Letting agent keeping deposit till all bills paid?

[messofajess]

I moved out of a property 3 weeks ago, the letting agent is saying he will not release the deposit until he has seen that all the final bills have been paid. The bills are all in my name. There are 3 bills, 2 have come back in credit to me. The remaining bill I had to chase up today and they have said they need to track it down.

In the meantime I emailed the letting agent and said he isn't actually allowed to do this according to Shelter and he's replied: "we always need to see closing accounts with the correct readings to cross reference."

If it matters, we were excellent tenants and left the property in a much better condition than we found it. At the yearly inspection the letting agent even said that to us.

AIBU? I'm starting to get very annoyed...

The reason for this is because utility companies will go after the landlord if the tenant claims to have left the property before they actually have. I have discovered this myself. It was bad enough that they decided not to pay the last month's rent but she called the water and gas company to say she'd left the property on X date when her husband stayed there for another month.

When I was charged for the water/gas/electricity used during that time, the utilities company said that they legally had to go with the dates they had given, even though I could prove that the date given was before the end of their fixed term, or I could show a text that confirmed when he'd left. They would not have it. So I ended up having to pay the £100 or so.

In my case, I never got it back as the deposit they'd paid covered the unpaid rent and I would have had to sue them for the rent.

Unfortunately, you are paying for the dishonesty of other tenants which means that your landlord wants to make sure you didn't lie about the date you left the property so that they don't have to take what they will be charged our of your deposit.

Yeah but the landlord can't keep thinking of ways to make everything the tenants problem.

I agree with those saying go straight to the scheme, although if you were kind you could give them one warning. I like your reply though!

@swingofthings this makes a lot more sense ok. Strange that I didn't think about that!! But still, if he's not allowed to do that he's not allowed to do that. Sucks that happened to you.

@blackteasplease Thank you - if you have any official emails or letters you need sending I'm happy to do a first draft for you
I think I would prefer to be kind because he's been fine in every other way with our two years of living there.

Don’t bother going to the letting agent, just go to the deposit scheme and apply for it back. Letting agent is acting illegally.

Sorry OP just saw your message! I requested the money back from safedeposit, they were sent copies of my council tax final bill which was clear. I didn't have a final bill for gas and leki and I was on pre payment meters and it took them until march (yup thanks Scottish power! 3 months of phone calls to tie up the account!!!) to finally provide me with final statements. They had screenshots, were given a couple of weeks then I requested it back minus money we agreed on (an extra weeks rent as they were closed between xmas and new year). It's super easy to do that, you just log in to your account- you should have had all the details sent to you when the deposit was handed over. Good luck! They never make it easy! Xx

@TheQueenOfWands did that not affect your credit score?

@TheQueenOfWands I ask because we have a sneaking suspicion our deposit will be held back. Landlord is broke and is selling but the house needs a hell of a lot of work which we think he will hold back. Our deposit it two months rent though.

He kept the deposit of the last tenant.

If the deposit is protected he needs to prove damages. If it isn't you sue him and you win, there's no excuse.

My husband works in lettings- he said this is not allowed. Only can withhold a deposit for damage/work.
You should have had a certificate or some t&cs from My Deposits which will help give you some back up to go to the agent with

No, nothing on my credit score.

I don't think...

This is really interesting coming from the LL perspective. When I first moved in with my DH I let my flat out and the letting agent told me we needed to see all final bills paid before releasing the deposit. This always happened very quickly so wasn't a problem. One time I had an absconding tenant and ended up being liable for his council tax and (I think although don't really remember) some of the utility bills as they couldn't track him down. The end cost was much greater than the original bills from memory and it was mine to pay (over £500). I have since always asked (no letting agent these days) for final bills but its either been very quick (within a few days, internet printout) or I have given back the deposit even without final bills (you kind of get a feel for how honest someone is I think especially once you have been dealing with then for a year plus tbh I have been lucky only twice in 15 years have I had a bad tenant or had to withhold from the deposit). Yes I agree with you though OP not really acceptable to have to wait 3 weeks or more for deposit.

It is correct that it is not officially legal to hold the deposit for this reason but at the same time there is no legal requirement to return the deposit within a specific timescale. If the 'LL wants to slow the process to allow for this they will be able to do so. After a certain time of not hearing from the companies they can assume all bills have been paid anyway. It benefits the tenants to share that information but ultimately they don't have to agree to it.

I'd forgotten about the CT. In our case the council grants 1 months 50% payment when the property is emptied but we needed to do work to the property both because of W&T and damage they caused but couldn't do before the end of tenancy so they're the ones who officially benefited from the grace rather than me which again wasn't right.

Do you have any direct contact details for your landlord? My lettings agent was rubbish about getting my deposit back to me so I went to the landlord. Fortunately they were decent sorts, were horrified that I hadn't had the deposit back and - hey presto! - letting agent miraculously got their arse into gear and the deposit was in my account the same day.

If not, I'd write to the LA advising that, as you are sure they are aware, it is illegal to withhold the deposit in this way and you expect it to be paid in full within x days, and that any other deductions are to be fully evidenced, documented and agreed with you. Should they fail to comply with this you will have no option to raise a dispute with the deposit holder. You will provide copies of final bills etc as and when they are available but this should not delay the return of the deposit as any outstanding bills will be a matter between you and the utility company/council.

Then roll the letter up very tightly and tell them this is to make it easier to shove it up their arse.