing machine, and that we should be grateful that we are paying the cheapest amount of rent in our street.........Tis made me a little mad!!!!!! We have read our contract and it states that all electrical and mechanical goods, fittings and fixtures are the landlords responsibility to maintain and repair. I see this as her breaking our tenancy agreement, and breaking the law by not have our boiler serviced because the certificate has ran out. Where do we go from here? Please HELP!!!!!!!! Tenants are always seemed to be the ones that are unfairly treated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I started an AST via a letting agent on 11/12/2009 to 10/12/2010. I paid a £600 deposit. In november 2010 I recieved notice that the flat i was renting would be repossessed on 7/12/2010 as the landlord had not kept up with the mortgage payments. I spoke to the letting agent and agreed to move out at the end of my tenancy agreement. I moved out and handed the keys back to the letting agent and they completed the final inspection. They confirmed that my deposit would be returned to me in full without deductions and that their manager would be in touch with how I make a claim for my deposit. I then recieved an email saying the letting agent had gone into liquidation in June 2010. They said that my deposit had been held in their client money account, and the bank the account was held with has illegally (or so they say) used this account in the liquidation so they were having to take said bank to court to recover that account and the monies held in that account so they would not be able to return my deposit. They advised they held client money protection insurance with NALS (National Approved Lettings Scheme) so I would have to claim my deposit back from them. I asked about claiming it back via the TDS and they said that due to the liquidation the deposit was no longer protected by them as of 1/9/2010. The Letting agent continued to trade under a new name and continued to be my letting agent. They did not advise me of the liquidation or the name change, only that they had moved offices. They did not advise that my deposit was no longer covered and neither did TDS. They did not, as my 'new' letting agent reprotect my deposit. So from September 2010 to December 2010 my deposit was not covered. I have made a claim with NALS but am yet to discover if anyone has sucessfully claimed anything back from them and they are unable to advise how long this claim will take. My letting agent have completed washed their hands of responsibility and say I must deal with NALS from now on. Can I take the LA to small claims on the fact that they did not protect my deposit? Or would I have to go direct to the Landlord himself? Any advice if greatly appreciated

My landlord's mortgagee named an LPA receiver (Redbrick) in November. They first said I should continue to pay the rent as usual to my landlord's letting agent (ChaseEvans). Last week they demanded I pay the rent to them because the letting agent is "un-cooperative". I wrote the letting agent who replied that they "took action" and I should continue to pay them. I then contacted the LPA receiver who said the letting agent did not even contact them and insisted it is them who should receive the rent. Who should get the rent? Also, in the letter I got in November the LPA receiver asked for details of the deposit (which is protected under DPS). However, when I spoke on the phone and face-to-face with their representative, he was uninterested in that information and said it is not their problem. (He used gentler words.) Is there something I should do about the deposit? I am now trying to contact a solicitor but getting to actually meet one seems to take some time. Is it worth paying a solicitor to handle this situation?

I started a tenancy in December 2009 and my annual rent equated to £30,000 per annum. At the time of signing my contract in December 2009, the legislation stated that my deposit did not have to be registered to a deposit scheme eg mydeposits.co.uk because the rent is above £25,000. The legislation changed during my tenancy on 1st October 2010 to say that any tenancy with rent below £100,00 per annum had to now be protected. My landlord did not protect my deposit from this date, is this breaking the law? If so then i know i am entitled to my full deposit plus compensation through the courts. The main confusion is that the legislation changed mid tenancy. It has now been 4 weeks since moving out and i am nowhere closer to getting my deposit returned as the estate is holding it. Any help will be much appreciated. I have spoken with mydeposits and the citizen advise bureau. Thanks in advance.

