return of deposit for flat rental: solicitors letter?

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finbarrcork

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I was staying in an apartment recently and had paid a months deposit. This was for only 4 monthes and 1 of the girls had signed the lease. I moved out but only gave 3 weeks notice, in turn I expected to get 3 weeks deposit back which was fair enough. Now she was left with an empty room for 2 monthes as she could not get someone in time so she is trying it on saying I only gave a weeks notice and is refusing to hand over any money. I am due to call over tonight to discuss as she will not answer her phone and has become uncontactable all of a sudden. If she is still being uncoperative tonight I am going to threaten her with a solicitor but don't really want to spend 50 quid to get my 200 quid back, what would a strongly worded solicitors letter entail?

 
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Re: solicitors letter

I don't think you can get your deposit back on a pro-rata basis, you didn't fulfil your part of the agreement so you loose your deposit......methinks!
 
Re: solicitors letter

Small claims court would be a less expensive option if you believe that there is a case to answer.
 
Re: solicitors letter

How much rent where you paying if the deposit was only €200??

Very messy especially if you had no written agreement. You should always give your notice in writing confirming dates etc. Sorry , i know it is a bit late for this now!
 
Re: solicitors letter

rent was 265 a month, so I had only expected 3 weeks back but she's decided to act d bitch so the only option I have is to put the fright of god up her....
 
When you moved in did she know that is was going to be short term?

In my experience when someone wants to move out of a house share it is normally up to them to replace themselves. They then take the deposit that the new tenant gives.
 
she is just the lead tenant.

she knew it was short term and it was never up to me to replace myself
 
What is the notice period on the lease, if you didn't fulfill this then you aren't entitled to your deposit back.

I think she will call you bluff regarding solictors letter, then as you have signed nothing it will be very hard to prove that you paid anything at all. Have you a rent book or receipt for the deposit?
 
no don't have anything written unfortunately. have phone records to prove that I rang the landlord to let him know (the same day I told her) I was moving out but thats all.
 
Is it not the landlords responsibilty to deal with your deposit then?
 
Found myself in a similar situation a few years ago, don't think you have much of a chance of getting anything back (through legal means or otherwise). Cut your losses-and bide your time (you may have your revenge someday!). Put it down as a lesson learned-never trust anyone!
 
Re: solicitors letter

Sahara01 said:
Small claims court would be a less expensive option if you believe that there is a case to answer.
Click to expand...
Small Claims court can't be used to claim against another consumer. It is for consumer vs business cases.
 
It might possibly be argued that she is acting as an agent for the landlord. Threaten to take the landlord to court and he might start to put pressure on the one holding back the deposit. Also threaten to report the problem to the new Residential Tenancies Board. All landlords are required since September 2004 to register themselves and each individual tenancy with the Board on pain of fines if they do not. I used that threat recently with a landlord and it had the desired effect (as most have not registered!)
 
I think the long and short of this one is that you don't have a leg to stand on.
You cant prove that you gave notice. All you can prove is that you made a phone call.
You have nothing in writing to say you gave notice.
You've pulled out of your This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language the fact that you should have got 3 weeks deposit back :)

I dont think you'll get a penny. Her side of this is that she was probably left paying rent for you for 2 months (rightly or wrongly) and is at more of a loss than you are, so i bet you wont get a penny from her.

Solicitors letters aren't worth the (expensive) paper they are written on unless you follow through with them which is even more expensive. I think most people realise this and ignore them.
 
Have never heard of getting a percentage of your deposit back based on the amount of notice you give - in my experience it`s all or nothing
I think you are being a bit green here - when entering into an agreement such as this ALWAYS make sure you have put pen to paper to confirm what is / is not expected of you and your landlord.
A solicitor`s letter will do nothing. Don`t put your faith in the moral decency of the person you are living with as more often than not you will find that they don`t share the same viewpoint.
A cheap lesson well learned.
 
You should consider yourself lucky, finbarrcork. If you HAD actually signed a lease for 4 months and moved out before it was over, the landlord is entitled to take rent off you until the time is up. Unless hes a nice guy and accepts the notice and agrees to let you out of the contract.

I feel sorry for your ex-housemate whose been left cleaning up after you.
 
hold on black pearl a second don't get stroppy with me over this, she had no problem when I moved out but obviously got brave when I was gone for a month. we agreed on getting 3 weeks back. I probably don't have much to go on here except fair play but there is such a thing as karma and what goes around comes around
 
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