Previous housemate withholding deposit

SchrodingersCat

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could offer guidance or advice to me with regards to the following situation.

First off, a little background. I moved into a three bedroom house in Belfast in September 2013. There were three tenants, one had moved out, and I was joining the other two (tenant A and . Tenant A, who advertised the room, asked me to pay him the deposit of £250, which I did. I paid the monthly rent directly to the landlord.

Fast forward to the end (29th) of October. I notified the landlord that I would be leaving on the 15th of November. They had no issue. On the same day I notified Tenant A of the same and that I would be requiring the return of the deposit. They also had no issue with this. I agreed to pay the rent up until the end of November.

On the day of my leaving, I asked tenant A for the deposit. I was told that they did not have it, but that they would get it to me. When I enquired again at the end of November I received the same response: they did not have it, but would get it to me.

Finally, after inquiring to Tenant A again in mid December, I was told that I would not be receiving it through them. They told me that Tenant B had not given them a deposit when they moved in: as such, I should get it from them. I was told not to contact them in future.

Tenant B has responded to say that they do not have it, but will get it to me. However, I am getting impatient. As it is now two months since I first asked for the return of the deposit, I would hate to have to go through a two month wait again especially with the possibility of never getting it. In particular I am annoyed with Tenant A who it looks like has spent my deposit, and passed the buck onto Tenant B.

I understand that there is an added complication here in that the deposit hasnt been paid directly to the landlord. Also, from my own experience, he has been very hands off with dealing with the house.

Unfortunately, I made a naive mistake of not asking for a receipt when I paid the deposit. However, I do have the correspondence (emails, texts, facebook) of where they have said that they would get it back to me. I am contemplating going to the police and seeking advice from Threshold, but as this occurred while I was in the north, I am unsure of the steps to take.

As such, I was wondering if anyone was in a similar situation or can offer advice on:
- how I can resolve this
- if it cannot be resolved amicably who do I go to
- Who are the Northern equivalent of Threshold
- if it comes to it, what is the procedure for applying through the small claims court?


Thanks! :-)

athtrasna

SchrodingersCat wrote: »

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could offer guidance or advice to me with regards to the following situation.

First off, a little background. I moved into a three bedroom house in Belfast in September 2013. There were three tenants, one had moved out, and I was joining the other two (tenant A and . Tenant A, who advertised the room, asked me to pay him the deposit of £250, which I did. I paid the monthly rent directly to the landlord.

Fast forward to the end (29th) of October. I notified the landlord that I would be leaving on the 15th of November. They had no issue. On the same day I notified Tenant A of the same and that I would be requiring the return of the deposit. They also had no issue with this. I agreed to pay the rent up until the end of November.

On the day of my leaving, I asked tenant A for the deposit. I was told that they did not have it, but that they would get it to me. When I enquired again at the end of November I received the same response: they did not have it, but would get it to me.

Finally, after inquiring to Tenant A again in mid December, I was told that I would not be receiving it through them. They told me that Tenant B had not given them a deposit when they moved in: as such, I should get it from them. I was told not to contact them in future.

Tenant B has responded to say that they do not have it, but will get it to me. However, I am getting impatient. As it is now two months since I first asked for the return of the deposit, I would hate to have to go through a two month wait again especially with the possibility of never getting it. In particular I am annoyed with Tenant A who it looks like has spent my deposit, and passed the buck onto Tenant B.

I understand that there is an added complication here in that the deposit hasnt been paid directly to the landlord. Also, from my own experience, he has been very hands off with dealing with the house.

Unfortunately, I made a naive mistake of not asking for a receipt when I paid the deposit. However, I do have the correspondence (emails, texts, facebook) of where they have said that they would get it back to me. I am contemplating going to the police and seeking advice from Threshold, but as this occurred while I was in the north, I am unsure of the steps to take.

As such, I was wondering if anyone was in a similar situation or can offer advice on:
- how I can resolve this
- if it cannot be resolved amicably who do I go to
- Who are the Northern equivalent of Threshold
- if it comes to it, what is the procedure for applying through the small claims court?


Thanks! :-)

Perhaps a UK site can give more appropriate advice?

wyndham

SchrodingersCat wrote: »

- Who are the Northern equivalent of Threshold

Think it's the Housing Executive:

http://www.housingadviceni.org/

Chloris

The first house I moved into was with two of my friends, and a third was moving back home with his parents as he wanted to save money. He asked me for the deposit and I told him that he should ask the land lady for it upon leaving. I told him I'd pay a deposit to the land lady directly only.

The reasons were that I didn't know what condition the house was in when they moved there, only the way it was when I arrived, so the deposit might be retained for damage I didn't cause. He was a bit annoyed but everyone else I spoke to assured me I was right to decline him.

As it happened, he never pursued it with the land lady and the tenant who dealt with her was too spineless to confront her for it when we all moved out. It turned out the three lads had just taken the money from their business to pay for the deposit anyway, so it was scarcely even really his money I would have been giving him.

Sorry for that slightly unrelated but still relevant anecdote. I'd recommend you ask a solicitor if you know one, but I think you definitely have the law on your side. You'd definitely have a case in the small claims court.

the world wonders

SchrodingersCat wrote: »

Tenant A, who advertised the room, asked me to pay him the deposit of £250, which I did.
...
Tenant B has responded to say that they do not have it, but will get it to me.

Stop wasting your time with tenant B, he/she does not owe you anything. Write a letter to tenant A giving them a week to repay your money or you will file a case against them in small claims court.

- if it comes to it, what is the procedure for applying through the small claims court?

http://www.courtsni.gov.uk/en-gb/aboutus/usefulforms/smallclaims/Pages/SmallClaims.aspx