Hi there, This forum seems to be pretty good so any help really appreciated. I have rented a property for almost a year. Split with partner and decided to rent out the living room in order to meet the rent. This obviously breaches terms of the tenancy agreement with the landlord. The amount of rent that was agreed with the sublet was £100per month more than 50% of the rent although when he asked at the time I said it was 50%. He agreed on the amount, paid the deposit and moved in. We had some mutual disagreements with regards to how we lived together practically and decided that it was best if he moved out after two months. At this stage it was still amicable. Now two days after moving out of the property he says that he wants the difference that was above 50% and will move this to small claims court to get the money. When he challenged me about this I admitted that the amount was higher than 50% of the actual rent. Does he have a case? It's worth noting that morally I was going to pay him back the money (it's not really that much) but he has now blown this whole thing out of proportion so much with many threats about small claims court and the effect a ccj would have on my life. He also works in financial law and believes he has the upper hand. At this point I would prefer the landlord not to know as my own very large deposit is potentially at risk for breach of terms. However I believe to have a reasonable relationship with him and have always paid the rent on time. There is also a situation where I have paid this guy his deposit back in cash instead of by transfer. I haven't got any record of this but he has made a small admission to receiving it via email and I doubt he would lie about this as he doesn't seem as though he is that kind of person. But I could be wrong. Given his profession it would be unethical of him to state such a lie. Another point to note is that he did not pay bills for the first three weeks of his stay as he was still living in his other property and on holiday for this time (he had keys though and moved some of his stuff in). Any help really appreciated. I really just want to know do I have a case to defend this if he does go to court. All agreements between me and him were verbal so nothing is recorded although he has a copy of my tenancy agreement. Thanks

Hi, I have a problem with my landlord concerning an overpayment of rent. I started to rent a house through an agency the 25 sept 2009. The rent was £700 a month and I paid it directly to the landlord. I sent him a 1 month notice letter the 19th of november 2010 stating that I will leave the house 1 month later, the 19th of december 2010. For the last month to pay, I paid only £575 because I didn't stay a full month. My calculations was £700x12months/365days=23.01 daily rent. then I multiplied 23 by the number of day I stayed so from 25 november until 19 december, 25 days. The result is £575. Right, after that, the 25 of december I paid £575 by mistake to my landlord. So I did a £575 transfer of overpaid rent. The problem begin when I ask to get back the overpayment. The landlord is telling me that I had to pay £700 for december (so the 25th of november) and I did only £575. So I explained it to him (that I paid for 25 days oand not a full month) but he doesn't want to refund me the £575. What sould I do ? Am I wrong ?

Hoping for some advice on here. Below is a summary of what has happened to-date, that I have included in the Allocation Questionairre that I have received after the landlords solicitor counterclaimed against me. ( we have not submitted it yet as its due on 30th Dec). The landlord has no grounds as to why he has witheld our deposit apart from wanting to refresh the house, and has no inventory. We started on moneyclaim, but now costs seems to be going up and as the counterclaim is for £12,000, might be allocated to the fast track for which we could be liable for costs. Note that this was a high value tenancy and not eligable for the TDS when we started renting in November 2008. Any advice or comments would be gratefully received. Also, I have set out my own draft directions and wonder if there is anyone here that might be able to take a look at them to see if they are acceptable. I also wonder if we should be getting our own lawyer or if I counld continue to represent..I am not legally trained at all , hence the need for advice. " a) On 21/10/10, prior to end of tenancy or property inspection, Defendant (landlord), notified Claimant (tenants) of intention to withhold deposit of £5,412.50 for refreshment of the property. Breeching the tenancy agreement clauses 2.3.1, 3.5, 3.7, 3.8 "..subject to an apportionment or allowance for fair wear and tear, the age and condition of each and any such item at the commencement of the tenancy..". b) On 31/10/10 Claimants tenancy terminates per the tenancy agreement and Defendant refuses to inspect property with Claimant or enter into discussions citing that refreshment is tenants liability. On 10/11/10 Defendant produces a prejudiced 'inspection report' detailing £10,515 (+ VAT) of alleged dilapidation and damages to the property without an inventory or other supporting evidence. Defendant does not pursue these charges but uses the report as defence for withholding the deposit. c) Defendant refuses to engage in meaningful dialogue which may have facilitated an amicable & fair settlement, pursues betterment and does not acknowledge concept of 'fair wear and tear' at any point. d) On 12/11/10 Claimant issues a 'letter before action' requesting the return of deposit, or evidence of the alleged damages. No evidence was provided within the requested 14 days resulting in court filing on 29/11/10. e) On 30/11/10 Defendant returns £2,200 allocating a charge of £3,212.50 for 'incurred' cost of refreshment. f) Claimant lawfully requests remaining deposit (£3,212.50) withheld by the defendant plus interest and costs. g) On 13/12/10 Defendant counterclaims for £12,618 (+ legal fees). If the court is in agreement, it is respectfully suggested that special directions may be given as per the attached draft order. I believe the proposed directions will further the overriding objectives in that they identify the most fundamental issues in dispute, and will allow them to be assessed in advance of the hearing so that this claim may proceed justly and expeditiously. If the Defendant has the serious intention of defending this claim and counterclaiming at trial as is indicated by its defence, I would contend that it is incumbent upon it to disclose such information. "

