To keep their deposit!!

[LivFG]

DH and I have a couple of properties we rent out. We have been renting to a young couple who always seemed like good tenants. We gave them notice a couple of months ago as we are going to start renting on AirBnB instead as DH thinks we will get more money (don't get me started).

Anyway, they moved out on Saturday and everything seemed fine. Today I went to get everything cleaned and I found (what I think to be) weed residue next to the sink. I'm Furious. I feel completely violated and uncomfortable being inside the property. I'm sick with worry that they have been using illegal drugs in my home and what the legal ramifications could be!!

Obviously we have their deposit. I was planning to refund it this week. After my discovery today, I now feel incredibly reluctant to make any sort of refund. The idea of supporting/funding their lifestyle makes me very uncomfortable. And they never would have been given permission to abuse my property in this way.

DH seems to think none of this is a problem and seems to completely miss the point - it isn't about cleaning it up - it's about the abuse of our trust.

AIBU?

I will admit that I haven't read more than the first few of the OP's posts (I will go back and read them all in due course) but I have a question for you @LivFG - If your DH didn't put this particular deposit in the Tenancy Deposit Protection scheme, I'd be wondering how many other tenants deposits he hasn't placed in the scheme? Have you left yourselves open to being sued here because of both of your lack of due diligence?

(edited to correct a spelling)

Is this a thread a joke?

Greedy landlord kicks tenants out because they want to make more money doing Air BnB. The Landlord hasn't put the deposit in the protection scheme because they're basically cowboys and then the landlord has come online to slate the tenants!

Unbelievable!

If this is real, I really hope your ex tenants are on MN. They will now be getting ready to claim their 3x deposit compensation.

How silly...

Sounds to me like you are just looking for an excuse to keep the deposit and anyway the deposit scheme will likely not go for your nonsense.

You have no proof that this is cannabis and even if it is, it has done no damage to the property whatsoever. Just clean it and move on...

The bigger issue is that you broke the law by not protecting their deposit and in fact they could sue you for doing that.

I don't see why you would not issue people a proper tenancy contract unless you are:

• planning to mess your tenants around
• trying to avoid paying tax on your income
• trying to get around regulations.

I also wonder if you have failed to issue the proper electricity and gas certificates and also put the tenants welfare at risk that way.

Now you got rid of good people out of greed to make more money with short term lets.

It is people like you that give landlords a bad name.

I do hope this post is a wind up against landlord...because if it is real you and your partner are truly appalling people.

I’d love to hear the tenants’ view of you as landlords.

If the deposit wasn’t in a protection scheme they can claim back 3x the value so you’ve shot yourself in the foot

Why on earth would you need to sterilise the place? Just wipe it up and leave the windows open for a bit!!

Step into the real world love. You’re going to have a HELL of a shock renting it out as an air bnb if you can’t cope with a little nugget of weed!!

What ramifications? Is the property in disrepair? Does it smell so strongly of weed that you’ll need to redecorate to get the smell out? If the answer is no then you’re being ridiculous. A bit of possible weed (not that you’ve actually got any proof of this) is not the end of the world and if they’ve generally been good tenants I’d get over it and give the poor people their money back.

news flash, people often have parties in air b&bs involving far worse drugs than weed. Something for you to look forward to.

I certainly had a mis-spent youth but I'm dying to know what thrilling drug-taking practice would involve "ground weed" near a sink leaving a "gunky residue". No clue! Must have missed out!

You don’t have a leg to stand on.

No further points or absolutely insane ‘taxes’ you’ve created in your own head here need to be discussed because you’ve admitted you haven’t put the deposit in the scheme. Therefore - the fact you haven’t done this leaves you liable to pay them x3 of the compensation

Refund them in full or you will definitely end up with a massive problem!

And christ - what are you going to do if anyone smokes weed when renting as an Air BnB? Are you going to be sat outside checking on them?!

Wait, you didn't protect their deposit?

They could sue you for three times their deposit and I hope they do.

To answer your OP, YABU. You only keep as much of their deposit as is actually necessary to restore the property to the condition it was in when they moved in, allowing for reasonable wear and tear.

