Tenant left but never contacted Agent re deposit

[ALIEN1X]

Hello,

My fully furnished property is looked after by my agent.The tenant has checked out but has also breeched the tenancy agreement due to lost items not being pais for or replaced and damages to the internal wall.

So Iam holding the deposit, the agent as stakeholder. I informed my agent that the tenant is liable to pay x amount from the deposit for my losses, and for not settling any accounts,notify or provide a forwarding address to the utility services-powergen, thames water, BT, Council Tax etc,which tenant is responsible for as set out in the agreement.According to the agreement, the tenanat must imdediately inform the service providers before the check out ot just after.

Iam prepared to release the deposit with deducted charges,the tenant was informed in writing by the agent.However, it has been over 2 weeks and the agent has not heard anything from the tenant.

I know the tenant has breeched, otherwise I would not be doing this .

What can the tenant do to me?

If after some time I never hear from the tenant, am I entitled to keep all the deposit?

Regards
Alien

[Paul_f]

Read my article "Deposits & their Status " which you can access from the home page under articles - it will tell you a lot.
As the deposit is held as stakeholder you should obtain the tenant's permission before you spend any of the money.
Your agent cannot make any decisions on this, only give advice to both parties.
You must get estimates for replacement articles and/or cleaning and submit to the tenant (giving a 7 days time limit, after which you will carry on regardless).
You must take into consideration the age of any items damaged or missing and write-down their value accordingly.

[Jennifer_M]

One thing though, I doubt pretty much you can withold any money from the deposit because the tenant failed to inform utility companies that he's moved.

And the utility companies can't charge you either so you can't keep the bills money.

When a tenant moves out, take a meter reading with him and then you phone the utility companies saying "Mr X was a tenant of my property located at 1, Street Name, Town. He has now left and here is the meter reading".
Then whether he pays his bills or not isn't your problem.

[zoe]

you cannot charge just because the utilities are not up to date and you can't charge for not providing a forwarding address. Why would you beleive that you could as this does not actually represent a loss for you ?

[ALIEN1X]

I have notified all service providers that the former tenanat is responsible for the bills and forwarding address can be obtained via the letting agent act, due to data protection act. I was worried that I do not want to be lumbered with unpaid bills. The tenancy agreement states all bills are to be settled by check out time.That was only part of the reason to be on the safe side.

Im holding the deposit and made a reasonable claim via my letting agent as stake holderf or loss of items......all my good furniture, which the tenant failed to return back from protected storage which they was responsible for.A breach has accured.


I have not heard from the tenant for 2 weeks so Iam waiting for a response.

The agreement says the following ...

Should a dispute arise between landlord and tenant under any breach by the tenant of thier obligations of the agreement which is not settled within 90 days then the deposit will go to the landlord.
Should iether party bring proceedings then the agent as stake holders will hand the deposit over to the courts to make a decision.

So I have every right to fight, to get some contribution on what I have lost.

I have been more then reasonable in my claim and the tenant gets most portion of the deposit back.

So I have made my claim and if I dont hear from the tenanat under the specified time, surely I can keep the deposit?

Regards
Alien

[zoe]

1) if the utilities are in the tenants name there is no need for the LL to be involved.
2) you can't just have any terms you like in the contract.
3) keeping the deposit for any breach is not lawfull.

how much have you actually lost ?

[Dan]

Zoe is quite correct. Just because you wrote that paragraph into the agreement and your tenants signed it, doesn't mean that it is binding. If it is considered unfair the courts will disregard it.


Dan...

[ALIEN1X]

I have not kept the deposit, I am holding it like any other landlord till the tenanat agrees to contribute towards
my loss.Then the remainder of the deposit will go back to the tenant.

Any landlord would do what is rightfully correct, Im not trying to be nasty,just trying find out what Im entitled to.




It sounds to me that Landlords always loose and not entiled to anything.

I lost my all furniure which was ment to be returned back.Would you loose your items and just let it go?

If If Im not entiled to a fair contribution from the deposit, then its not worth charging rent, let the tenant do what they want with your property and walk free.

So no point in having a AST.

[Jennifer_M]

Alien1x, nobody's been talking about your lost furniture here ! What Zoe, Dan and I have said is that you can't withold the deposit for the question of utility companies/bills

Regarding your furniture, if an inventory exists - if it doesn't you can't withold the deposit for your furniture - and the furniture is listed and described but the tenant doesn't return the items then you can keep some money out of the deposit.
The amount depends on how much it would cost to replace the missing items BUT you can't charge them for the cost as new: if the furniture was used before then their value would have been lower than new, then if they have been in the house for say 3 years, the furniture would have lost even more value.

So if say you had a table in there that you paid £150 new, it was in the property 1 year prior to the tenant moving in so when they moved in the table was worth say £125 (if the table is expected to last 6 years, take £25 value off for each year).
The tenant lived there for say 2 years so the table would now be worth £75.
You can then reasonably charge the tenant £75 if they don't return the table.

And again this is only an example, I'm not saying these figures are accurate or reflect your own situation.

Oh and I forgot, if the deposit is held as stakeholder, you've got no right on it unless the tenant agrees to your charges or a court decides you can take any money out of it.

[ALIEN1X]

Hi,

I understand what everyone is trying to explain and advise.

The main reason for holding the deposit is the furniture. So if I have no power on the deposit then I dont think the tenant wants to pay anything. It has been 3 weeks so that means they walk free and I loose. Im only charging £350 out of £720 deposit for all furniture that was taken out.

Oh it is on the check out inventory as missing.

I will just have wait and see what happens, well I think unfurnished is best, keep the property plain and simple.

Regards
ALIEN1X