landlord disappeared with deposits - advice needed

[Paradigm^]

Since there are a few world-wise adults who've probably had some experience of this before or at least know what to do, I thought I'd give this a shot.

The story goes like this: We (four of us) recently moved out of our student flat in London. One of us moved out early, around four or five weeks ago. He got in touch with the landlord, said he was going, the landlord came round and had a look at his room, and everything was fine.

Two weeks ago, two more of us left. We couldn't get in touch with the landlord, either by e-mail (no reply) or by phone (a really weird tone, like engaged but with longer, more widely spaced beeps).

Now everyone has left and still nothing. And we still have over £700 worth of deposits to get back, each. I've sent emails and made phone calls and not managed to get through, and it's now over a week since the end of the contract, and still nobody's been in touch. I'm beginning to suspect we have a runner on our hands.

What's the next step? Talk to the police? Or a solicitor? £700 is a pretty large chunk of money and quite frankly I want it back. Does anyone have any ideas on how to go about this? All we have in terms of contact details is emails and phone numbers (and bank account numbers, I guess, if it gets as far as the police).

Thanks :(

[Smartie]

Sounds like the number is ringing abroad. He may well not live in the UK full time.
Presumably you have his address details on your contract?

Go round and visit him, or check his details are correct, get his landline number from BT.com etc. try to exhaust any other methods of contact before going legal - it'll cost you too much in the long run, and you need to verify his whereabouts to be able to send the papers to anyway.
I'd also do small claims rather than solicitor, as it'll cost you only £25 to submit.

If you're stuck, a quick chat with the local citizens advice will be able to help you out.

If he goes to inspect the property you MUST be there with him, otherwise he could do damage or make stuff up.

[Smokey]

Was it a company you were renting from or were you renting directly from the landlord? Basically what does the contract define as the landlord?

I agree with Smartie though, the citizen's advice bureau is there to help you with matters like this. They will have dealt with this before and know the laws.

[doctor_fruitbat]

It is a legal requirement for your deposit to be protected in a government authorised scheme, so it should at least be secure. If it isn't then he is being very naughty and you can rat him out to the authorities.

[malcolio]

I hope you've got a good contract that explicitly states the details of deposit etc, otherwise you might be screwed.

[B-52]

In short, never pay the last months rent. If the house is in good condition and you've not fallen into arrears with your rent then the safety deposit will cover it as that is what it's there for. Some landlords of student houses do run off with the security deposit. Some of my friends got stung by this.
Sadly there's little you can do about it as most small claims courts won't deal with a claim that small and the landlord will come up with a B.S. reason why they kept it.

[Destrukto]

I hope you've got a good contract that explicitly states the details of deposit etc, otherwise you might be screwed.

This.

If you do have the details, police.
And then send him a letter notifying you have contacted them and if he doesn't comply within a set number of days you are sorry, but will have to go to court and will hold him liable for all legal costs you incur.

It's amazing how quickly people will turn around at that point.

But be sure you have the deposit amount on paper, otherwise you basically are screwed if he denies it.

[Smartie]

In short, never pay the last months rent. If the house is in good condition and you've not fallen into arrears with your rent then the safety deposit will cover it as that is what it's there for. Some landlords of student houses do run off with the security deposit. Some of my friends got stung by this.
Sadly there's little you can do about it as most small claims courts won't deal with a claim that small and the landlord will come up with a B.S. reason why they kept it.

In short DON'T do this.
For a start you breach your contract by missing the final payment which means you have no recompense at any stage. Only a complete ARSE would do this, and would be done by immature idiots who don't really think things through. The law is on your side so use it to your advantage, don't abuse it instead.

If you're renting you as a tenant need to check the landlord you rent with. If you suspect any foul doing to rat on them. Check the internets against their name/ company for references. Do not accept any let without a contract and read it fully.

Finally, yes small claims will deal with it actually - anything less than £5000 will go through county court. There is no minimum limit.
Here's some info on ways to proceed
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/claims/index.htm
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/ex301.pdf

Do get your facts right, mr/mrs B-52, before ill-advising people who need correct information, not just garbled ill-thought rubbish.

[Tweekish]

Definately start with citizens advice a little bit of searching came up with this

Getting a deposit back at the end of a tenancy

If you paid a deposit to your landlord at the start of a tenancy as security for any rent arrears or damage to property, this should be returned at the end of the tenancy if the accommodation has been left in good condition and there are no arrears.

If your landlord refuses to return the deposit or makes deductions, you should check the terms of the tenancy agreement or the agreed inventory (if there was one) to see what the deposit was supposed to cover. In cases of damage to property, it will often be cheaper for you to make good the damage before your landlord comes to inspect the property than for your landlord to charge for the cost of getting repairs done.

If you paid the deposit before April 2007, and your landlord persists in refusing to return a deposit, you may have to use the small claims procedure in the county court to try and get it back. However, if you paid your deposit from 7 April 2007, your landlord must use a tenancy deposit protection scheme. This means your deposit is safeguarded and there are procedures not involving the court that can be used to sort out problems about the deposit at the end of the tenancy.

For more information about tenancy deposit schemes, see Tenancy deposits in Housing Fact Sheets.

If you’re considering court action to get your deposit back, you'll need the help of an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.

