Renting / Deposits

Scam

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Scam

Soldato
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Whats the deal with deposits if you are going to stay in the same property for a second year? Should you pay another deposit?

We paid a £125 deposit when we moved into our student house, and we stayed for a second year. When we re-signed they tried to get us to pay another deposit of the same amount, but we refused (assuming they were money-grabbing).

Now we've moved out and got the remnants of our deposit.. £7.50 :rolleyes:

Half of that seems to have been taken off for not paying the second deposit :confused:
 
Scam said:
Whats the deal with deposits if you are going to stay in the same property for a second year? Should you pay another deposit?

We paid a £125 deposit when we moved into our student house, and we stayed for a second year. When we re-signed they tried to get us to pay another deposit of the same amount, but we refused (assuming they were money-grabbing).

Now we've moved out and got the remnants of our deposit.. £7.50 :rolleyes:

Half of that seems to have been taken off for not paying the second deposit :confused:
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Was it a second deposit or a management charge?

If you didn't move out you shouldn't have to pay the deposit again (unless they returned your original deposit first)
 
Normally they don't ask for one. If we'd have stopped in the same place we wouldn't have had to pay a second, but we left because they were pathetic.

£125 is laughable, though. Mine have been £250 and £275 and that's just for Hyde Park, Leeds! Haven't got the first one (or however much) back yet.
 
If you are signing a new contract for the second term (with a summer gap I presume in between) it is likely that you'll be asked to provide a second deposit. This is common.

It is also a tactic by the landlord to cover his\her ass by having access to double the deposit to cover damage. This speakes volumes about the Landlords mentality.

I'd play them at their game and request a full iteniry and receipts for all costs deuducted from the original deposit. It's a shame, but there is a careful balancing act between what is right - and having to maintain a relationship with you landlord.

EDIT: The two contracts are independent, they can't deduct from the 1st deposit anything relating to the 2nd.

BTW, I'm a landlord ;)
 
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I've moved out now btw. We moved out this summer.

The first contract started in July '04 until July '05 and it was renewed for July '05 to July '06. So there was no summer break at all, it was just a renewal. So we didnt think it was fair to pay another deposit.

The deposit we paid in the beginning was £125 and we've each got back £7.50 of it (now that we've moved out).

I'm not sure if it helps but on the sheet/letter they sent it says:

Deducted: £55.00 -- Extra deposit not paid for resigning
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Just to make it clear, they didnt hassle us for the second deposit. They asked for it and we argued it out with them and they accepted that we wouldnt pay it because we're staying on.
 
I've resigned plenty of contracts, never heard of a second deposit. I always thought it was for damage or unpaid bills, why should it double in the second year?
 
Student Landlords take the mick with deposits in most cases, As a student we improved most of our houses (Painted in Landlord's Colours, New kitchen floor) and still landlords tried to steal money off us!

In the end we took to just not paying the last months rent (Which is a legal right if you have good reason to think the landlord will skank you) and photographing the place the day we moved in and the day we moved out to prove we hadn't trashed anything.
 
a1ex2001 said:
Student Landlords take the mick with deposits in most cases, As a student we improved most of our houses (Painted in Landlord's Colours, New kitchen floor) and still landlords tried to steal money off us!

In the end we took to just not paying the last months rent (Which is a legal right if you have good reason to think the landlord will skank you) and photographing the place the day we moved in and the day we moved out to prove we hadn't trashed anything.
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Much as I agree with withholding money if there if you have not damaged the house if you dont think youll get your money back, you have no right to do it.
 
*sigh*

It seems that because they were expecting half the original deposit again when we renewed the contract, they took that off the sum of our first rent payment for the second year.

So the first rent payment of the second year was £55 cheaper than the rest, and they've now decided to get that £55 back. :mad:

What with my bank charging me £170 from our joint/house account for going 60p overdrawn (and idiot companies trying to take out direct debits afterwards), now this, and the fact no one will give a graduate a friggin' temp job stacking shelves i'm getting mightily pee'd off today :mad:

Scumbags!!
 
Scam said:
Whats the deal with deposits if you are going to stay in the same property for a second year? Should you pay another deposit?

We paid a £125 deposit when we moved into our student house, and we stayed for a second year. When we re-signed they tried to get us to pay another deposit of the same amount, but we refused (assuming they were money-grabbing).

Now we've moved out and got the remnants of our deposit.. £7.50 :rolleyes:

Half of that seems to have been taken off for not paying the second deposit :confused:
Click to expand...

if it said deposit then you should get it back , asuming if you paid everything, if they say manage fees but you were never told, or it isnt in the written in the contract then they cant charge you for it, its illegal, lots of small agencies they do take this approach to keep your deposit.

Deposit you only give once no matter if you choose to stay another year and you get it back at the end off the contract or when you leave.
they are ripping you off if i were you i would go to the su or cab with the copy of the contract.

Thats why i never pay my last months rent for ripoff landlords, and its best never to pay your last months rent it will take them more than a month you kick you.

Go back there and demand your deposit back tell them you will be seeking legal action via the su or cab, they will try and scare you by saying something like well the house was in a mess, what you could do it this way go back ask them why they kept the money, if they say it was only for management fees ask them to put that in writing make sure the date is after you moved out, once you recieve that tell them you were not told of this at the start and its not in the contract you will be seeking legal action via the cab (now you have proof the deposit was kept for management fees) and not for mess or damage to the property.
 
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