I am seeking assistance in resolving a situation where the landlord has deviated from the agreed terms and is unwilling to return our deposit without valid grounds.
The landlord claims we haven’t cooperated but this is not true, our cooperation in this matter has been evident throughout. We have documented exchanges that demonstrate the landlord’s failure to uphold her end of the mutually agreed terms.
In order to improve the quality of the property, we were prepared to invest £5000, an arrangement the landlord initially welcomed given her lack of funds for such improvements. The property’s subpar condition, including worn carpets, faded wall paint, old wallpaper, and nail holes, necessitated such an investment. To secure our commitment, we requested a minimum 2-3 years tenancy, a duration that would align with our investment. However, the landlord failed to include this essential detail in the contract. To our surprise, the lease agreement contained a contradictory 6-month break clause, putting our substantial investment at risk.
When we asked the landlord to change this she declined our application and hasn’t replied back to us with a week to what would be the move in date of the property.
Please can someone advise what we can do at this point?
We did a viewing of the property, after liking it we agreed with her on the day and she said that was fine with her and the longer the better was the words she used. So we gave the deposit to take the house out of the market, proceeded with referencing and after passing is when we were surprised with the agreement to which she didn’t even reply to us and simply put a message on open rent saying we did not co-operate and declined the application.
The whole process was very difficult, we had to keep messaging her in order to get response but she wouldn’t reply or answer our questions… The situation was a little different because of our investment to the property we needed her confirmation before proceeding with the purchasing of the materials and scheduling companies doing decorating and installation of carpets.
So the terms of having it for 2-3 years was definitely agreed before you gave deposit? If this is the case you have a right to refund provided you have not provided any false information or trying to change the agreed terms at all. It’s not wise for landlords to ever offer these terms.
How much is the rent? A LL can only take 1 weeks rent as a holding deposit. If you have paid a security deposit this must be returned, only the holding deposit can be forfeited.
Pursue this further with Openrent, they will contact LL.
Yes we did 100% and absolutely no false information or trying to change agreed terms. Well my wife had made the payment through open rent however the amount seems lower than a weeks rent. Rent was £1700 monthly and the holding deposit was £392.
Its exactly a weeks rent. Do you have anything in writing asking for a 2 or 3 year contract? An email or text message perhaps? You should probably appeal directky to Openrent if they took the deposit.
I sent a well structured email over to the Land Lord with open rent CC’d in the email with proof of what was agreed and she released the deposit back a couple of hours after!
Congratulations. With such people involving third party is the only way. Good for you that you didn’t invest your money into this property. It would have been a disaster.