to think my ex landlady is being totally unreasonable?

[PrettyPrinceofParties]

OK. The story so far...

We were living in Derbyshire, but DH got a job in Leeds so the commute was 1 1/2 hours each way. Asked our landlady if she would release us 6 months early from our 12 month rent contract, she said yes. Great.

We moved out on 28th July, returned the keys on 31st July. Forgot to cancel the standing order and paid the rent on 16th August. Since then we've been unable to get hold of her, but she's obviously got our messages as she told the agency that she's keeping the money as we've only just moved out. The house is now rented and we agreed that we'd pay the remarketing fees and they'd be deducted from the bond and the overpayment of July's rent (about half a month's rent).

We've had to write to her threatening court action as the agency won't get involved because they didn't manage the property.

Surely she can't expect rent after we moved out, especially as she has new tenants. So am I being unreasonable, or is she in the right because it's my mistake for not cancelling the standing order?

We've had to borrow money off the inlaws because we've effectively paid two lots of rent this month. Plus a bond last month and still waiting for the return of our bond (that's a whole other fiasco).

Frankly, I could cry.

Asked our landlady if she would release us 6 months early from our 12 month rent contract, she said yes

Did you get that in writing or was it verbal - because without witnesses a verbal agreement won;t stand up in court. You were contracted to the full term.

You can try the bank, to recall the standing order, but I dont hold out much hope as it is covered by different legislation than a direct debit.

Already tried the bank. Didn't get the contract break in writing or verbally, first acknowledgement of our letter was the agency ringing to ask if I could show someone round! The agency know about the agreement though, and have emailed me to confirm the date the keys were returned.

when did the new people move in? if she's having 2 lots of rent for a period then that would seem unreasonable, but if it was empty for a while less so. Did you give a month's notice - a lot of contracts have this and she maybe felt it reasonable to keep money to cover it? did you agree all the dates with her and give a decent amount of advance warning - you should really have done this in writing?

you could talk to trading standards, but basically as you don't have anything in writing i'm not sure that you have much of a leg to stand on.

You haven't said when the new tenants moved in. This is the key point. Or how long a notice period you gave. As above, if a month, thats reasonable.

Small Claims Court forms filled out 'in draft' w. a note saying copy for your info and the date you will file them if matter not resolved usually works with dodgy Landlords. I would never actually do it, mind you, last resort territory on advice of lovely legal bod i work with, but i got fed up with landlords taking the p .... and its worked twice now .. Just google Small Claims Court forms ...

Yes, we wrote to her asking if we could move out at the end of July. That gave her 6 week's notice. Surely the fact that the agency know we were released from the contract would count for something. We agreed to pay relisting fees but not extra rent. The agency also know this and have agreed she owes us the money.

Unfortunately rent was paid direct to her, I don't think the agency would have had a problem with issuing a refund. Not sure how long the new tenants have been in, but there would definitely be an overlap on our rent payments.

We written a 'notice before action' letter, which I think is probably the same as sending her the court form.

Thanks Sazzle for giving me a bit of hope!

So have you paid 6 weeks extra rent, or 2?

The fact we're having to push you for the basic facts makes it all seem so confused!

If it was only 2 weeks extra rent (ie if you pay rent at the end, rather than the beginning of the rental month), she may well have had the property sitting empty for those 2 weeks. Or possibly even 6 weeks. In which case it wouldn't be unreasonable for her to keep the rent, as it was you who reneged on the contract.

Have you asked the agency when the new tenants moved in?

It's an over payment of 6 weeks. We paid for a full month when we moved out midway through a paid for month. We agreed with the agency that the overpayment would count towards the relisting fees so less was taken from the bond.

We then overpaid by another full month as the standing order had not been cancelled. It's this payment that she received 2 weeks after we moved out that we want back.

She told the agency it was hers because 'we'd only just moved out' nothing to do with getting new tenants or breaking the contract early.

Even if the house sat empty for a year, it's still an accidental overpayment. There was no agreement for us to continue paying rent until the house was relet. She agreed to release us from the contract, so it's not like we abandoned the property.

You don't need to have the effectual early release detailed in writing - it sounds like she has accepted your surrender by accepting the keys (an established legal principal) so she can't keep your money. As for your deposit, I hope she has registered it in a scheme...

I'd take the woman to the cleaners

Ah that's good to know about the keys - and I have their return date in writing from the agent. She actually collected them on the same day they were returned.

calvert - surely they didn't give her back the keys though, they gave them to the agency? i think you should write all the dates down and discuss with trading standards. you should write down the dates you agreed with her and the ones that you did in reality - as thats one of the things that is confusing people on here i think.

messages overlapped - she obviously has accepted keys. good.

Sorry if it's confusing. I included dates in my op hoping that would make it clearer. The letter we wrote should be clear as we used a letter before action template.

We've had no verbal or written agreement of the moveout date from her. We stated end of July in our letter to her, expecting a confirmation. We assumed she accepted this as the house was put back up for rent - first we knew about it was the agent asking me to do a viewing.

She's impossible to contact by phone - it's a mobile that just rings and has no answerphone. She would never ring me either, she just used to turn up a the house when she wanted to ask me something. Nightmare woman.

you say what you did, but not what you agreed with her. to make a proper judgement someone needs both info. if you go through the small claims this will all have to be documented and copies of the letters you have written available. you really shouldn't be speaking to her at this stage anyway, you should be doing it in writing so that there's no confusion and if you do take her to court you can show the process you have gone through so far

i've been on the other side of things and whilst you sound like a good tennnt there are some that are a nightmare. i've taken one through the small claims court, so happy to share experience.

There wasn't any agreement verbal or written dreaming, which is why I can only state what I did as there is nothing else!

We sent the letter threatening action on tuesday and have (and won't) make any further attempts to contact her. If we hear nothing back our next step will be to file a claim.

For clarity: We wrote giving 6 weeks notice asking to end our contract at the end of July, meaning we were leaving 6 months early. A week after the letter was sent, the agency asked if we could show a potential new tenant round. I asked if there would be any charge for leaving early and they told us that we would need to pay the costs associated with remarketing the property and that this would be deducted from the bond. They have since agreed that July's overpayment will go towards it. The agency also said that they would get her to contact me, but she never did.