I got home this evening to find a hand delivered letter pushed under my front door, not with regular mail, marked ‘Important Notice.’ It was direct from my landlord and to paraphrase stated the following:
‘… Long story short, the management company have gone bust. Your rent payments are not coming to me as they should and your deposit is at risk. Please do not pay this months rent to them. If you have set up a bank transfer or have written cheques I suggest you cancel them… We can work out further arrangements to protect you and myself from further losses at this time over the next week or so.’
Now I am not about to take some supposedly important letter at face value so checked my contract and the names on the contract and this letter tally. Additionally a visit to the management company’s offices on the High Street reveal that they are abandoned with only a few tables and chairs left and a pile of post in the doorway with a helpful sign from the folks next door posted on the door saying you can ask them about the company’s demise (although they were closed when I visited). The situation therefore appears to stack up as per the letter.
I have cancelled my rental payment and sent a brief and noncommittal email to my landlord to confirm receipt of his letter and that I have cancelled rental payments through the management company. However, what has happened to my deposit? I paid out in the excess of a grand on that and I am not about to let that just slide.
I got home at about six and have only just stopped shaking probably thanks in no small part to a very large glass of wine.
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3 comments:
Get onto the CAB pronto and get them chasing your deposit on your behalf... otherwise it may well reside with the managment comapny; assuming they've gone into liquidation all monies will be split between all creditors, of which you will be a v small fish no doubt. Thus it will take a very long time to get a very small percentage of your deposit back.
I know very little about the actual status of the management company. But CAB is already on my list to visit. Thanks.
Any/all feedback/suggestions are welcome btw.
I have checked out the contract in detail and the agreement is between mysekf and the landlord. Therefore, as I see it I have completed my end of the bargain. It is the relatinship between him and the management company that was flawed. I therefore consider that the deposit is mine, wherever it comes from. If he wants to be a jerk about it then so be it, I will just have to withold the final month and a halfs rent. With this whole fiasco going on I am tempted to to leave after my requisite six months at the moment.
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