Rent in advance

[leilathebaby]

Hi guys,

I’m a bit confused about what we paid for when we moved into a property that we’re now due to leave.

Our rent is £750pcm and we paid £1000 deposit before we moved in in October (I thought it was only supposed to be 5 weeks rent which is £868 did he take more than necessary?)

We then also paid him £750 when we moved in on 16th October. This being rent in advance as we hadn’t yet lived in the house for any period of time.

I’m now due to move out and have given my 28 days notice.

Am I right in thinking that February 16th rent payment pays up until March 16th. My tenancy finishes April 2nd. So I pay my landlord for how many days it is between March 16th and April 2nd as my last rent payment?

The deposit was probably in addition to the rent and is to cover any damages.

You are correct.

Yes, but it was supposed to be no more than 5 weeks of rent by law.

Check your tenancy agreement.

So I paid £1000 which is fine I didn’t mind doing that for the deposit but I also paid him £750 as well so that’s £1750 in October. So this would mean the deposit is separate and the £750 was rent paying up until 16th November? Sorry so confused

Yes, that's correct. I'm a landlord and I calculate the proportion of the rent owed for the final month if it isn't a full month (so for example if a usual month's rent is £900 and tenants are only staying for 10 days in their final month (ie a third of a full month), the rent owed would be £300.

Hiya I checked the agreement but he’s a private landlord and it literally hardly says anything just that I paid the £1000 deposit and rent of £750 due on 16/10/2023. I also don’t think he protected my deposit in a scheme I didn’t get any certification and he’s just that type of landlord I know he wouldn’t have if he could get away with it

That’s really helpful thank you!!

The maximum deposit that can be taken is 5 weeks - so in your case it’s £865.38 (if your rent is £850 pcm).

Is your deposit held in one of the deposit protection schemes & have you received all of the ‘prescribed information’ (the paperwork)? You can check in the scheme how much is held.

If you pay rent on the 16th day of the month - that rent covers the 16th day to the 15th day of the next month.

So if your tenancy ends on the 2nd April - you need to pay for the 16th March to the 2nd April = 18 days / £503.01

I'm a landlord in Scotland and deposits absolutely must be in a deposit protection scheme by law. I don't know about the law in England, but a quick Google should tell you.

Hi that’s really useful thank you! The monthly rent is £750pcm and I don’t think he protected the deposit no he’s a private landlord and he’s the type that if he can get away with not doing it he would. I didn’t receive any certification or emails etc to say it’s been protected

What does your contract say? If you have an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (fairly standard) you will be obliged to stay for a set period specified in your contract, minimum 6 months. This means you may be obliged to stay/pay until April 15th. Your landlord may agree to let you leave early without penalty but they don't have to.

And yes it looks like the £750 was your first month's rent.

Your deposit should be protected by an official scheme and your landlord should have given you the details of this.

Sorry - Just spotted that your rent is £750 pcm

So your 5 week deposit should be £865.38.

Your final rent (of 18 days) will be £443.84

OP whether he's a private landlord or not makes no difference to his legal obligations as a Landlord (I'm a private landlord with one flat that I rent out, so not a big business, but I still have to abide by all rental laws including being on the Landlords Register in Scotland). There are serious penalties for not putting deposits in safety schemes etc.

Here's some advice from TDS (one of the big schemes) on what to do if you think your deposit isn't protected: www.tenancydepositscheme.com/asktds-what-do-i-do-if-my-deposit-isnt-protected/#:~:text=While%20we%20recommend%20opening%20communications,the%20deposit%20to%20you%2C%20or

Deposits have legally had to be protected in a scheme since 2007. If your landlord hasn’t protected the deposit in a scheme (within 30 days of receiving it) and served you the prescribed information then he has broken the law.

You can claim up to 3 x the deposit back from him as he has acted unlawfully.

I’m a landlord and it boils my piss that rogue landlords still think they can get away with this.

I'm in an assured shorthold tenancy the contract is just one he found online. It doesn't really specify anything to be honest I've read through the whole thing. Just says how much deposit I paid and that I paid £750 rent on 16/10/2023. He didn't renew the tenancy contract when it ended he just left it on a rolling contract so agreed to 28 days notice. I also definitely didn't get any certification that he protected the deposit.

Ask him what protection scheme the deposit is in - if he hasn't protected it then get the deposit back and then small claims court him for 3x the deposit

You are correct you should work out the pro-rata rent price for 17th march to 2nd April and confirm he agrees that's the final rent payment
Then ask where the deposit is protected so you can get it back - if he does not give you this information you can claim 3x the deposit.

Just a follow on:

As clarified by lots of you helpful people I'm really greatful.

Would I then be unreasonable when I pay my last rent payment to make him aware that he charged me too much deposit and deduct that off the last months rent? Or do I cut my losses and leave it?

I need to keep a pretty good relationship with him to try and get my deposit back. There's nothing wrong with the property and it will be left as we got it. But he's a right cowboy landlord and I get the impression he's annoyed we're leaving so he's going to try anything to give us less deposit back (although he's not protected it)

I work for a private landlord and we would either agree with you in advance that you could pay a partial rent for your last few weeks, or more commonly what actually happens is that we would expect full rent on 16th March and then refund you the difference once we got the keys back on 2nd April. Many people also time it exactly so that they move out on the last day the rent covers.

Have you asked your landlord if he’ll let you pay less for the last half a month? And do you think he’ll try and unreasonably hold your deposit? If you think he’ll refund the £1k then I’d just proceed and move on with minimum fuss, but if you have problems with him then if he hasn’t protected it then he doesn’t have a leg to stand on basically.

That's really really helpful thank you for your help I shall do just that!

I definitely think he'll try deduct money of the £1k regardless. He's nice when you're on the right side of him but when you show any intent of knowing your stuff he gets his defence up.

I'm going to clarify that I only owe him so much rent up until April 2nd. And then the deposit is another issue 😬

Take it to a lawyer who will claim back 3x the deposit for you if it was not properly protected in a scheme…

if he gets silly with the deposit you could always point out that he’s not put it in a protected scheme and tell him you’ll sue for the 3x if he wants to be awkward.