Deposit Problems

[YorkyLad]

Hi all,

 

I'm having problems with my last landlord.

 

I've moved out of his property having given him the 7 days notice period. It stipulated in my tenancy agreement that the deposit would be payed after 7 days having left the property. However he had said to me in person that it was only if he wanted to be "difficult" would he hold it for the 7 days and that "good tenants" such as myself (his words... not mine) would get the deposit back upon leaving.

 

I texted him a couple of days before I left and asked if the deposit would be paid upon my leaving or whether I'd have to wait 7 days. I received the reply: "deposit will given/sent saturday week"

 

Saturday came and I texted him asking if he'd be sending it that day". I got the reply "Yes Out at mo will sort later"

 

I then texted him later and all day the next day and he ignored me.

 

I then rang him and he stated that he had sent the deposit and his bank account was showing it as been sent. However it still didn't arrive.

 

He told me that it might take a couple of days to arrive....

 

So I waited 5 days and it still didn't arrive. So I texted him again and sent him several emails. He finally replied on Friday saying that: "Ok dude. Will talk to bank tuesday as with family till then"

 

Tuesday has now been and gone. The money is still not in my account and he is not answering my texts and emails again.

 

Any advice greatly appreciated. My financial position is such that I NEED that cash owed to me ASAP.

 

Thanks

[sajeel]

If I am correct in memory the deposit should have been placed in a special deposit account and you should contact them if any disputes arrise. If he has not done that I am sure he is breaching landlord rules and can be reported it would be helpful if you let us know type of tenancy was it assured shorthand tenancy, was is a shared or unsshared accommodation.

[YorkyLad]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

 

It was short-hold tenancy in a shared house. I was there from Nov '12 to mid Feb '13

 

I've read the 2004 Housing Act and I see this about this 'deposit protection scheme'.

 

Is that applicable to short-hold tenancies?

 

I also see he has to pay me 3x the deposit if we go to court.

[Steve__M]

The deposit protection rules would normally apply if you didn't live with your landlord.

 

Most transfers occur almost instantaneously these days.

 

It could be that he has sent money to the wrong account.

 

Also recently, my friend who is a landlord thought his tenant had not paid her first month's rent. Turned out that my friend's bank account had been moth-balled by the bank because it had not been used for 12 months! As a result it was no longer accepting funds.

[YorkyLad]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

 

Although he wasn't officially living with us in the house. I'd often come back from work and he'd be asleep in the kitchen....

 

Other transfers from other people have reached my account since he's claimed he's made the transfer.

 

I got a text from him this morning saying he's been to his bank today and they have double checked the account number its been sent to. "They say" its gone from their end." They say" I should have received it today. However it's still not there.

[Steve__M]

Unfortunately, you may be in a situation where you have to call his bluff and ask for written proof such as copy of receipt or bank statement.

[mariner51]

"I've moved out of his property having given him the 7 days notice period."

 

If this was a standard AST and you were there from Nov 12 to mid Feb 13, 7 days Notice was not sufficient, even if SPT, it would require min 1 cal month.

Alternertively, you had a lodger agreement to share' landlord's' sole or main residence, in which case deposit protection rules do not apply.

Even if you can claim for deposit non protection, it will cost you ~£1000+ in up front Court fees and liability for full defence costs it you lose. If you win Jusge may award only 1x deposit penalty (Localism Act) at his discretion.

Best bet send LL a Letter before Action, requesting return of deposit before initiating a SCC action for return.

Inadequate info IMO

[Steve__M]

mariner,

 

the notice period was written into the contract and has been accepted by the landlord.

 

The issue is the landlord says he's returned the deposit, and the money hasn't appeared.

 

In the old days, payers could fanny about in the knowledge that banks would take ages to transfer the money, so it would be hard for payees to object till a week had passed by. The advent of faster payments means they can't do this.

 

Let's hope this is just fannying about delaying tactics, and that more pursuit will produce a result. Given what LL has said, he should be open to discussion as to where the money might have gone. If he isn't open to discussion then he is effectively admitting to lying, as any normal person would want to know if some of their money had disappeared into the aether.