Hi there, I'll try and keep this short and sweet. Bathroom had a few cracks in floor when we first moved in, after 5 months it got so bad the tiles and grout are cracking off the floor, almost no grout left between the tiles. We reported it nearly 3 months ago but still it is not fixed. We have a 3 month old son and walking on the bathroom floor is not safe, and it's damp, smelly and mouldy. Someone came to assess it after about 2 weeks but we are now told (when we chase it up and can actually get in touch with someone with half a brain!) that the landlord refuses to pay for it, as it was fixed about a year before we moved in for the same thing, and that the insurance company who originally fixed it should pay. So the argument lies between the landlord and his insurer as to who should pay, and this has been going on 3 months, but still our bathroom is getting worse and wetter and smellier and damper! What rights do I have and is there anytihng I can say or do to get it done quicker? We continue to pay full rent and I am not happy! Can we request a temporary reduction in the rent or something? ANY advice welcome, thanks!

Hi, I just have a query really... 3 months ago i moved out of a flat i was renting, when i moved i did have all my mail re-directed but 1 slipped throught the net, Argos, even though i did inform them of my change of address they said i had to confirm in writing. I waited a while and thought nothing of it, as i have a Argos card and have a direct debit, i was not aware that the direct debit had not been paid for 2 months as i did not receive anything from my bank stating the direct debit had not been paid... My ex-landlord/tenant (unsure of which person it is as my ex-landlord has not given me the opportunity to speak to the current tenant) has been with-holding my mail for 3 months, and he is stating that the tenant sent the post back to Argos stating "no longer at this address", but if they done that, Argos wouldnt have sent any more post to that address, addressed to me, because they would have been known about it... What can i do to investigate into the matter, I've had to pay a £257.00 fine from Argos because the mail was not responded to, and my account being passed over to a debt collection agency. So im trying to figure out what i can do, any help or advice would be appreciated.

Unfortunately I over paid my landlord one months rent. When i spoke to the landlord she said this was fine and she would return the money to me and I text her my banks details so she could do this. This was on the 7th oct. Since then i have tried calling her and texting her but she hasnt answered her phone nor replied to my texts. I have also emailed her on the 21st, so fairly recently, but she still has not replied. A relevant point may also be that she is attempting to withhold the whole deposit, an issue which one of my other ex-housemates is dealing with, thanks to this forum. This makes me think that she may not be entirely honest We do not know her actual address, she was on the electoral poll at living at the same address as myself but this was not the case in reality. Her sister lives next door to the house I rented from her. what can be done?

