Security Deposit

[gymcrazy]

We recently started renting somewhere and the agent was great until we had a few problems and they have now become unhelpful! Worried they may try and stitch us on our security deposit are there any measure we can take to stop this happening? any advice?

[malagaman2005]

I can't really comment on your individual case but we, and a lot of others I've heard, didn't get any deposit back when we quit our rental property even though we gave the required notice and there were no faults/damage to it when we left it. It appears to be common practice here for landlords not to return deposits and the procedure to get it back lawfully would probably be costly and time consuming so therefore nobody seems to bother.

[Retro P]

This (unjustified retention of deposit) almost happened to a friend of my who, unbeknown to the landlord is a particularly hard nosed individual who, believe me does not take **** from anyone.
He had rented a place in Riviera del sol and was happily using it, paying rent on time etc with no problems, after a period of time and a few "odd" comments he became aware that the landlord was something of a scally and had "previous" for not returning deposits, here's what he did:

He said nothing of his newly acquired information to the landlord and let the lease run it's course giving the required months notice, three days before he was due to leave he stripped the house of anything of value and things that are difficult and costly to replace, the day before he was due to leave he rang the landlord and said that the place was now free and he was awaiting his deposit back.

The landlord rang him about one hour later and said he wanted all his furniture and electricsl goods back, my mate told him of course, I was just keeping it as a security deposit till I get my money back, my mate won of course, sometimes you have to fight fire with fire!

[Colinm]

Nice one, I like it.
I suppose you should 'legalise' it, by sending a letter to the agent/owner saying that you are holding some of his goods up to the approx value of the deposit, and will return them to him when the deposit is returned.

[malagaman2005]

What I forgot to add was that as we had been told by our letting agent that the owner would not be returning our deposit, we 'retained' our last months rental and didn't settle a couple of bills with him so that instead of losing 2000 euros (2 months rental deposit) we lost about 700 euros, not great but better than losing the whole amount. We still don't know why he retained it but we had been renting from him for nearly 2 years and not one late payment on anything.

[gymcrazy]

Great idea of keeping the landlords furniture, classic!

[Beachdragon]

malagaman, we will be doing the same thing. our landlord has told us he will be retaining our deposit when we leave even though no damage to the house, we are also going to withhold a months rent and some bills. we will also lose some money but not the whole 2000 euros. i hate doing it but i know we have cared for his house, anything that has gone wrong we have fixed it ourselves, he has never forked out a penny to fix plumbing, electrics etc despite numerous problems. if he gets **** i shall just ask him if he has paid tax on his rental income as i know for a fact he hasn't!

[julian]

with you lot around it´s no wonder that the landlords ask for a deposit, this is a chicken and egg situation !!

[Beachdragon]

julian, i know what you mean we havent done it yet and its not somthing that sits easy with me but im not in a situation that i can afford to just kiss goodbye to 2,000 euros. if we had damaged the house in some way i could understand the retention of desposit but the opposite is true, we have improved the house, made the garden much nicer and done some decorating. he has never fixed any of the problems in the house, some of which were quite serious and in the extreme could be fatal (i.e pool light hanging off) we have done them ourselves at considerable expense. i know the landlords have to protect themselves and i know there are bad tenants but landlords shouldnt tar us all with the same brush. you tell me how to get my deposit back legally and i ll gladly do it, you have always made alot of sense to me in previous postings and i value your opinion.

[julian]

why don´t you send the owner a burofax telling him that on the date of the expiry of the contract you will return the keys and leave the property at the same time as he returns the deposit in full as you are leaving the property in perfect condition and with all bills paid.The last thing an owner wanst is someone inside a property who he can´t get out, remember that if he tries to enter the property or tries to force you out you can call the police on the spot.

[Beachdragon]

yes i think thats a good idea in theory, quite happy to give it a go!

[Laslomas]

Beachdragon, did you get the rental contract privately, or through one of the numerous Real Estate Agencies? If through an agency I would go back to them and ask them to sort it for you, after all they will have had their payout on the rental. If the landlord wants another tenant from them. they need to know what he is up to.

[tjtops]

This is indeed a very common problem...but what worried me was the amounts quoted...surely the norm when starting a rental is 3 months' money...1 month to the agent, 1 month rent in advance and 1 month as 'security deposit'? Therefore the thing to do surely is simply stay on the extra month at the end of the time, thus negating the deposit???

[julian]

surely it is best to keep within the law and do things properly, at least that way if later there are problems you are in the right. you all seem to be looking for the wrong way of doing things always presumimg that things will go wrong before they do ( mind you, that seems to be something the english are good at in all walks of life !!)

[tjtops]

Julian...all I can say is you must have a very well-fitting pair of rose tinted specs!
And it's not a question of 'looking to do things the wrong way', it's called covering your back aka surviving in an often hostile environment. Just as in the UK, attitudes (and behaviour) differ from one area to another, sometimes with very good cause. It helps to be street-wise at least!

[gus]

The interesting thing here is that this thread has developed from a "fear" that the agent MAY try to withhold a deposit - no evidence in fact that they have or will.

You could always give them the benefit of the doubt and expect that they will, indeed, return your deposit assuming you have met all the agreed terms of your lease?

Gus

[julian]

I agree Gus, al that will happen in the end is that the owner will end up taking you to court, and he will be in the right and win the case. You can´t go through life doing things the wrong way just in case doing it the right way goes wrong. havnt you noticed in life that if you expect things to go wrong..then they will, how about a bit of positive thinking, you´d be surprised that things will start to go better !!!

[gymcrazy]

Yes your right its only a fear of them keeping the deposit, its just that a lot of people have tlaked about agents keeping deposit for no reason whatsoever and they way they have dealt with problems we have had has not encouraged me anymore so I just wanted to know if there was anyway we can try and avoid this problem legally? we have inventorys etc dont know if its worth taking pictures etc but then they could be taken any date i suppose.

[julian]

you can bring a notary to the house to take pictures and certify the date tec..but you are getting into costs and hassles that are rather over the top for something that may never happen,I would just send the burofax as I said before, to state that on a certain date you will return the keys and leave at the same moment as you receive the deposit.

[Beachdragon]

my landlord has told me HE WILL be witholding my deposit with no reason why. it is a private contract so no comeback with an agency. infact he is an estate agent and runs his own business. he is well known for being abit of a cad (to be polite).