[Czech Republic] Didn't Get Deposit Back, Getting Sent Electric Bills

Tc1234

I was living in the Czech Republic last year and I recently got emailed a bill for electricity saying I have to pay it.

I sent back keys and left on august 31st.

I didn't get my deposit back which was about 400 euro.

I did not damage the apartment.

I paid my rent on time every month while I was there and on time.

I left a hoover, microwave, internet router and a blender worth about 400, I am sure she left these there for the new tenants.

I'm asking her to either use my deposit to pay the bill or wire me my deposit so I can pay myself.

Am I in the right or wrong ? Am I entitled to my deposit back ?

In the email it says they are about to take legal action ?

Thanks

RossieMan

Why did you leave? did you have a lease? was it up?
Were the bills from when you were living there?

Too many questions need answering.

You leaving your stuff there is your own fault, they're not worth anything in this context.

GerardKeating

Tc1234 wrote: »

I was living in Europe last year and I recently got emailed a bill for electricity saying I have to pay it.

I sent back keys and left on august 31st.

I didn't get my deposit back which was about 400 euro.

I did not damage the apartment.

I paid my rent on time every month while I was there and on time.

I left a hoover, microwave, internet router and a blender worth about 400, I am sure she left these there for the new tenants.

I'm asking her to either use my deposit to pay the bill or wire me my deposit so I can pay myself.

Am I in the right or wrong ? Am I entitled to my deposit back ?

In the email it says they are about to take legal action ?

Thanks

• Did you give the require notice when you left?
• Did you close the account with Utility Provider?

Tc1234

RossieMan wrote: »

Why did you leave? did you have a lease? was it up?
Were the bills from when you were living there?

Too many questions need answering.

You leaving your stuff there is your own fault, they're not worth anything in this context.

I left because my 12 month lease was up, she just called me and told me to mail the keys and there was no hostility.

The bill was from when I was living there.

I have no issue with the bill its just the deposit I need back so I can pay it.

Tc1234

GerardKeating wrote: »

• Did you give the require notice when you left?
• Did you close the account with Utility Provider?

No notice was required as my lease was up she just rang me and told me to send back the keys which I did promptly.

The utility account runs through them to me, they just give the name of the new tenant each time someone moves in. There is no need to open/close anything.

Greenmachine

Tc1234 wrote: »

I left because my 12 month lease was up, she just called me and told me to mail the keys and there was no hostility.

The bill was from when I was living there.

I have no issue with the bill its just the deposit I need back so I can pay it.

What country was this in? Did the landlord notify you of any deduction from your deposit. Your deposit is completely separate from your responsibility to pay your utility bills. Did you sign the contract for the electricity, or was it transferred into the landlords name? Did you ask to be disconnected. At least in Ireland this will result in a re-connection charge, which is your responsibility.

irelandrover

Tc1234 wrote: »

I left a hoover, microwave, internet router and a blender worth about 400, I am sure she left these there for the new tenants.

My experience of renting in Europe is you are not allowed leave items like this in the apartment. If you leave them behind then it is taken from teh deposit to dispose of them.

Tc1234

Greenmachine wrote: »

What country was this in? Did the landlord notify you of any deduction from your deposit. Your deposit is completely separate from your responsibility to pay your utility bills. Did you sign the contract for the electricity, or was it transferred into the landlords name? Did you ask to be disconnected. At least in Ireland this will result in a re-connection charge, which is your responsibility.

The Czech Republic,

I never had to sign anything for electricity just one rental contract.

Nothing mentioned about my deposit.

Tc1234

irelandrover wrote: »

My experience of renting in Europe is you are not allowed leave items like this in the apartment. If you leave them behind then it is taken from teh deposit to dispose of them.

I doubt she does that anyway because there was a storage room in the apartment filled with past tenants stuff, even if she did deduct it from deposit it wouldn't matter as my deposit is much larger than the electric bill.

RossieMan

Why didn't you sort this out when leaving? seems like a very strange situation to leave without a deposit.

Tc1234

RossieMan wrote: »

Why didn't you sort this out when leaving? seems like a very strange situation to leave without a deposit.

I left in July 1st after my college was finished, but my lease wasn't finished until august 31st, I presumed that my deposit would cover all that I owed her.

I didn't check out because I was already paying for july and august thought I might visit over the summer for a holiday and would need a place to stay.

RossieMan

thats not what your deposit is for. its for damages.

I'd imagine shes going to make you pay the bill before returning your deposit, if she does at all.

AndonHandon

Communicate with her and receive assurances regarding your deposit before you decide to pay the electricity bill. Ask her if she could use some of the deposit to post over the blender.

conorh91

OP you're essentially asking about Landlord & Tenant Law of another jurisdiction and a legal system which is very different to ours, both in terms of its substantive law and its procedures.

