You are unlucky to have such a landlord. On the other hand, deposit is always an arguable question. Government advise (and I am sure advice from student union as well) deposit from tenants should be put in a funding system (of which landlord cannot access). Deposit will be returned to students if contract is completed and no damage is made. In reality, this won’t work for overseas students. Think about that, on the day the last student (in shared house) moved out and key is handed back, gas/electric meters are read and house is checked. If everything is okay, landlord or agent has to inform the funding office. There is some administration work to do and this is England, it will take some time for administration work to complete. Then remaining deposit will refund to student’s account (no cash) but at that time, student may have cancelled their account and left this country.
I always think this is a clever plot by people thought of this system. The deposit put in the funding system can only be accessed by students and administration office (landlord cannot access to it) and if students have left this country (in many case this happens), money will remain in the funding system and it keeps accumulated.
Student may ask can they have the deposit back before they move out. If you are the landlord, will you give the deposit back to students 2 weeks (say) before they move out? I don’t think so. If students have the deposit back, they won’t care for the last 2 weeks for any damage, they won’t clean and tidy the house before they leave and they won’t pay for the final bills.
If students and landlord trust each other, they can have mutual agreement before contract is signed so that deposit is not put in the fund. On the last day they move out, if everything is okay and final bills are deducted from deposit, remaining cash can be returned to students before they leave the UK for good. I think this is a much better way for overseas students. For home students, as they still live in this country and their bank account will not be cancelled, funding system is no problem at all.
I hope the above information helps. 作者: hohoho 时间: 2013-8-24 09:18
本帖最后由 hohoho 于 2013-8-25 03:42 编辑
I have to stress that once deposit is put in the funding system, even landlord cannot access to it but he should give some proof to you that your deposit is really in the funds (ask for letter or document etc)作者: Huihuitu 时间: 2013-8-24 11:21
thank u very much! She just told me without no proof.作者: hohoho 时间: 2013-8-24 11:24
well, don't know what to say. I think unfortunately there is a loophole in deposit funding system for overseas students作者: hohoho 时间: 2013-8-24 11:31
本帖最后由 hohoho 于 2013-8-25 03:41 编辑
just treat this as a lesson in life and hope you will meet better landlords in future. To be honest, having a Chinese landlord will be easier to communicate with each other作者: Huihuitu 时间: 2013-8-24 11:44
yea,if i use law, and will i win?作者: hohoho 时间: 2013-8-24 13:28
do you have time and money to spend? Will it be worthwhile? If she indeed put money in the deposit fund, she can't access to it and she cannot be blamed for that. As I mentioned before this deposit system only work for local home students and not for overseas students. If students have to leave this country and can't wait for the administration work to be done before deposit can be returned, landlord done nothing wrong and I am afraid you couldn't win. You could only win if you can prove landlord didn't put money into fund and keep it herself yet she doesn't want to return it to you.作者: Huihuitu 时间: 2013-8-24 15:02
oh...ok.i see. Thank u thank u and thank u!作者: hohoho 时间: 2013-8-25 02:38
You are welcome.
I have my own unhappy memory. I did a law paper and I know a little bit of it. I have a car accident in 2008. I was 100% sure I was right and the other party admitted he was wrong, yet it took 4 years with exchange of many letters, document between solicitors and myself. A week before court hearing, the other party’s insurance company finally agreed to pay me compensation to avoid lawsuit.
Yes, I got compensation but did I win the case? No, I think the only people won the case are the solicitors as no matter which party lost the case, solicitors will get payment. As for me, I rather have no accident than to have compensation as lawsuit is very tiring and time consuming.
In your case, if you cannot prove your landlord's wrong doing, it really is not worthwhile to bring up a lawsuit. Good luck. 作者: hohoho 时间: 2013-8-25 02:48
My friend rented a student apartment last year. After she moved out, she waited for 3 months and yet she still couldn’t get her deposit back because of a long administration work. We are talking about a well-known estate agent dealing with her case. This is England.
