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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Landlord wants to take £300 from our deposit

147 replies

Beatrice11 · 25/03/2020 07:38

Hi everyone, just wanted to ask what’s everybody’s opinion.
Long story short, we moved out of the previous accomodation and want to get our deposit back. Landlord has been a bit difficult throughout the tenancy, but now he’s saying that he wants to take £300 from the deposit, the reasons are: we moved out one day later then we supposed to, because our son wasn’t well. We cleared the garage a week later. Now he is saying that it is £100 for being one day late with moving out and £200 for keeping our stuff in the garage for one more week. The rent we were paying was £1275/per month. The cost of renting out a garage in that area is £100/ month top- and starts from £50/ month.
We have been asking him to return the deposit for the last 3 weeks. Last week he texted us to come to his house and he will pay cash- he then didn’t open the door. Next day I’ve sent an email saying that we will take further steps- he replied that he didn’t open the door as he had a suspicious of COVID 19! He knew that we were coming ( we texted him a couple of hours before) and he didn’t warn us that he was feeling ill!
He refused to make an inventory check when we were moving out; we left the house in a much better condition then it was when we were moving in.
I think if he asked for £100 althogether, it would be fair, but not £300! He is saying that it is favourable to us!
We are now considering taking this to the deposit insurance scheme he used to protect the deposit.
Also, he is refusing to make a bank transfer, he want’s to give us cash- my understanding is that the current goverment statement urges everyone to stay at home emplies that we should not go to his house- any idea on that matter and where I could report him?
Sorry for a long post, but I am just getting sick of him.

OP posts:

Youwonjane · 25/03/2020 12:14

If you do go to the DPS be prepared for a long wait - took us 3 months to get our deposit back. So it depends what’s more vital - though he’s totally in the wrong - it should be one days rent plus a nominal fee for the garage storage.

Quarantimespringclean · 25/03/2020 12:16

@NoMorePoliticsPlease makes a very good point. Arbitration takes a very long time even in normal circumstances. It’s going to take even longer for the next few months. I’d take what he’s offered (which seems fair) and learn from this experience.

KaptenKrusty · 25/03/2020 12:22

he doesn't seem to be offering anything though at the minute - he is making excuses and insisting on cash payment - but won't meet the poster to give the cash?
So at this stage even the wait to get it back through the deposit protection scheme would be better

dontdisturbmenow · 25/03/2020 12:41

First thing, the scheme might not be DPS, there are two others. Secondly, it sounds like he use the insurance scheme which works a bit differently.

What probably happened is that he was willing to let it go but you annoyed him maybe pressuring him when he was indeed poorly with the virus and that's what triggered him to decide to withhold from the deposit.

The scheme will look at the law and the law states that if you are one day late not handing keys back, you are extending your tenancy and as such owe another month if you pay monthly. So if I were you, I'd agree and leave it at that.

alltripe · 25/03/2020 12:50

I’d go with the £300, he might be able to claim another full rental period (month) from you if he really wanted to.

Purpleartichoke · 25/03/2020 13:15

Not removing your belongings from the property for a week is a big deal. It doesn’t matter that they weren’t in the main house. An extra weeks rent is more than fair.

FAQs · 25/03/2020 13:21

Go to DPS but you didn't leave the property as in full and vacate possession so you might struggle. Garage is likely to be considered a fixture with the property.

slashlover · 25/03/2020 13:34

Imagine this post from the opposite direction.

I'm a LL and my tenant was due to move out on the 1st. They stayed until the 2nd and left some of their stuff in my garage until the 9th. AIBU to withhold a weeks rent because of this?

They'd get loads of replies that they WNBU, should charge storage, should have tipped their stuff onto the lawn and how it might invalidate the insurance.

Reallynowdear · 25/03/2020 13:40

£300 is fair in relation to your rent, you left late and used the property for storage for over a week.

You broke your contract, not your LL.

Mummyoflittledragon · 25/03/2020 13:44

donotdisturbme
As the ll agreed for the tenant to remain in the house a day longer, she would not have to pay the full months rent, only until the date the keys were returned.