People like you are the reason landlords have such a bad reputation. I actually think there need to be some extra rules about this, for example, landlords who are found to have withheld deposits without a good reason on more than one occasion or who have failed to carry out necessary maintenance should not be allowed to let their properties out anymore.

You don't know they have breached anything because you aren't even sure what the residue is.

Do you know what is a breach of a tenancy agreement? I'm sure you do by now....but its not putting the deposit in the legal and statutory scheme.

It's the most basic aspect of being a landlord. How you have the audacity to call yourself a good LL when you can't even get the basics right is beyond me. That's before we get to your complete lack of understanding about why you can deduct from deposits...ffs surely you do your research before becoming a LL. Most ppl on here know more than you and I highly doubt we are all landlords....your level of competence and that of your DH is shocking. Why become LLs if you don't understand the rules.

Air b&b with a much higher turnover of guests will leave you way out of your depth if you can't even manage to do basic admin. How dare you judge these tenants when you have failed them and acted illegally at such a basic level which is denying them their rights

You think the whole property needs to be "bleached and sterilised" because you found some residue next to the sink that you think, but don't know, might be weed?

FFS.

Go on then.

I hope they took pictures and I hope they sue you to kingdom come, not just for the unlawful retention of their deposit but for your failure to protect it. That should help compensate them for being turfed out of their home because you and your husband are greedy and think you could make more money doing Airbnb.

you seem like a right dick 😂

perhaps you could try some of the residue yourself and see if it helps chill you out a bit.

never seen such moral outrage at a total non-event in my life.

if you’re a good landlord you would understand the legal obligations on you, and not be looking for any excuse to weasel out of returning money that doesn’t belong to you.

Re your dh’s point about Airbnb providing insurance and paying up for when anything goes wrong, do not expect this to happen! I strongly advise you to do some research on any Airbnb landlord forum and you’ll see the number of issues that they’ve had with Airbnb refusing to pay out for any damage or loss, to the detriment of 1000’s of pounds.

You both appear to have a v cavalier attitude to either private renting or through Airbnb; I’d be doing way more research if I were you.

This is so funny and I have so many questions.

A “wipe down” in between tenancies and not using the tenancy deposit scheme and you think you are a good landlord?

Why would you sterilise the whole house for a bit of weed?! You do know there are places where it is legal don’t you?

People book airbnbs for parties all the time - what will you do if there is weed smoked then? Or underage drinking?

Have you declared your ‘informal’ rent to HMRC? Or is that useless DHs job too?

You and your husband sound like bad landlords and you sound deliberately obtuse.

WTAF of course you can’t withhold their deposit OP! It doesn’t work like that!!!

Honestly landlords in this country need to be formerly regulated URGENTLY. Crooks like you should not be landlords.

When I was a landlord I actually found baggies of cocaine in a cupboard when I did the property inspection. I had to sit and wait for the police to come and take them away. My former tenant I was arrested but still gave him his deposit back because there was no reason not to.

Gah you are so unreasonable. You evicted them from THEIR HOME to be another bloody air B and B. You can't keep their deposit on a hunch! You sound like a typical money grabbing landlord. Clutching your pearls at an imagined scenario.. enjoy air B and B renting. A bit of weed (imaginary or otherwise) will be the least of your problems 😂

WOW

That ‘not getting round to it’ will cost you a fucking fortune if your tenants are clever enough to pursue you for 3 x the deposit. Which I really hope they do. You should be grovelling over them for fucking this up not stealing their money.

In fact OP the fact you booted them out their home and they left quietly when you asked them after being good tenants makes you extremely lucky. They could have stayed and strung the arse out of a court process and they didnt

Kicking out tenants to turn it into an Airbnb? Yeah... Classy

You'll be lucky if they don't get to take the deposit AND more from you if you didn't protect it.

You have been very very foolish and are being highly unreasonable.

It's not "your" home. It's theirs.

Ooh OP PLEASE do report this ‘residue’ the police could probably do with a laugh.

You DID break the law. You didn’t protect their deposit and you could end up paying 3x the deposit value to them for this. I hope that happens, but if I were you I’d send it back and hope they don’t notice I failed to protect their deposit.

Thank Christ you aren’t a landlord anymore

Hang on. This has to be joke thread right? Or a reverse!