Bats in the belfry, windows are jammed - London flat renting, deposits & landlords

I took mine to a small claims court. At the point where I pointed out it was also a case of breaking the law, they paid up.

(Get it sorted out now if you can).

Sorting it out would start with just asking the landlord to protect it right?

I genuinely think she just doesn't know, the letting agency were a bit rough around the edges and she only bought the property a month or two before we moved in, she's late 20s and just seemed to have some cash lying around to bought a flat to let out

You could take her to court and get up to 3x your deposit - I'm not saying you should, but you could. Not protecting your deposit is stupid, it's the one area where tenants actually have some protection. Have a look on the Shelter website, there's sample letters to send to your landlord to get her to stick the deposit in a scheme.

Yeah i've heard all these things ideally all I want s that when we move out we get our deposit back smoothly and quickly.

Will fire her an email asking her to protect it.

Still waiting for the return of a deposit almost 3 months after leaving a property. We left everything in perfect condition and the agents are dragging their heels like crazy. What legal stuff can I threaten with?

If it was in the deposit scheme then apply directly to them, there's a limited amount of time for the agent to dispute the repayment.

If it's not then tell the agents that if they don't sort it you'll be taking them to court re: non-lodgement in a deposit scheme and that the standard remedy is 3x the deposit.

The letting agency should have nothing to do with the deposit protection, other than to tell their client, the landlord, that they should have the deposit in a registered scheme.

Have her put the deposit in a protected scheme. It's your money, not hers. She has a statutory obligation to do this.

Your pint a) suggests that no inventory was taken of the condition before you moved in. You should consider documenting the condition of everything as of now, and have her confirm this.

"Quite nice" is relative, and may change when money is involved.

Theres an inventory and it is fair to the condition of the property when we arrived

It will certainly be no dirtier than it was, however my main concern is my bike has stained the hallway carpet a bit, but it was very very worn anyway. But again I am happy to pay some of the deposit because of that but I wouldn't be happy to pay for a whole new carpet, considering how worn the carpet was I'd be happy to pay a proportion.

I checked with all the scheme sites under both mine and my partners names and all the months they could possible have protected it in (paid, month and moved in month) and it appeared in non, then we got that email saying 'the letting agency have handed the deposit over to her' which makes me think they've just been sitting on it all this time.

You'd have to be an utter muppet to not know about the deposit protection scheme. Especially as a landlady!

I'd ask them if they are declaring it as income too. Can't remember any previous landlords of mine who did (maybe don't mention it, actually).

If she's a bit new to this, I would just straight up ask if it is, as you're concerned it's not. If she acts all naive, then it's just a matter of setting her straight on the law and say you'll be expecting confirmation that it's been done within x days. If she gets all defensive, then threaten to take her to court, if she doesn't take kindly to that, then actually take her to court.

WRT the carpet, landlords should expect reasonable wear and tear. A very worn carpet having a couple of new marks on it should be expected, however, if your deposit isn't in a protection scheme, then you're not in a safe position to defend yourself. Which is why you need to get that sorted ASAP.

Have replied to her email which states "They are transferring the deposit to me" with a simple "Did they not put it into a scheme? As far as I'm aware, and has happened with every other place i've rented, deposits are supposed to be put straight into a deposit protection scheme when handed over"

They would transfer it to her and she would then put it in a scheme. She might have done so but she is obligated to show you proof of this

She's putting it in a deposit scheme this week, all good!

Your pint a)

Can you ever think of anything else but drinking?

(You're probably a teetotaller for all I know.) :)

Still waiting for the return of a deposit almost 3 months after leaving a property. We left everything in perfect condition and the agents are dragging their heels like crazy. What legal stuff can I threaten with?

Your Tenancy Agreement will tell you which deposit scheme they hold it under. Read the rules of that scheme and then take the action the rules prescribe. Chances are they should have refunded you within 7 days or told you why they're not.

So i'm looking at moving into a spare room, and ive found a place i liked and the housemates are nice and going through the move in process with the agents as one of the guys is leaving 'early' and ill be taking over from him

the agency want £400 to reference me, they say its "£400 flat" even though that was actually split between 4 people when they all first moved in.

Like hell am i going to pay £400 to be referenced

£400. Amazing. Even £100 is a joke. Who are these ultra-skilled super-pricey admin staff they employ to send and check a few emails?

Its '£400 to release the current tennant from the contract which needs to be signed by all tenants and the landlord currently, reference me, then distribute new contracts to me and all the rest of the tennants to then be signed by the landlord also'

How can swapping around be so fucking complicated

^ This is why I'm so fucking grateful to of left the south of England. I'm sure all letting agents do all day is dream about new ways to rip you off and fuck you over.

Utter, utter, fucking cunting bastards the lot of them...

Can't you just get your landlord to photocopy the last set of contracts and hand them out to sign? Referencing seems redundant too as the others have been done and you're all jointly liable anyway.

How can swapping around be so fucking complicated

Because some douchebags need to ride the gravytrain.

^ Vote Green / Lib Dem / Labour, all of whom say they will stop these sorts of charges.

Nice sentiment, but I suspect - because the power balance is so utterly fucked - agents would find another way to pop their hand up their customer's nether-regions.

Political parties are so well-known for keeping their manifesto promises that there will be nothing to fear!

Oh.