As op vacated the house a day late and the garage 6 days later, this would be the one weeks rent the ll is expecting. However, if he entered the property and started renovations within that week, the house was no longer available for op to rent, which is why she should negotiate.

I do not agree with your conclusion that one month must be paid. And she obvs needs to contact the correct deposit scheme out of the 3....

1FootInTheRave · 25/03/2020 13:51

Yabu

And cheeky as hell tbh.

justcly · 25/03/2020 14:01

OP, please ignore the people advising you not to go through the DPS. Go through the scheme.

dontdisturbmenow · 25/03/2020 14:13

@Mummyoflittledragon, This in correct. There's no such thing as paying weekly if you have a monthly agreement. 5iy pay monthly. You stay one extra day, you pay the whole month. Of course you can stay for that whole month.

dontdisturbmenow · 25/03/2020 14:16

And I haven't read that he agreed in advance just that he didn't mention that he would expect to be paid for it when it became clear OP still had her things in the garage.

LolaSmiles · 25/03/2020 14:30

I'm under no doubt there's some awful landlords out there but reading this thread would put me off.
I can't believe people are actually saying it's fine for someone to leave a property late, store their stuff in the garage and then quibble over paying a week's rent for a property that hasn't been vacated.

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 25/03/2020 14:56

I think he's within his rights. He could have binned all the stuff you left in the garage for a week. You've probably got off lightly really.

Quizacabusi · 25/03/2020 15:38

Some of this may be covered already -
Check he has secured your deposit in the scheme. If he has, then you can raise a dispute and it usually falls in favour of the tenant.

If he has not secured the deposit then you can raise a claim Via small claims court and you more than likely will be awarded 3x the value of the deposit.

The dispute is on the value of the time you had not vacated his property. By being late there may have been knock on impacts. It is completely selfish of you to have not had the property empty in advance, or at the very least by the end of the day you paid for. You knew you were moving so you should have made sure you did that.

There should have been an end of tenancy walk around / inventory. You say the house was in better condition than when you moved in. Unfortunately that is a matter of opinion and the landlord could argue it should have been left as you found it.

They could charge you for returning the property to the original condition.

Did you have anything in writing about approval for any changes/ redecoration you undertook?

Your best bet would be to raise a dispute online and let the deposit scheme handle it.

Mummyoflittledragon · 25/03/2020 15:43

@dontdisturbmenow
I am a ll. Technically yes, you are correct that the contract rolls on one month and then the ll releases the tenant early. The net result is the same and the rent pro rata’d.

In ops case, however, the ll agreed to let her stay one day in the house foc. He cannot then demand a full month off the back of this.

What I would like to know is, did op still have keys to the house or garage. If she did not, she had 21 days from returning the keys to collect them. In that time, the ll had to store them. He couldn’t charge rent. He also couldn’t charge full rent if she had surrendered the house keys. Storage costs perhaps.

EL8888 · 25/03/2020 15:47

You left the property late so yeah he is reasonable to ask to be compensated for that. Not sure why he is being avoidant about giving you the rest of the money

BossAssBitch · 25/03/2020 15:48

I think you were a CF for moving a day later and not offering to pay extra rent, and also for not offering to pay storage costs for your gear in his garage! Conversely, your ex LL is a CF for charging you £300 for the pleasure.

dontdisturbmenow · 25/03/2020 16:04

@Mummyoflittledragon, i'm a landlord too. Legally, there is no such thing as pro rata. If your lease go from 25th March to 24th April, you need to be out by midnight in the 24th April. The moment you're over, you trigger another month. Of course you can agree a pro-rata amount, but legally you don't have too. If you leave things in the house and still have the key, you haven't moved out.

Mummyoflittledragon · 25/03/2020 17:29

donotdisturb
Agreed. Where our opinions differ is that I believe the ll in this case agreed to not trigger another months rent on op failing to vacate and return keys the day before rent due date.

I would not have done the same as it could lead to abuse of my good nature. Op needed to be gone ASAP if contractors were booked. I would, however, have agreed to release the tenant from the date keys were returned. The garage contents, however, would have been a discussion point first.

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