On a purely practical level, the best thing to do is engage, and pay for a bill you have run up. But i doubt anyone can state with any certainty the nature of your rights and obligations.

AndonHandon

conorh91 wrote: »

OP you're essentially asking about Landlord & Tenant Law of another jurisdiction and a legal system which is very different to ours, both in terms of its substantive law and its procedures.

On a purely practical level, the best thing to do is engage, and pay for a bill you have run up. But i doubt anyone can state with any certainty the nature of your rights and obligations.

If you don't think you will get your deposit back, don't pay the bill OP. She won't come after you for it and I would not bother paying it if she is stealing your deposit.

But do engage with her to see if there is any issue with the deposit.

davo10

AndonHandon wrote: »

If you don't think you will get your deposit back, don't pay the bill OP. She won't come after you for it and I would not bother paying it if she is stealing your deposit.

But do engage with her to see if there is any issue with the deposit.

She is not "stealing anything", she is retaining it until utilities are paid. OP it sounds like you did a runner without paying what you owe on utilities. As stated the deposit is for damage not for rent/utilities/disposal of unwanted goods. It would have been easier and wiser to settle everything before you moved out, presumably leaving was not sudden and a surprise, you had time to do this. If your electricity bill is less than your deposit, I think this is gone.

Did you definitely pay your rent up to the day your lease ended? It seems odd to me that you paid for a month that you weren't there yet didn't pay your utilities. Or did you leave the deposit en lieu of last months rent?

Tc1234

davo10 wrote: »

She is not "stealing anything", she is retaining it until utilities are paid. OP it sounds like you did a runner without paying what you owe on utilities. As stated the deposit is for damage not for rent/utilities/disposal of unwanted goods. It would have been easier and wiser to settle everything before you moved out, presumably leaving was not sudden and a surprise, you had time to do this. If your electricity bill is less than your deposit, I think this is gone.

Did you definitely pay your rent up to the day your lease ended? It seems odd to me that you paid for a month that you weren't there yet didn't pay your utilities. Or did you leave the deposit en lieu of last months rent?

Yes I paid until the very end, the electricity bill came twice in my total 12 month stay, once in maybe december 2013 and the second one now. I received it after I left me or my landlord didn't know about it.

Tc1234

davo10 wrote: »

She is not "stealing anything", she is retaining it until utilities are paid. OP it sounds like you did a runner without paying what you owe on utilities.

The utility bill came just now so I couldn't run from it, they don't come monthly like they do here. I got 2 in twelve months including this one.

She isn't retaining she would have mentioned that she would give me the deposit back after I had paid but there was no mention of it on her part.

I emailed her asking for my deposit to pay the bill but she hasn't responded yet.

davo10

Tc1234 wrote: »

The utility bill came just now so I couldn't run from it, they don't come monthly like they do here. I got 2 in twelve months including this one.

She isn't retaining she would have mentioned that she would give me the deposit back after I had paid but there was no mention of it on her part.

I emailed her asking for my deposit to pay the bill but she hasn't responded yet.

It is the norm to take a meter reading and contact a utility company for your final bill before you leave. This also works in your favour as you only pay for services used up to that day.

hullaballoo

Moved to Living Abroad from Legal Discussion. Apologies to local Moderators if inappropriate.

Local charter now applies.

The Corinthian

Tc1234 wrote: »

I left in July 1st after my college was finished, but my lease wasn't finished until august 31st, I presumed that my deposit would cover all that I owed her.

I didn't check out because I was already paying for july and august thought I might visit over the summer for a holiday and would need a place to stay.

There we have it; you basically moved house in a fly-by-night manner, as you might have in Ireland.

Unfortunately, most of continental Europe doesn't have the same half-arsed tenancy system as Ireland; deposits are often kept in escrow accounts (where you'll even get the interest at the end), rent regulated and so on - but this also means that just leaving and presuming the deposit will cover the last months rent is not acceptable and may even be breaking the law. At the very least did you de-register your address? If not you technically might still be legally living there, which might explain why you can legally still be charged for these things.

I suggest you go online to find out what is legally required of someone in the Czech Republic to move house / de-register, as this may well remain a problem until you do the necessary paperwork.

Tc1234

The Corinthian wrote: »

There we have it; you basically moved house in a fly-by-night manner, as you might have in Ireland.

but this also means that just leaving and presuming the deposit will cover the last months rent is not acceptable and may even be breaking the law.

I left the deposit to cover utilities owed NOT RENT.

I wired the rent money for july and august while I was in Ireland to end the contract.

