End of lease and return of deposit

Pete Moss

Hi, just looking for some information from someone with more experience with this than me. My lease is ending as I'm leaving, I gave sufficient notice, paid all utilities bills, the house is in great condition (I even weeded the back garden!) and is more or less exactly as I when I first moved in.

My issue is, my landlord lives abroad and has a letting agent working for them. I've been told that the letting agent will inspect the house, inventory and the final meter readings, when collecting the keys, but that my deposit will not be returned on this day as the letting agent does not keep cash (despite me paying first month and deposit in cash when I moved in), that it will be transferred into my account at a later date by the landlord who lives abroad. I wasn't given a timeline on this and have had no dealings with this landlord, everything has been through the agent to date.

My concern here is that I have no receipt for my initial deposit (very, very naive of me, I know. I'm kicking myself now) and that I have not got a copy of the inventory (again, massively naive of me here!) so once I'm paid up with the last month's rent and hand the keys over, I'm a little worried that I'll be waiting quite some time on my deposit. I'm also worried that anything could be added to the inventory and this could affect my deposit.

I did take images of damage around the house the day after I moved in and basically kept all the landlord's property in bubble wrap and boxed up, so I'm sure that it's all tip-top.

Should I retain the final month's rent until my meeting with the letting agent? I am in no way looking to skip out without paying my rent, I'm just considering being cautious to ensure that I'm not ripped off. Or am I over-thinking this and worrying over nothing? Would this be standard letting agent/landlord practice?

I'd really appreciate a bit of insight on this from anyone who has some information on the above as I'm a bit inexperienced with this.

Cheers.

whomitconcerns

your not allowed retain your last months rent for this. Get a timeline in advance though