Left property now LL is playing up. Help please

[stunner1901]

Hi guys

i have just left my rented property after approx 3 years tenancy. I have ended on a rolling tenancy and my LL needs to sell

I will try to be as brief as possible

LL called me on 16th August and said leave over the phone. This was then followed up by a piece of written paper on the 3rd September saying "2 months notice back dated leave on 16th October please. I will deduct any repairs from deposit"

No mention of section 21 or anything.

i have found a new house and have vacated his property

we have cleaned the house to a good standard but he is claiming that we should have painted, done hedges, repaired damage caused by a toilet flood, which he refused to do. I have told him that 3 years wear and tear does not require me to paint and we never had an inventory at the start of tenancy

I haven't paid this months rent as we have moved out and he has said that if I don't pay he will phone my new agents and "tell them that I am a bad tenant". He has previously recommended us to them.

i pointed out that this is blackmail which he laughed off.

He also hasn't paid tax on rental (£20k+) as it is to pay mums care. Rental agreement is between me and him though so I believe he is liable

The biggest issue is though my deposit hasn't been protected so I am in a strong position I believe

My question is exactly where do I stand legally?

in summary

no gas certificates in 3 years
deposit not protected (£625)
flood from toilet not repaired
damp issues disregarded ( answer was "leave all windows open")
I do however owe £745 in rent now
Threat of contacting new agent
LL not declared income to HMRC as it is to pay for mums care

sorry it is so long but I need to check where I need to go

I am going to ask for £500 of deposit to be returned as a gesture as I believe I am in a much stronger position than this.


Regards

[stunner1901]

Re: Left property now LL is playing up. Help please

Meeting LL this morning

Can anyone advise please

Regards

[Kati]

Re: Left property now LL is playing up. Help please

[MENTION=15129]Crazy council[/MENTION] might be able to advise

[judgemental24]

Re: Left property now LL is playing up. Help please

He wanted you out as a sitting tennant so he could sell the property??,

Why did the two of you not come to a financial arrangement such as the landlord buying you out the tennancy, why did you just agree?. The settlement could have paid the deposit etc on your new place. I would have asked for three months rent myself as an incentive to vacate the property by mutual agrement

[Berniethebolt]

Re: Left property now LL is playing up. Help please

He wanted you out as a sitting tennant so he could sell the property??,

Why did the two of you not come to a financial arrangement such as the landlord buying you out the tennancy, why did you just agree?. The settlement could have paid the deposit etc on your new place. I would have asked for three months rent myself as an incentive to vacate the property by mutual agrement

Now that really would be blackmail
The tenant was did not have an AST but was on a rolling 1 months tenancy , OK so it would have taken the LL several months to get the tenant out using S21 but that would have done the tenant no good at all and maybe real harm when looking to rent a new property.

Personally I would be telling the LL that he has to repay your deposit or you will be forced to issue proceedings against him for the return of the deposit. Under the protection scheme , deposit can not be used to offset rent.

https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/overview

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-righ...-what-can-i-do

Might be of some help

Where is PlanB when you need her.

[judgemental24]

Re: Left property now LL is playing up. Help please

The OP stated rolling tennancy, that could be 6 or 12 month cycle according to the tennancy agreement
He has stated he has been a tennant for three years

There was no mention of it being an AST or not

[Berniethebolt]

Re: Left property now LL is playing up. Help please

Looking at the Which link, there is a potential penalty of between 1 and three times the value of the deposit that the landlord could be ordered to pay , so either agree to walk away with no claim against each other but if he gets heavy point that fact out to him.

[Berniethebolt]

Re: Left property now LL is playing up. Help please

The OP stated rolling tennancy, that could be 6 or 12 month cycle according to the tennancy agreement
He has stated he has been a tennant for three years

There was no mention of it being an AST or not

I think you misunderstand what a rolling tenancy is
My interpretation of what the OP posted was that at some point there was an AST which then continued as a rolling month by month tenancy , this is quite common. This is where a S21 comes into play, if there was an agreement the only grounds to get them out would have been S8

The rolling tenancy is a periodic tenancy, the period being the rental period, weekly , monthly etc

[Crazy council]

Re: Left property now LL is playing up. Help please

hi

no gas certificates in 3 years ( this is a problem, but you should have raised this at the time )
deposit not protected (£625) ( depends on other curcs )
flood from toilet not repaired ( you would need evidence that the purposfully did not do anything, and that you had previously complained )
damp issues disregarded ( answer was "leave all windows open") ( damp or mildew )
I do however owe £745 in rent now
Threat of contacting new agent ( although that may seem harsh, if you owe £745 in rent , not unreasonable )
LL not declared income to HMRC as it is to pay for mums care ( i would not be to sure about this )

I am going to ask for £500 of deposit to be returned as a gesture as I believe I am in a much stronger position than this.

Can i ask under what grounds would you sk for the £ 500 dep back, if you owe £ 745 in rent. ( that sounds more sharp than its meant to )

You problem is that you needed to formalise any complaints of this nature before you left, allowing a LL to take any remedial action.

and, just as a note of interest

I have told him that 3 years wear and tear does not require me to paint and we never had an inventory at the start of tenancy

Most professional tenancy agreements will have a provision in them for the painting of exterior wood and metal surfaces every 2 years. But your correct on teh inventory, it does not mean the LL can not claim, it just makes it harder. At the Mo, the LL would be keeping the deposit as rent, and therefore would not trigger any problems with the DPS.