Today I went to court to defend a Accelerated Possession claim from my Landlord (LL). The Section 21 Notice was, the LL claims posted under my door, even though that is impossible due to size of gap. the Judge believed LL not me, even though the LL could not remember what was in the envelope. Judge called in a witness who swore on oath that he (a friend of LL) saw the Section 8 & Section 21 go into the envelope and then under the door, the witness was not asked to prove who he was in the courtroom, no ID, he just walked in swore on oath said his piece and sat down, he could have been anyone, no one checked! My deposit was paid May 2005 and renewed June 2008 with the original deposit, the LL applied to protect the deposit in January 2010 some 18 months late, The original Certificate was never seen or signed by myself. It has false information on and I had a letter from mydeposits.co.uk who confirmed the protection was invaid as it was applied for outside of the fixed term of 6 months of the AST. . The Judge gave the LL possession and made the decision based on those incorrect false information. The Judge was told 2 or 3 times the information was incorrect and the papers to prove my defence were in front of the Judge. My solicitor informed the Judge the information was incorrect therefore invalid the Judge said that she accepted that the information was incorrect but the LL had made some provision to try to protect the deposit, (even though it was invalid and false) The Judge gave LL the possession order!!! I have no faith in the UK Judicial System it is a con, I had so much evidence in my defence with regard the TDS but the Judge followed the lies and false incorrect information ot determine the Order! I have asked the Court for a transcript of the hearing. I have made a complaint about the Judge at engine search judicial complaints UK I have written to my MP (an ex lawyer) I am aware they all stick together and who is going t take on a Judge for a complaint???? Can I afford to take this to Appeal? Of course not , they know poor people wont get legal aid so they treat them like this! (Im on JSA) Judges are not exempt they are not higher than teh law they do not create teh law they make decisions based on fact and truth..unless your the Judge I had! The Court should be a place of truth and justice!

I found a place that I liked and paid an £800 holding deposit to an agency. They sent through an acceptance document and T&Cs confirming the move-in date, the deposit taken, rental ammount etc. but this was all 'subject to contract'. This was 6 weeks before we were due to move in. 2 weeks later we got an email from the agent saying that the landlord wanted us to move in 3 days earlier than agreed. We said no becuase we already had an overlap between the old and new rentals so we didn't want to pay extra rent. A week later we got another email requesting that the move in date be changed and we refused again. One week before we were supposed to move in we got another email saying that we had to change the date or 'the deal is off' and we also got a phone call saying we should move the date or they would refund the money. We took a day off work and saw four properties and luckily one of them was fine so we took it there and then. We told the agent to refund the money. Surprise, surprise, that evening they emailed us with the contract we'd been waiting for for five weeks! At this point we told them that they had already backed out of the agreement and they should refund the money. They have refused to refund the money claiming it is non-returnable. Clearly this is ridiculous. I've now exchanged several emails and they have said that it is non-returnable and also that it is out of their hands becuase it is up to the landlord to release the money. Is the landlord really responsible for the holding deposit? If we go to small claims should we prosecute the landlord or the agent? It is so clear that they are in the wrong I can't believe that they are even trying to hold on to the money.

Hi. I'm renting on an AST in Scotland. My landlord (agency) is in England. I heard nothing from them about my deposit protection scheme after moving in a year ago, and have enquired again recently but received no reply. I have read that landlords in England and Wales must protect the deposit by law, but have been trying to find out if this still applies if the property is in Scotland. All information I can find is vaguely worded. Anybody understand the true situation here? Thanks

Hello - I have a question: My landlord has twice made reference to having received information about my account at the local credit union. There was a mix-up with housing benefit payments, we wound up in arrears, but the council have finally sorted it out and put money in out account. Today we got a text message from the landlord saying 'I know benefit payment has been paid into your account, contact XXX and get it transferred to my account.' My landlord socializes with employees of this institution, and I would like to know if it is legal or illegal for our financial institution sharing information about when payments come in with my landlord. Can anybody offer any advice, links, statutes, please? Many thanks in advance for reading my story.

