Sister stole her flatmate’s deposit

[Huhy]

Sister just completed her final year at university in London.

Sister lived with an international student in a one bed flat - they converted living room for 2nd bedroom in Central London. They were friends and course mates prior to living together. Sister had an absolute nightmare with this flatmate but I think it is no excuse. So sister and flatmate got an email saying that only £400 of their deposit was being returned due to the state the flat was left in. Sister left the flat in March, tenancy ended in June. Sister left to come home as she was very stressed with dissertation and exams/sick of flatmate. Before she left she completely cleaned her bedroom. She agreed with flatmate to go halves on an end of tenancy clean.

Landlord came back and said the carpet in her flatmates room and her bed were ruined and therefore needed replacing. Sister texted friend saying well seeing as that is all your stuff, I think I’m entitled to the full remaining deposit. Flatmate said no, we’ll split. My sister was distraught as she took care of her room and the common areas as she knew she needed the deposit for her masters.

When I say my sister lived with a pig I am not exaggerating. Sister sent us pictures of their kitchen after she returned from Easter. The ENTIRE floor in their small kitchen had piled up bags of takeaway bags. It was shocking. Flatmate paid for a cleaner to pick up her shit. The other girl also had difficulty turning off the shower and would just leave it - causing damage to the flat below. Another time my sister picked up a towel that had been on the floor in bathroom for weeks and the other girl replied with “haha I can’t believe you touched that, that was a cum towel”. She would also routinely make my sister go with her to get the morning after pill whilst on her period - always thought she was pregnant. Trust me I know her being a nightmare does not justify theft.

Anyway sister figured out that their deposit had not been secured as she questioned the LL’s ability to unilaterally take whatever amount he wanted. The other girl was happy to walk away from the lost deposit. My sister told landlord to pay both deposits into her account as her flatmate has shut hers down. Well that was a lie.

Sister was immature and rubbed it in her flatmates face that she had her money. The flatmate has gone back to her home country (very well off). I got a message from the girl asking me to help. I’m shocked my sister acted this way, very uncharacteristic. Sister in fact has actually given the money to another friend who was struggling to pay her last month’s rent (I have seen texts and bank statements as evidence of this).

Im at a loss. Pleas tell me what to do!

Your sister is an adult. It's not your problem. Block the flatmate and tell your sister to sort her own mess out.

No, it’s not your battle. If they want to become involved, they can. It’s not your responsibility and you can’t sort anything out for her because she’s an adult. Instead of ‘telling’ you to take over, they can ‘tell’ her their feelings.

Not your circus.

Your sisters flatmate sounds grim. Your sister sounds grim. But stealing is worse than being a slob IMO.

Stop getting involved. Everyone presumably knows your sister is a thief now, and given she won’t return the deposit there’s nothing more to be done!

Well my dad demanded sister to transfer the cash but she proved that she no longer had the money. I’m not examining bank statements. My parents wanted proof that she gave it to her friend

It's £200 not thousands, the other girl needs to drop it. But take all our advice and stay out of it. Refer anyone who asks you to your sister and tell them to leave you alone

You don't have any moral or legal obligation. Tell the flatmate it's nothing to do with you and block her everywhere.

Let her be taken to court if that's what she wants. She will have to pay the money back plus more to cover costs

No the deposit was something like £1200 each.

LL was only going to return £400 due to flatmate’s damage.

Oooh. I'm a little bit Team Sister. Anyway, not your problem - stay out of it.

Agree with pp.
Block the ex flatmate.
Tell parents that sister and ex flatmates are both adults and can sort out their own problems. You won't be getting involved.
If exflatmate is that bothered she can go to small claims court. Like an adult.

I don't see why you have a moral obligation here? You're not involved. It's simply nothing to do with you.

I think if I was your sister I'd be suing the ex flatmate for the additional £800 she's lost.

Keep out of it

Tell the girl to leave you alone and block her

Whilst I don’t approve of theft, this is nothing to do with you. Ignore the flatmate’s emails and let your sister just get on with it. If the flatmate is that bothered then she can come back to the U.K. and go through small claims.

She won’t.

No money has been lost. Sister got help from CAB who figured out with sis that it sounded unlikely the deposit had been protected. She ended up writing an email saying that the LL had a amount of time to return deposit or legal action was going to be taken (bluff but worked)

The friend was out of the country when all of that “research” was going on.

OK sounds like your parents got quite involved. Good on them.
I'm not sure then what more they think you can do.
Your sister stole the money
Your sister gave it away and now can't afford to give it to the girl
Your sister doesn't care anyway

What magic do they think you can do? Id be saying parents sis knows my views but she doesn't have the money so what can I do.

Leave your sister deal with it.
I wouldn't like to loose money neither but spending it before she had it granted is as cheeky as it was the other girl splitting the cost of her mess.
I would let them to it and try not to be involved.

So instead of £1200; £600 each they received £400 back due to the shithole the flatmate made of the place ?
Your sister is still down £200, flatmate has a cheek to expect anything back after destroying the flat.

You said the deposit was originally £1200 but they only got back £400 due to the damage in the flatmates room. If the flatmate had not caused that damage then they would both have £600. Besides I thought that the penalty for landlords who do not protect the deposit is up to three times the value of the deposit.

If your sister hadn't done all the running around and at least had some of the flat tidy then there would be nothing to fight over, so the more I see it the other girl can bugger off. Just listen to us(you did ask for advice remember) and stay out of it

Block her then. Your parents should do likewise.

For what it's worth I think your sister is morally entitled to keep the money. But she was an idiot for bragging about it.

I don’t think I said that.

Deposits were £1200/ each.

LL emailed saying only £400 was being returned due to damage in flatmates room.

Sister questioned LLs ability to unilaterally take whatever amount he wanted from protection scheme.

With help from CAB sister figured deposit was not in a protection scheme. Landlord transferred deposit back to sister in full. As I think not protecting is an offence

Your parents should know it's not your responsibility. Have them speak to your sister themselves. If they can't shame into returning the money are you able to?

Your sister was stupid to give the money to someone else. Nice as the gesture was, it wasn't hers to give.

This is a complete non-issue. The police don’t care about half of £400. And no-one is going to sue anyone for that amount! It would cost more in the courts! There will be zero consequences other than your sister having to make peace with her decision. Let your sister have her dispute and you and your parents should stay out of it. Moral obligation, indeed! What nonsense!

The sister got the full deposit back because CAB advised her that thr landlord hadn't protected it so the ll coughed up the full amount.
The sister literally is "up" £1200 because she now has the girl's deposit as well as her own