[mariner51]

Steve_M OP has not stated that only 7 days Notice was written in to AST (highly unusual) leading me to think it was a lodger agreement, where deposit protection doesn't apply. Without sight of actual doc it is difficult to decide.

OP should confirm with LL that he used OPs correct bank code and account number, and ask for LLs bank name and account number so OPs bank can backtrack the transaction. Many people lose money because of input typo of a single digit.

[sjc123]

Hi all,

 

I'm having problems with my last landlord.

 

I've moved out of his property having given him the 7 days notice period. It stipulated in my tenancy agreement that the deposit would be payed after 7 days having left the property. However he had said to me in person that it was only if he wanted to be "difficult" would he hold it for the 7 days and that "good tenants" such as myself (his words... not mine) would get the deposit back upon leaving.

 

I texted him a couple of days before I left and asked if the deposit would be paid upon my leaving or whether I'd have to wait 7 days. I received the reply: "deposit will given/sent saturday week"

 

Saturday came and I texted him asking if he'd be sending it that day". I got the reply "Yes Out at mo will sort later"

 

I then texted him later and all day the next day and he ignored me.

 

I then rang him and he stated that he had sent the deposit and his bank account was showing it as been sent. However it still didn't arrive.

 

He told me that it might take a couple of days to arrive....

 

So I waited 5 days and it still didn't arrive. So I texted him again and sent him several emails. He finally replied on Friday saying that: "Ok dude. Will talk to bank tuesday as with family till then"

 

Tuesday has now been and gone. The money is still not in my account and he is not answering my texts and emails again.

 

Any advice greatly appreciated. My financial position is such that I NEED that cash owed to me ASAP.

 

Thanks

 

Hi, I can assist on this.

 

Basically, from what you have written, you are fully entitled to your deposit returned PLUS the compensation award of up to 3 times.

 

The process can be a pain to get this sorted, it is not the Small Claims route, however, the majority of these disputes are sorted before court action as the landlord rules are clear, no deposit protected, then there's no excuse and nowhere to hide, so they end up paying up.

 

If you want assistance then let me know and I can tell you what to do, having dealt with 30+ similar cases as yours with not one failure I am confident you will get a result on this, quickly as well.

[sjc123]

Steve_M OP has not stated that only 7 days Notice was written in to AST (highly unusual) leading me to think it was a lodger agreement, where deposit protection doesn't apply. Without sight of actual doc it is difficult to decide.

OP should confirm with LL that he used OPs correct bank code and account number, and ask for LLs bank name and account number so OPs bank can backtrack the transaction. Many people lose money because of input typo of a single digit.

 

Lodger agreement can only be done where the landlord is resident in the same property.

[mariner51]

Yes, I am aware of that but is the OP &/or LL?

OP can resolve this without resorting to expensive non protection Court claims.

[YorkyLad]

Hi all, thanks for the input.

 

The tenancy agreement stated that a calendar month was necessary for the notice period. However I had a verbal agreement with the LL and he stated he was happy to just make that a 7 day notice period (this was due to my been a night worker and the person I shared the house with been extremely noisy and I was unable to sleep... the housemate was deaf, shouted to himself a lot, had his TV on full blast throughout the day and was often too drunk to give a monkeys).

 

I have emails and texts from the LL stating that he a) he was going to return my deposit and then later b) had transferred it. So it would be unwise for him to now state that I'd broken any agreement and was not going to pay me my deposit after all.

 

The latest I have heard from him is:

 

Hi, could you send me the details of your bank to show my bank (he means a statement).

As my bank said money has left my account to your account.

That tuesday it should have cleared this week.

I'm away till wednesday.

Meet then and i'll give you cash and cancel the transaction if u not got the money by then

 

@ sjc123, I will gratefully take you up on the offer of help. I think i'll wait till next wednesday to see though. If there are more delaying tactics then... then I'll resort to issuing letters to him etc

 

thanks again for your input