Hi all, my husband and I would really appreciate your advice on the following problem. I'm really sorry about the length, I was just trying to be thorough: Prelude: We vacated our flat on the 16th of August, after living there for 3 years (our lease started August 17th 2007). The contract did not require professional cleaning so we cleaned it quite thoroughly ourselves. When we realized that we wouldn't be able to rent a carpet steamer and clean the carpets in time, I called the agency which said that if cleaning would be required it would set us back about a 100 pounds. The following day someone came to do the inventory and I as I was present I learned from her that the carpets probably would need to be done and cleaners might have to be called in to remove (a) some cobwebs (which were in the ceiling over the stairs and I simply couldn't get to them, not for lack of trying), and (b) some burnt on grub that we weren't able to get off the grillpan inside the oven - and something I would think may just be "fair wear and tear". Aside from these things the house was at least in as good a state as when we moved in, if not better. So we pretty much expected to hear from the LL about deducting at least the carpet cleaning, if not a little extra. Well, the 10 working days mentioned in our contract (and prescribed by our TDS) pass without us hearing anything from the LL or LA. So on 2. September I called the LA to see about our deposit, as they were the ones who had originally received the deposit for safekeeping. The lady I spoke to was quite rude and would not give me any information whatsoever, and much less advice on my position considering the "deadline" had passed. All she would say was that they needed permission from the landlord to release our deposit and they had nothing to do with it nor had any further information as the property was not managed by them. Following this exchange my husband called the LL, who was a bit taken aback by this and promised to contact the LA. After not hearing anything for a few more days and writing a couple of emails that went unanswered, we again called the LA and finally got the name of their property manager. He finally got back in touch with us today saying that the landlord wanted to make some deductions and that we had to deal directly with the LL as the agency did not manage the property. So today my husband called the LL again. Apparently the LL had also received a call today from the LA asking for the release of our deposit but that he was unable to do so due to a dispute he was having with them. According to him, he had given the LA explicit instructions not to do any work on the property until he had inspected it after our departure. Despite this the LA called in a cleaning company the same day as the inventory was done (i.e. on the 17th) and now there was an outstanding bill (which he had not yet received) for cleaning done on the carpets, kitchen and bathrooms. And as he did not know how much this had cost he could not yet let the deposit go. Now, our questions are as follow: (a) What are our rights regarding the fact that notice of deductions was not given within the contractual period of 10 working days? (b) Since the LA went against the express instructions of the LL and ordered the (largely unneccessary) cleaning of a property they do not manage, can the LL be considered to have incurred any costs at all? © Considering that the agency in question has been nothing but unhelpful and deceptive in their dealings with us despite their (I believe) legal duty to safeguard the interests of both parties, do we have grounds to make a formal complaint to ARLA? (d) Any other ideas on our best course of action in retrieving our deposit? We've always gotten along well with the LL so it would be a shame to stick him with an unfair bill, but having to aggressively chase after our money has caused us considerable trouble and financial hardship as we expected at least most of our deposit to be returned by now. And if I were the LL, I would refuse to pay the cleaning bill anyway - and I cannot see why he would be required to do so! Thanks in advance for your time and advice! This is the first time we have let in the UK and I have to say we're baffled beyond words by the bureaucracy of it all! Best regards, Embla

I decided to make a separate thread for the deposit issue (my other thread was more about the landlords property being in the garage) The house I am currently living in was let to me through an agent, they had been managing the property for the landlord at least through the previous tennancy, and I paid my deposit to them on 21/05/2010. I moved into the property on 01/07/2010 and within a week of being there (I'm unsure of the exact date) I was informed by the agent that the landlord was moving back into the area and was assuming responsibility for the property again. After having problems with the landlord dragging his feet over removing his property from the garage I found myself at these forums and read up on what they should have done with the deposit, until this point I had not really thought about it. I checked with the agents yesterday (13/08/2010) and they said they had passed on the deposit to the landlord, they did not give a date when this happened, but also told me that he had requested information from them about myself in order to be able to put the deposit into a scheme. I checked with the 3 schemes that are avaliable and non of them have any record of a deposit being registered for my address. The question I have is: who is responsible for the deposit being put into a scheme, as I paid it to the agent on 21st may, as they were managing the property at the time, should they have put it into an account and informed me before 4th June? Due to the way in which I leased the house from the agent I also currently have no address for my landlord, will I need his address if I need to take the matter to court or can I quote the agencies address as they were responsible for managing the property, and took the deposit from me? I am quite worried about this as I also have numerous letters addressed to the landlord from Baliffs/collection agencies/banks/inland revenue (judging from the return addresses, I have not opened any) and a brief check of his records on companies house indicate he has been involved in at least one dissolved company, nothing conclusive..but erring on the paranoid side one might guess he has some financial troubles! In which case if my deposit is not protected it may be hard to recover when we leave. Thanks for the help

