UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello,

I would like some advice please.

I vacated a property last month and stupidly forgot to cancel standing order, so the landlord has received an extra months rent erroneously.

He has acknowledged this but is keeping hold of it until he has a full check out report on damages etc (I fully acknowledge I may have to pay for some damages which is yet to be agreed). Bizarrely, he has paid back the deposit in full which he was happy to do, but is keeping hold of the rent. Can someone please advise on this situation? Why has he paid back the deposit from DPS but keeping hold of the rent? Is it because he has more power on how much to keep with the rent in terms of damages? What are my rights on this?

Thanks for the help.

I have no idea why he has done this. Was the deposit correctly protected?  If you moved in December he should have been able by now to inspect and make any claims. Your rights are now down to his honesty, he may behave well or he may keep it all regardless of the state of the property. You could sue, but that would take a long time and cost money. Lesson learned the hard way I fear!     

People aren't allowed to keep money (or anything else) that's sent to them by mistake (although many people think otherwise). But there's no easy way to recover it.

The landlord's being a bit of a dick. Why return the deposit before agreeing any deductions?

You can make a small claim for the return of the overpaid rent and you'd win unless the landlord makes a counter claim that they succeed in. Which is pretty much the situation now, really.