[Berniethebolt]

Re: Left property now LL is playing up. Help please

CC
If the LL actually states that they are bad tenants that is slander or libel ( depending how he does it) which is what I think the OP was saying. Of course if he contacts them and says they left owing 745 rent that maybe different.

I do not believe there is any excuse for not protecting a deposit on an AST or periodic tenancy. There was a high court ruling that stated that every time a tenancy is rolled over it becomes a new tenancy and hence even where the original AST was prior to the introduction of the DPS it now has to be protected. I have been in my flat for 12 years and they have only just protected my deposit because of this ruling

I must also add that I have not seen a clause insisting on repairs to the outside of the property in a domestic lease, yes in a commercial one but not in a domestic one.

[Crazy council]

Re: Left property now LL is playing up. Help please

haha

Am sure the LL just meens he will describe them as bad tenants for not paying the last rent. And as an agent, you both rely on proper references and should always be honest on them yourself.

I do not believe there is any excuse for not protecting a deposit on an AST or periodic tenancy

Agreed, some LLs still think they can take the P,, but, lots and lots of crappy tenants are using the DPS to hassle landlords atm, and this is just going to make the market worse for tenants. Everyone thats paid a deposit but has been given notice for some reason, now threatens the LL with the DPS... ( the last 4 i have dealt with all did, muhahahahha 4 nill to me, )

edited -- added-----

I didnt meen to sound as pompous and direct there,,, and i really only get called in with the most difficult of tenancy's ( like you see sometimes on tv ),

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Left property now LL is playing up. Help please

If the tenancy was started after April 6th 2007 the deposit should have been protected. Having said that, there's a time and a place for everything and the tenant should have tacked this issue earlier on. In fact, it would even be possible to obtain compensation: http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_ad...nsation_claims

In pre-DPS times it was not uncommon not to pay the last month's rent precisely because it was so common not to get the deposit back. With the DPS, there's no excuse for not paying the last month. In this case the deposit wasn't protected, however, that issue should have been dealt with during the life of the tenancy. The landlord was wrong not to have protected the deposit but two wrongs don't make a right, that's the problem, and the landlord would be entitled to say they did not pay the rent for the last month.

[Crazy council]

Re: Left property now LL is playing up. Help please

Hi Fp

In pre-DPS times it was not uncommon not to pay the last month's rent precisely because it was so common not to get the deposit back

That usually just focused around individual LLs, and not agents, we ( from 1996 ) held all deposits in a client account ( a legal type of account ), and would not take on LLs that wanted to hold the deposit becuase that many of them used it like loans, the they would get caught out on the last months payment from the TT, we dealt with disputes very similar to how the DPS does it now,.

To any tenant, not paying your last months rent is a bad idea... Nowadays, references and account statements make so much difference, not only to you getting property, but being able to negotiate a better rent..... ( that happens a lot around here, rents get negotiated down by good tenants with good history )

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Left property now LL is playing up. Help please

Hi Fp

That usually just focused around individual LLs, and not agents, we ( from 1996 ) held all deposits in a client account ( a legal type of account ), and would not take on LLs that wanted to hold the deposit becuase that many of them used it like loans, the they would get caught out on the last months payment from the TT, we dealt with disputes very similar to how the DPS does it now,.

To any tenant, not paying your last months rent is a bad idea... Nowadays, references and account statements make so much difference, not only to you getting property, but being able to negotiate a better rent..... ( that happens a lot around here, rents get negotiated down by good tenants with good history )

Letting agents weren't always that good with deposits either from what I've heard, and that's not even confined to this country, it seems a bit of a universal problem. :ohwell: Agents they didn't use to make a big deal about not paying the last month. I did it with some letting agents around 10 years ago, I'd given my month's notice, they never bothered me asking for the rent and just told me to post the keys back to them. No inventory was done in my presence either before or after the tenancy.

[Crazy council]

Re: Left property now LL is playing up. Help please

Letting agents weren't always that good with deposits either from what I've heard

your right there, i see 4 large ones in our area collapse with no funds ( Deps missing, ) in the first 5 years i was doing it. Not all had stolen money, at least 2 lost control of there accounts systems and were paying LLs when the TTs hadn't paid rent or there payments had bounced. ( it wasn't as computerised back then ).


@stunner1901 your LL acted terrible over your notice, and, would have struggled to claim against your deposit with proof of specific damage or excessive wear, but, its hard to do a lot when you have left the property, unless you was maticulas about recording details. I would just be carfull that they dont leave you with a bad reference.

Maybe suggest to them that you felt under pressure to leave due to the in-proper way the LL had tried to give notice ( lol, only way to backdate a notice is to build the TARDIS ), and that any problems they have with the property should have been addressed properly to give you time to sort them.

That you withheld you last months due to that concern and the LLS actions over the notice, and they should take the deposit as full and final settlement of your tenancy, ( leaves you about £ 250 ish better of, and no marks against your name