The only thing I owe is the utilities that she recently sent me, and she owes me the deposit.

The Corinthian

Tc1234 wrote: »

I left the deposit to cover utilities owed NOT RENT.

Irrelevant. The deposit, as was already pointed out, is not meant to pay for rent, utilities or other unpaid bills - it's security against damages. That kind of misuse of the deposit is something you can get away with in Ireland, where the management of renting is done in a bit of a cowboy fashion, but continental Europe - which generally has a far longer history of renting - is far stricter.

Officially you didn't pay the utilities. They may never have been paid (also because after damages the deposit may not have covered them) and your landlord has no onus to do so. And officially it's still your debt (did you even cancel them?).

Bottom line is continental Europe is far more regimented and beurocratic than Ireland in this (and most other) area, so you need to do things by the book when you move apartment. Find out what your status is (what you're still signed up to, etc) there, seek advice on expat forums and clean up the mess, otherwise it won't go away.

keithclancy

Just forget about it. They won't be able to chase you for it.

Tc1234

The Corinthian wrote: »

Irrelevant. The deposit, as was already pointed out, is not meant to pay for rent, utilities or other unpaid bills - it's security against damages. That kind of misuse of the deposit is something you can get away with in Ireland, where the management of renting is done in a bit of a cowboy fashion, but continental Europe - which generally has a far longer history of renting - is far stricter.

Officially you didn't pay the utilities. They may never have been paid (also because after damages the deposit may not have covered them) and your landlord has no onus to do so. And officially it's still your debt (did you even cancel them?).

Bottom line is continental Europe is far more regimented and beurocratic than Ireland in this (and most other) area, so you need to do things by the book when you move apartment. Find out what your status is (what you're still signed up to, etc) there, seek advice on expat forums and clean up the mess, otherwise it won't go away.

There is no need to cancel utilities once my rental contract was up in august my name is off the bill it goes to the next tenant or the landlord.

paul71

OP, to be honest you are wasting your time seeking advice on here as people will just be speculating on the law/custom/convention in the Czech Republic. Having in the past been both a tenent and landlord in the Czech republic I know that contrary to the expectations of others here there is not a long tradition of private renting (Communist past little private ownership) there unlike other European countries, and indeed it is far less regulated then is the case in Ireland.

Your tenancy agreement seems to be the standard one there whereby you agree the rent in advance for a fixed period with a notional amount to estimate utilities and upon receipt of the year end utility bill (norm in Czech Republic) the landlord will provide you a copy of the bill and seek any excess on the notional utility amount included in the rent.

As to the legality of deducting this from the deposit, I would suggest that you seek advice on this on expats.cz website as opossed to here.

dissed doc

I am going to go out on a limb here and make a presumption as to why you get the bill. When renting in a lot of central europe, you may have may paid rent with a certain standard energy use cost every month. At the end of the calendar year, the actual cost is collected by the energy companies and a final year bill is presented.

If you overpaid, you get a refund in January for the preceding year.
If you underpaid, you get a bill in January to cover the underpayment.

The amount you paid every month is likely a fixed rate, based on the average consumption of the previous year.

If you don't pay, the law there may allow her to legally keep the deposit. But, that is speculation. It is highly likely that once you clear the final bill, your tenancy contract is ended and the deposit it released.

Greenmachine

Your last bill also cover 4 of the coldest month of the year in the czech republic. January thru april how can you be sure that 400 for cover a whole 6 months including these 4.
http://www.holiday-weather.com/prague/averages/

Tc1234

Ok I got a reply she is not giving back my deposit because she claims she has to "repaint the apartment and minor damages" but then she sent me a bill for it ?

I have no problem paying the utilities but this is a joke I thought a deposit covers damages.

dissed doc

Tc1234 wrote: »

Ok I got a reply she is not giving back my deposit because she claims she has to "repaint the apartment and minor damages" but then she sent me a bill for it ?

I have no problem paying the utilities but this is a joke I thought a deposit covers damages.

If there are damages of €600 and your deposit is €300, then you need to cover the amount. How much is your deposit? €300 deposit covers €300 of damage.

IN summary, you need to pay all the bills you owe, and damage. the deposit is for the landlord just in case of damage, but might be far short of the actual damage a tenant does.

Tc1234

dissed doc wrote: »

If there are damages of €600 and your deposit is €300, then you need to cover the amount. How much is your deposit? €300 deposit covers €300 of damage.

IN summary, you need to pay all the bills you owe, and damage. the deposit is for the landlord just in case of damage, but might be far short of the actual damage a tenant does.

She sent a bill for the damages which is euro for euro the same as my deposit.