No sure which advice is right.

[Fed up now]

I have had advice from Cab and shelter regarding deposit - When I moved in to a private rental I paid the first and last months rent. (Wasn't the reason for my call to shelter) But shelter asked about the deposit.

Shelter advised me the landlord can't do this as any money held for the duration of the lease is classed as a deposit and must be protected as such.

 

Needed further advice so went to local citizens advie who told me the landlord can do either first and last months rent or take a deposit.

 

Who is right?

I don't want to call shelter back, I'm not on the verge of homelessness and feel bad tying up the phone lines for someone more in need of their help than me.

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

[citizenB]

I am sure Shelter wont mind you telephoning to confirm - although we do have a shelter representative on CAG, so I will send a message and ask if they can clarify for you

[Guest jamesatshelter]

Hi,

I work for Shelter in their media team - so I'm not a trained adviser. The Shelter helpline is there for people like yourself so don't feel bad about calling back to clarify.

Our advisers specialise in these issues and the law has recently been tightended up with regards to deposits so they should know what they're talking about.

It sounds to me like you've paid a deposit - landlord can call it what he wants, last month's rent or whatever, but effectively, it's a deposit and will be treated as such by the law. But, as I said, I'm not a trained adviser, so please dont quote me on this - call the helpline again and tell them what the CAB said.

Hope that helps,

Best

James

[rebel11]

Some info here to:- http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/paying_for_a_home

[raydetinu]

Yep its a deposit/bond or whatever he likes to call it! and should be placed in a protection scheme and as he has not, you can sue him for its return and possibly get up to 3 times as compensation.

If you want to stay beyonf the term then keep that up your sleeve, if not go for it.

[citizenB]

Yep its a deposit/bond or whatever he likes to call it! and should be placed in a protection scheme and as he has not, you can sue him for its return and possibly get up to 3 times as compensation.

If you want to stay beyonf the term then keep that up your sleeve, if not go for it.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?894-From-Shelter-New-Laws-to-Protect-Tenants-Now-in-Force

[Fed up now]

I will call shelter back, thanks all.

Just one more thing - if it is classed as a deposit and I wanted to take the matter futher would it go against me if 4 months after I moved in, I told the landlord I would not be able to pay the full months rent and he therefore used the last months rent for the month I was having problems? I may be clutching at straws, but due to various other matters I need to move out of this house an have had to borrow a fair amount of money off my mum and will be living in a more expensive house (hopefully with serious lessons learned!!) and therefore any money I can get out of this to pay my mum back would be so helpful.

[mariner51]

Some l'eagles elsewhere have opined that if the final month rent, paid at start, is clearly specified as being for final month rent, then it is not a deposit, as it cannot be used other than for final month rent.

If it is regarded as a deposit, it should be protected in an Approved Scheme, but LL cannot draw on it before T has ended, so cannot use it for missed rent payments. The purpose of a deposit is primarily to pay for T damages at end of T.

I am with local CAB advice on this one, regard it as payment for last months rent and ensure the intervening rent is not in arrears at end of T. Sueing for non-protection could involve high up front Court fees and if you lose, you will be liable for LLs legal defence costs.

[raydetinu]

What does it say on your contract?

[Fed up now]

It says the first such payment to be payable on (date of start of lease) in the sum of £XXX. Being the sum of 1 month rent plus 1 month plus 1 month rent in advance.

So doesn't actually state last months rent after all. However there are bits under the heading 'the tenant agrees' one of them states 'to pay the landlord upon the signing hereof a deposit to be held by the landlord against any liability of the tenant arising under this agreement' So even (well in my opion anyway) the lease does not really say one way or the other.

[mariner51]

Fedup, I think you need to scan the rel sections in AST, blanking any ID features as quoting parts out of context does not work for me.

 

Please state monthly rent payable, dates when & value of any payments made and whether any specific deposit is requested/itemised at start, usually under seperate deposit section.

I can see a Judge accepting that you paid 1 month in advance at start of T and any other payments made at same time should be treated as a deposit since no subs applicable rent periods are specified.

[Fed up now]

I think I have included all the relevant parts.

We paid the £800 on the 5th of Nov and paid £400 monthly since then, with the exception on April where due to a mispayment of wages I asked if we could pay more for the next few months - landlord said he would use the £400 he had taken for the extra months rent.

Edited August 19, 2012 by Fed up now
(oops added the pages without blanked out sections)

[Fed up now]

Oops I added the pre-blanked copies!

Trying again.

[Fed up now]

[raydetinu]

It actually says 'deposit' so that is what it is.

[Fed up now]

If it is a deposit then, how do I stand to get anywhere with this is the landlord refuses to give me his address?

[raydetinu]

Should be on the contract!

phone him up and ask for it.

Search on the Land registry web site for the address you are in and that will give the owners address, will cost you £2.

[Fed up now]

I asked for it via a text message, he gave me an email address and said he would speak to his solicitor - heard nothing back as yet. On the lease it just gives the name of the town. Will try land registry. Thanks.

[raydetinu]

It is illegal not to have a contact address in the uk.

[Fed up now]

Yeah Shelter told me that, I kindly even pointed out which act he was in breach of and still no response.