to take revenge on this evil landlord?

[BabbleBitch]

My sister has moved house at the end of last month after 7 years of renting from said landlord. She paid a deposit bond of £500 up front along with her first month's rent £500 on moving in. She and landlord got along well and she had no major problems with him during her tenancy.

At the beginning of June she gave him her notice that she was moving and he said he would be very sorry to lose her as she had been his best tenant.

As she gave her notice she told him that her friend wanted to rent the house after she had moved out and was ready to move in almost as soon as it was empty. He was very happy about this.

He increased the rent for her friend by £50 a month, fair enough as he had not increased the rent for seven years and everyone was happy.

She moved out on Saturday and met landlord at the house on Sunday as her friend was starting to redecorate it. Her friend intends to move in 2 weeks time.

After my sister asked the landlord for her deposit back he said that it was non-returnable as he would have to remove the laminate floors she had put in and the fireplaces she had put in as her friend didn't want them so he would have to pay to have them removed.

She was really pissed off and stressed out at being £500 out of pocket. I told her she should have witheld the final month's rent in hindsight.

She went down to her bank today to inform of a change of address and to cancel her standing order for the rent (yes she had forgotten to cancel it last month!)

It left her account today and is winging it's way to landlord so she informed him of this and asked him to return the money once he receives it. He said that she owed him that money for June as she paid rent one month in arrears(not true - paperwork to prove!)

She is now a grand out of pocket, skint and unable to pay her new rent! AArrgghh!

She wants to take legal action to get her money back. I think she has no chance. I have seen too many landlords get away with this!

She still has the keys - WIBU to get squatters in the house until he is out of pocket - I know someone who did this for several months before getting moved on - that'll show him!

I would be tempted to get them copied and then give the spare one's to a local group of alcoholics or drug addicts/prostitutes to use.

But, that is because i see lots of vulnerable families ripped off by private landlords.

I'm assuming you're joking about the squatters thing.

If she has paperwork to prove she didn't pay rent in arrears then she can take him to a small claims court.

It's unlikely she'll get her deposit back though and should have checked with the LL before getting the work done.

Er...what about the friend?! Do they mind having squatters in their new home?

Surely there must be SOME protection for the tenant?? And the bond now has to be held by a 3rd party to prevent this happening.

Did your sister get permission to put the fireplace and floor in?

I am clueless about this sort of thing, hopefully someone will come along with actual advice, but I have faith in the system that bastards like this can't get away with these things, and that the law is there to protect the little fella.

After my sister asked the landlord for her deposit back he said that it was non-returnable as he would have to remove the laminate floors she had put in and the fireplaces she had put in as her friend didn't want them so he would have to pay to have them removed

Did she have the landlord's permission to make alterations like this to the property? If not YABU.

The deposit should have been in an account that protected it The LL can't just keep the deposit and he certainly can't just keep extra rent. See here for details. Don't do it illegally. Get revenge but get revenge in a way that will educate the LL and get your friend her money back.

I'd be pissed off with the friend too if I were her!

She must regret ever telling her the flat was up for rent.

Yes she did have permission. The house had bare asphalt flooring and no fireplaces when she moved in, she spent a lot of money on it.
She would have removed them herself if she thought that it would mean losing her deposit

Yes you would get the money back through small claims, so I would file the paperwork.
You could also ask the bank if they can take the money back as its been paid in error, my husband has done this a couple of times so it's possible under some circumstances.

Unless she had express permission from the landlord to put down laminate and put in a fireplace, he would be within his rights to retain however much of the deposit was needed to put the property back into the state it was prior to this. With regards the overpayment of rent, she could go to the small claims court.

The friend feels really guilty now but my sister has reassured her it is nothing to do with her. The LL is just using it as an excuse

She has tried to get the money back through the bank but they can't retrieve a standing order once sent. The error was my sister's for not cancelling in time. The LL must think all his birthdays have come at once!

I presume her deposit isn't in a protection scheme? Can't remember when they were first brought out.

If the tenancy started 7 years ago it pre-dates the deposit protection scheme MrsTerryPratchett

I think it's a real slap in the face for your sister after she's secured him another tenant as well! What a BASTARD! Will the friend still be moving in? Can't she give HER deposit and month up front (as ALL tenancies are, nnot in arrears) to your mum instead of LL?! :o

uNFORTUNATELY, THEY do GET AWAY WITH IT, THIS (oops) company was on BBC documentary, WatchDog or something, the LL's treated their tenants in an absolutely shocking, inhumane manner.
All the people on this review site say the same thing, and none seem able to get their cash back legally

www.freeindex.co.uk/profile%28meridian-investments-mcr-ltd%29_105262.htm

Sorry see that the thread has moved on! What did the rental agreement say about "improvements", I 've seen some that say that property needs to be put back to original state at tenants cost. I think if the deposit was paid 7 years ago it is outside the requirement for it to be held by a 3rd party.

Missed the 7 years bit, shit. Exactly what the scheme was brought in for.

YABU about the deposit. Permission to change something doesn't mean a tennant doesn't have to restore a property to its original state.

With the rent in arrears, if she has the paperwork that proves she is right then she should be able to get it back through court. Doing any thing else without using the proper channels would be disgusting and would make you and your sister worse than the LL.

YABU about the deposit. Permission to change something doesn't mean a tennant doesn't have to restore a property to its original state.

With the rent in arrears, if she has the paperwork that proves she is right then she should be able to get it back through court. Doing any thing else without using the proper channels would be disgusting and would make you and your sister worse than the LL.

Court then. That's all that's left. You can file it online, it's pretty easy. Remember to ask for the court costs back too at the same time.

Fuck sister not mum

Just goes to prove there is no such thing as a NICE private landlord! Even the good ones invariably turn out to be shits.

Why doesn't she invoice him for finding a new tenant - what are finders fees these days? About a months rent? And then sue him via small claims for it.

Could 'friend' not say she is very happy to retain the flooring and fireplaces thank you - knocks landlords argument out of the water.

I hate landlords who take the piss. She could go down the small claims court route and obviously this would be the most sensible and legal way to do it but it would cost and there's no way of knowing if she would win.She could also have offered to take the laminate up herself and remove the fireplaces if they were not wanted by the next tenant.
If her friend is going to take over the tenancy then she wouldn't want to take revenge on the property.
If it were me and a friend wasn't moving in I would stuff a dead fish inside the water heater jacket, Pour urine on any carpets (this would take a while to smell). Loosen all the waste water pipes. Block the heating system and if there is a manhole cover on the property I would lift it and block it with rubble and concrete. Lift the floorboards and put smelly stuff underneath. And go into the loft and move some roof tiles to allow the rain in. There are loads she could do and I don't think it's unreassonable to want to get a bit of revenge. I don't recommend she does this this is just what I would do.
Does anyone think my landlord needs to worry????? :o

the deposit should have gone to a holding company, and you should have been details of the company.

Bit of a sweeping generalisation there hiphop

Just a thought op. there's a really good website called landlord zone which has forums. They give really good advice, well they have to me in the past, so it's worth posting the question over there.

:o debs

Your landlord needn't worry as long as he doesn't try to fuck you over like BB's sister's LL has. If he DID, I'd be very interested to read your thread on that! :o