Housing Fact Sheets (http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/family_parent/housing/housing_fact_sheets.htm)

Nearest CAB (http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice)

[Paradigm^]

Thanks for your helps. Apparently one of my housemates has managed to get through to the landlord and leave a message on his phone - which means he was probably off on holiday and didn´t have the means to receive calls from abroad. Not letting us know about it is a bit silly, but it´s looking likely that things will work out ok from here on. Hopefully.

[Felix Barry]

Fingers crossed it'll work out.

I feel the need to share the knowlege I've acquired over the last 4 years of living in rented accommodation. So here are my handy tips for any of you first timers out there who don't want to get screwed by the landlord :eng101:

1) Always try to sign a lease

This may seem obvious, but the amount of times that this has proven handy for me can't be counted. A lease must contain legitimate contact information of all parties involved in the agreement i.e. landlords details and residents details (possibly including an alternate address e.g. parent's address).

This little piece of paper outlines ALL that you are entitled to by paying rent, along with all of the stuff you're not allowed do. It should also explicitly explain what the landlord's duties are. Make sure that it mentions what to do in event of unexpected events e.g. a leak or blocked drains.

If the landlord isn't willing to sign a lease then they aren't legit. Get their contact details before you agree to move in. I mean FULL name, FULL address and Telephone number. Otherwise, you'll be screwed over later on.

2) READ THE LEASE

Yet another obvious point, but a handy one none the less!

Take at least 24 hours to read over the lease presented to you, discuss anything that seems odd about it with a third party e.g. your parents. Note down any questions you have about the lease agreement e.g. What do you do in the event of repairs being needed on the house? Then the next day, before you finally sign the lease, go to see the landlord and bring someone along with you. I know you're probably wondering why I'm saying bring someone with you. It's basically so that the second person can hear what's being said also so that if you happen to forget to ask a question, THEY WILL!

Having a full knowledge of the tenancy agreement is vital! As I said earlier, it tells you exactly what you're entitled to and what you're not entitled to. Make sure you're happy with the lease before you sign!

3) Go to see the landlord in his/her humble abode

Use any excuse you like to see the landlord's house. I usually use the excuse of paying rent a day early to see where he/she lives. This is not an excuse to stalk your landlord, but knowing where he lives can be a handy nugget of info in the long run, especially when reclaiming your deposit! If the landlord is legitimate then they won't mind the fact that you called over to their house (unless it's unannounced).

This isn't the most necessary thing to do when renting a house, but it is something that can prove handy if something goes wrong e.g. the landlord skips on giving back the deposit.

4) Photograph EVERYTHING in the house

Before you move in and sign the lease, take one last look around the house. Use a decent digital camera to photograph EVERYTHING from the floor to the light fittings. And do the same at the end of the lease and compare the photo's. Note any damage that may be mentioned and do your best to fix it yourself as landlords have a way of getting the most expensive people in to fix the damage!

Also, if they provide you with an inventory list of what's in the house, then go over it yourself to make sure that everything on the list is actually there. I have been stung with this before where I was expected to replace a lamp that never existed in the first place, thankfully I had photo's to prove that it wasn't there the day before I moved in, so I didn't have to pay. But to avoid confrontations like that, look over the list and make sure everything mentioned is there and inform the landlord of any discrepancies.

5) Make sure you know (in some way) what the landlord's up to

As a tenant you have are perfectly entitled to call the landlord over any issue in the house. If he/she, for any reason, will be out of reach, then they should tell you. Why? If there is a problem that the landlord has to sort, you need to be able to contact him/her when it happens. At the very least you should know when they plan on going on holidays so you aren't panicking wondering where the fuck he/she could be.

6) The Deposit

If you're looking to get your deposit returned to you, you'll need to get in contact with the landlord about it at least a month before you move out. And keep reminding him/her every week until the day. This way, they'll have no reason to say "Well Felix never told me he was moving out!".

7) Keep a record of all your transactions in the house

Finally the most important thing. Keep a record of EVERY transaction between you and the landlord. Note down everything from a simple thing as a conversation to a big thing like organising repairs on something. Note down the topics covered in conversations between him/her, the time/date AND the people involved. And don't forget to not down the outcome of the conversation e.g. "Landlord agreed to take care of the roach problem within a week" or "Landlord said to sort out the roach problem myself and send the invoice to him to get it refunded". Note down the bills you paid and when you paid them. Note down EVERYTHING!

You may have noticed that the deposit gets mentioned an awful lot. That's because it's the fact that you'll be getting it back that results in you staying there. Someone mentioned before that the deposit can be used the pay back the final month's rent. There are some landlords who go by that rule, however bare in mind that if this the case then any damage to the house it'll be coming directly out of your pocket. So my recommendation is to get the deposit back IN FULL at the end of the lease, why? because you've lasted 12 months without that money, so if any damage is done and the landlord pays for it, it won't affect your pocket directly.

These are all things that take time and effort to organise, but ultimately it's beneficial in the long run. It may seem like a load of effort, but the amount of times that having the photo's and a record of everything has come in handy is unreal! The more information you have available the better your situation will be, so take the time to do all of the above and it'll work wonders!

Hope all of this is helpful! :D

[Sloth]

i would steal the flat.... somehow...