Deposit or Rent

[Susanm23885]

I saw an add on gumtree for a private let and on the advert it states landlord wanted two months rent deposit all was fine I moved in then the problems started landlord didn't fix a leak and left it for two weeks now there is a hole in the ceiling, landlord got told the house needed major work so he gave me my notice to quit to do repairs he also stated in a letter that he wasn't giving me all my deposit back because my little boy squashed goo into it (I have since removed goo) so I text landlord saying I had cleaned it and I expect £1200 of my £1500 deposit back his reply that was upto him, I found out he hadn't protected my deposit into a scheme sent him a letter before action saying if we didn't come to an agreement I was taking him to court he said good luck the money I gave him was first and last months rent. I get housing Benefit that was back dated to the day my tenancy agreement started. Where do I stand If I can prove landlord took it as a deposit?

First port of call, what does your contract say? Does it mention first and last month? If so, you should indeed have not paid the first and last month and so must have that money?

Did you sign a contract saying it was rent? If not you can take him to court and he is liable for 3x that. Definitely go for it!

You contract should specify this either way. As a pp said, if that is the case you shouldn't have paid your first and last months rent if that is the case?

If it is not stated in your contract, you have grounds to receive your full deposit back as it was not protected

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housingadvice/tenancyydeposits/tenancydeposittcompensation_claims

The amount returned is between 1 and 3 times the deposit

Protecting the deposit is law. You can absolutely take him to small claims court and he will lose. I had to threaten my landlord with this a few years ago. Check out Shelter I think the website.is called. Lots of info.

If the money was for rent, he cannot use it towards repairs and must refund you any overpaid rent.
Definitely check your tenancy agreement

If it's deposit, then as posted above, he'll have to pay back more for not complying with the regulation of putting it in a scheme.

However, with him saying that it's first and last month's rent - have you paid your rent every month on time? If there's any unpaid rent, then than comes out of the deposit.

It says on the tenancy first and last month he said he don't it that way on purpose but I have evidence that he is seeing it as a deposit, I also received housing benefit from the start of my tenancy

All my rent is upto date.

He can call it what he likes but the court has a tendency to see these as deposits with the landlord attempting to avoid his statutory duty. Issue online proceedings.

Thankyou I will and I'll leave it up to the court to decide and I will be sending them all my evidence.

If you have paid every month's rent on top of this deposit, then it is a deposit. If he is not considering it a deposit, why would you pay 2 month's rent extra?

Sounds like he is trying to pull a fast one and I definitely think the outcome will be in your favour

Yes I think so to and I have letters and texts from my landlord discussing the deposit I gave him so I think he is just trying to avoid it being a deposit but the letters clearly say deposit thankyou so much.

He is such a bad landlord I have only recently found out I should have received an energy dificiency certificate and a gas certificate which I didn't, I moved in on September 2017 and with fire regulation I should have had two doors at both my entrances to kitchen which I didn't, also he did not fix the leak for three weeks which has now cause a big hole in my kitchen ceiling all been documented he only cares about his rent not his duty.

You need to give more details. From what you've written so far, we have:

• an advert that refers to a 2 months deposit.
• a tenancy that says that money given before moving in first and last month
• a letter where he says he wasn't given all your deposit back

That alone does make sense. What would be important to know is:

• what does he actually say in the letter? Does he refer to the word 'deposit'
• What months have you paid. Say you move in in September and monthly rent is £500. You paid £1,000 1st September, £500 October to January, did you pay for 1st of February(assuming you left at the end of the 6th month)?

If you haven't paid February on the 1st, that supports his point, if you have, then he has no chance.

Yes he refers to my money as deposit in the letter yes I paid for February

My housing benefit started the day my tenancy started

According to tenancy agreement it was for 1st sept to 1st October and last months rent but like I said I get housing Benefit from the 1st September and the letters and texts from him is saying deposit

Me again! He cannot give you notice to quit if he did not give you a copy of the gas safety certificate at the commencement of the tenancy, therefore you have a valid technical defence to the notice. The court will be very unhappy with this landlord. Definitely issue proceedings.

Hi thankyou for you help he can if it's in the grounds of house needing a lot of repair and I am more than happy to get out of here I've been to council and made a homeless application, he is a bad landlord and with all the evidence I have against him I hope he isn't allowed to be a landlord anymore, I've done everything in my tenancy agreement, I can't wait to get out I gave him a letter before action so I am starting court proceedings on Friday I'll keep updates on what is happening I knew something was dodgy with him