Hi guys, I'm posting to ask for any advice people can give me. The tenancy at my old house (12 months long) has recently finished (1 month ago) and after several attempts I've contacted my landlord about claiming back my deposit. I moved out of the house after a week because of various problems, however I payed all of my rent anyway as I didnt have a choice. The landlord says that no deposits will be returned until all outstanding rent is payed, and apparently two of my fellow ex-tenants still owe rent. She suggests I give them a 'shove' to pay up. However I'm not in contact with them any more. Do I have a leg to stand on as far as claiming my £200 deposit back? Considering I didn't live there I shouldnt have wound up any fines for damages etc. I don't feel it's right that I should suffer and not receive my deposit because my old housemates didn't pay up. Do you think she may be bluffing to try and get me to get them to pay up? (basically doing her dirty work). There's no incentive for them to pay up because their deposit is less than a months rent. I know it's not a lot of money but it's the principle. Any help would be massively appreciated guys, thanks!

Hi, I'm currently living in a shared house with 4 others and our tenancy is due to finish on the 19/08. Our landlord has always been very particular about pointing out to us what needs to be cleaned (mow the grass, clean the stair carpet etc). Now that our tenancy is coming to an end he has started getting quite aggressive in his communications with us. At one point he was unable to get in touch with me to arrange for a tradesman to visit the house as I was out of the country. He took his inablitity to contact me by phone or email to mean that I had moved out of the house and had "done a runner". He then phoned up one of my housemates in a rage and shouted at him for 15 minutes about "the state of the place" and about how we weren't looking after the place. Throughout the tenancy we have been clean and friendly - there have been no loud parties and no damage to the property outside of normal wear and tear. We have all rented before and never had any problems so his reaction was not something we'd expected. The house has always been kept clean and tidy and now that we are coming to the end of the tenancy we are making sure the place is as clean as when we moved in (and in some places it's cleaner!). Due our landlord's attitude during the tenancy and of late we are afraid that he is going to withold a large portion of the deposit when we leave. Our issue is that when we first moved in, 2 years ago, we didn't pay a deposit, our contract was using guarantors. We had no inventory at that stage despite regularly requesting one from the landlord. When it came to renewing the tenancy at the end of the first year, for some reason the landlord decided that he wanted a deposit from us. I thought this was a bit strange as we'd already lived there for a year with no problems. My housemates were afraid that they would be evicted if they didn't pay up, even though I told them not to pay anything until we had an inventory made up, and so they paid their deposits. We finally got an inventory from the landlord a month later but it was made up by an independant company in 2008, a year before we paid the deposit, and was never signed by any of us. I also don't believe that our landlord has registered our deposit with a protection scheme. I was unaware that such schemes existed until today (I've previously only rented in Scotland where they don't exist) and so did not know that we were supposed to have recieved additional information from the landlord when we signed our new agreement. I have phoned all three of the schemes and none of them have a deposit registered at our address. What we'd like to know is: Is the inventory valid evidence against our deposit if it was made the year before we paid it and has never been signed? As our deposit was never registered with a protection scheme, how do we go about disputing any deductions he makes from our deposit? Thanks in advance!