Letting Agent Rip Off, GRrrrrr

I should probably be in Grievances- but we just decided to talk to our letting agent and inform them that when we move out in October, we will need them to come by before the end of the tenancy to ensure they are happy with condition of the property and that we will need the return of our deposit expedited.

We paid £875 up front, plus £450 rent in advance, they are now telling us we are only due £675 back as £200 is an "admin" and "finder's fee" charge!! There is nothing in our paperwork/contract about this, they didn't tell us and I have two receipts  for the monies held against the deposit (one for £100 which reserved the flat and a further £1225)

I am SO angry, when I tried explaining that they did not tell us this and it was unacceptable to suddenly withhold it, he hung up on me. They are not with ARLA or anything, they are local, so this is probably normal behaviour for them.

Can someone tell me why I shouldn't withhold their rent and then pay them the difference? I have never behaved that way in my life, but boy am I tempted.  Even the actual landlord doesn't trust them. 

If it's not mentioned in your paperwork, you don't have to pay it.  The fact that he hung up on you after you called him on it is horrid -- he probably hasn't been questioned on it before.  I certainly wouldn't let them keep £200!  Either withhold the rent or head to a CAB to see what they say.

Could you talk to the landlord?  Perhaps if he threatens to take away his business, they'll start doing things on the up-and-up!

I agree. Withhold the rent.  We had to pay our letting agent a non refundable fee of £80 but it was clearly stated and was separate from the deposit.

Letting agents are a pain!  In fact I was in a fight with mine only yesterday!  I went straight to the Citizens Advice Bureau about it.  The problem I am having is not the same as yours, but it does have to do with *vague* verbage in my tenancy agreement that I think they are taking advantage of.

Go to CAB and get some advice.  http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

Probably not a good idea to withhold the rent - as that would give them a reason to withhold more of your money.  Probably best to do this the legal way - even if it sucks! Check with CAB first and they can advise you how to proceed.

Probably not a good idea to withhold the rent - as that would give them a reason to withhold more of your money. 

 And give you a "blip" on your credit report, which could come back to haunt you later........I agree with Icicle, contact your local CAB.

In our case it was our landlord who was withholding our deposit monies - even though we'd left the place cleaner than it was when we rented it!

I met with our local CAB and on their advice, we filled out the Small Claims forms and sent him a copy and said "This gets filed Monday unless you release our money."

We had a cheque the next day.

Let them know YOU know what you're talking about.  Nothing scares bullies like knowledge!  Good luck.

I've a feeling we'll be going through the same thing sooner or later, our letting agent is holding a 500 quid deposit. I know in the States they allow for "normal wear and tear" IE: paint dulling, carpets ageing etc.....the radiators have left a somewhat streaky dark color on the walls behind them but there's no way I'm forking over any money to have the place re-painted now or before we leave. I've even put off putting up pictures because I know we'll be expected to patch every small nail hole we make.

It's common practice among the students I work w/to w/hold rent from robber baron landlords and letting agents.  Never seems to stop them from getting other flats or damages their credit.  Besides, you'll be leaving the country  .

  Besides, you'll be leaving the country  .

If thats the case and I thought I was getting ripped off, I'd just hat up without paying the last months rent then the chase is on, maybe even the last 2 months if 1 was'nt enough to recoup my money. It'd take them months before they got you to court and by that time you'd be long gone and hard to get in touch with

If you pay your rent through Direct Debit then go to your bank and stop it, thats easily enough done.

I think I'd call CAB and try to get some help. These people CLEARLY know they're in the wrong (or why would they have hung up on you!) and I'll bet a tiny bit of legal pressure would change the whole scenario.... I'm a big scardey cat about doing things like withholding rent - it was in our lease that that's illegal and so even though we were tempted at one point at our old house, we decided against it.

Call CAB.

With holding your rent isn't illegal. 

I'm guessing you're not going to have time to do the Small Claims thing before you leave the country.  If you can get someone from CAB or similar to speak to the letting agent they might be able to sort it out for you, otherwise I would still say withold the rent (well,  the portion of it they are trying not to give back to you).

Firstly - thank you for letting me explode a little

Secondly - I missed the deadline to be able to withhold rent (enough to make back what we would lose if they turned funny over the whole deposit- it's paid by DD and it went out yesterday, I was too late to cancel the instruction. This means next mths rent is only £450.00, so withholding that won't do me any good- but I got so mad about it, I did decide to do that (it's not my in my nature at all, I am all about a proper paper trail and being beyond polite and diplomatic following the letter of the law, so I have legal recourse- I mean my last landlord actually waived the mandatory cleaning fee and wrote me a lovely letter thanking me for leaving our flat in such wonderful condition and I had a dog, they also offered to be a reference for me any time I needed it).

Legally I need to find out if the following are true- that even though the agent holds the deposit they do so on behalf of the landlord and it is actually the landlord's responsibility to pay it back- this was on the ARLA
site.

And....if I can submit a small claims er "claim" and leave some kind of power of attorney here to act on my behalf (I keep thinking of all the landlords abroad that rent out properties and hope there is some provision for this).

My main concern is if they now get funny and try to cut into the main £675 deposit with ridiculous claims about the property. 

So, if anyone has any info about that kind of thing, please come back to me, in the meantime, husband will head to CAB soon as he can. I also have 30 mins free legal advice with my Union at work, so I shall make good use of that.

I have a load of useful links to put here if anyone else ever finds this thread and finds it useful, even if I don't sort them out, it will be good to have the info available for everyone. There are free services from a few places I found out last night whilst surfing.

Thanks again though......It was my first experience of "OMFG - I am telling UKY" !!!!!

Community Legal Service direct

http://www.clsdirect.org.uk/legalhelp/tele_services.jsp?lang=en
Call 0845 345 4 345 for legal help and advice

Get free initial advice from a qualified legal adviser about benefits and tax credits, debt, education, housing or employment between 9am 5pm weekdays (if you call outside office hours, just leave a message and you will be called back)
If you qualify for legal aid you can get further help with your case by phone and post
Order legal information leaflets 
Find quality local advice services for other types of problems 
Listen to recorded messages about common legal problems 24 hours a day

Shelter
http://england.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-1010.cfm

Lots of quality info on the website and they also offer a their service via e-mail- I sent a query at about 8 am this morning and there was a reply by tonight, but they say it can take up to 3 days.

Shelter provides a free, national telephone advice line staffed by trained housing advisers. We have helped thousands of people, from finding them a place to sleep to suggesting how to handle mortgage arrears. Ring free on 0808 800 4444. Our lines are open seven days a week from 8am to midnight.


*Celtic- there is some good info on the above links for you - about what they can deem as "reasonable" wear and tear- hth.  Good Luck.

In our case, the agent held the monies, but couldn't release them without the sayso of the landlord.  We got a PERFECT check-out inspection.  So we knew it wasn't the agent, but the landlord being a real jerk.  That's why we filled out the Small Claims paperwork aimed at him, and posted it to his home, not care of the agent.  Scared him quite a bit, I'd say, as we got our cheque ASAP.  AND it cleared! (We were worried about that bit...)