my bond

[fannyannie]

We have recently moved house. The landlord was fine with the old house and said we would have the bond back that weekend. That was 2 weeks ago. Now he is completely avoiding us- ignoring all contact whatsoever. What do we do, its almost �700! We really need that money.

[stonekicker]

my advice to people when they are moving on from rented is to never pay the landlord in full and minus the cost of the deposit etc. from the final months rent. i have had too many landlords rip me off and the last time i moved, i took the approach of not paying out and they didn't like it very much, threatening me and saying they'd take me to court etc. in turn i replied and said i had copies of the inventory and pictures of the vacated property witnessed by a friend who works at the cab and this worked a treat. i (not very politely) invited the landlord to take me to court and see how far he would get and wished him a good day!!!! sometimes, you just have to be responsible for your own destiny and that is what i would advise you to do in the future, or people will keep ripping you off. good luck and keep harrassing yours for the money...

[mrs_overall]

I would write to him, reminding him of the conversation. I would aslo say that you want your bond returned by a set date and if he fails to do so you he will leave you with no option but to take legal action.

Send the letter by recorded delivery.

Good luck.

[themas]

If your tenancy started in April 2007 or later, the landlord had a legal duty to put the deposit into a Tenancy Deposit Scheme. If he did not do so, you can take him to Court and claim 3 times the amount of the deposit. Google the phrase to get details.

If the tenancy was older then you need to do what mrs_overall suggest, but include in your letter that it is a letter before action & that you will issue a County Court claim if the money is not paid. You have to pay a Court fee to do this, but if you win he has to pay you the fee as well as the deposit. (Go to hm courts service website for details.)

[Pimpernel]

Hi,

I've had the same problem as you, especially when the deposit had been paid in cash, and there wasn't a tenancy agreement (renting from a colleague...).
Since May I've been renting from a professional landlord: the contract said the deposit would be paid into a Secure Scheme, whatever, but in fact, he didn't pay it in till October 2008 (the letter I received from the DPS stated when the deposit had been paid). In fact, it's only when I started working for the company who runs the DPS that he paid my deposit into the scheme, because he thought I would find out that he had kept my deposit in his savings account, or spent it...
I'm so fed up of dodgy landlords. I'm glad I'm not alone, but it would be better if I could find someone who is honest.

Good luck with your landlord. Keep chasing him.