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Land Lord refuse to return the deposit

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mhiyang13
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Land Lord refuse to return the deposit

Post by mhiyang13 » Thu, 04 Jul 2013 4:04 pm

Hi,

i have been reading this forum for the past couple of days. me and my cousin rented a flat together with a friend. when when me and my cousin left the flat the land lord did not show up. so we just left the keys to our housemate which was still there.

the next day the land lord visited the place and said that the house needs repainting. the land lord refuses to return the deposit and said she needs to get quotation on how much will be the repainting. i was wondering why do we need to do the repainting when we only stayed there for 12 months and no pets or kids to dirt the wall. the color of the paint is white. i admit i can see some dirt on it but we do not know how this dirt came out.

after 1 more day i sms the owner on when we can get our deposit. she said that we have to wait as she needs to have the house check on wall painting, door, cleaning, air-con servicing etc. etc. and she said that the cost should be borne by us and will deduct on our deposit. so i wondered when at first she said that the only thing that needs to do is the painting and now even the door needs to be repaired. the flat have a sliding door between the living room and the kitchen which came off the track. even if we try to fix it the door still loose out of track. so my housemate informed her. she went to see the door together with a guy. then the guy's comment was to replace the track as the track was old. so she asked if it is because we never slide it properly. then the guy said it is wear and tear. but the owner insisted on our sms conversation that the guy who checked the door was not a contractor. for the air-con service i left the receipt to my housemate and we know that the land lord already checked it. but now she say that she never see any receipt. the house was not dirty. i do not know how can she say that she should charge us for cleaning when it is clean and we even clean our room before we left.

the sad thing is me and my cousin left the house and our housemate will still remain on the house for 1 more month. at first the owner agreed that she will return our(me and my cousin) deposit after two weeks. but now i don't know if we can still get any of it.

can anyone advice me on what to do regarding this?

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katbh
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Post by katbh » Fri, 05 Jul 2013 8:46 am

Have you all now left the house?
If you have, you should be entitled to a refund of your deposit within 14 days.
Unless you drew on the walls or marked the walls (other than just normal wear and tear) you do not have to pay for repainting unless it was in your lease that you should.
If you provided the landlady with receipts for aircon service, she can not deduct this from you.
Any thing that was broken during your tenancy, she can ask you to fix, unless it was usual wear and tear. I would suggest that if the track for the door was already old is is probably not your issue. But if you broke the door you will need to pay for this. Ask her for photographs taken at the time you left and for copies of all quotes. Offer to do the work yourself and sometimes this will stop them behaving badly.
You need to send a letter to the landlady (at the address stated in the lease for the service of notices), stating -

We refer to our tenancy at XXXXX. We have vacated the premises and in accordance with the lease, request that our full deposit of $XXXX be returned within 14 days of the date of our vacating of the premises. If the deposit is not returned, we shall commence legal action to recover the monies'.

You can also send this by SMS but it is important that you also send it to the address for notices that is set out in the lease. This makes it a legal Letter of Demand.

If you do not have a lease, it is a little bit more difficult but not a problem as it is actually illegal in Singapore not to have a lease. If you do not have a lease, the landlord can get in big trouble so is less likely to make a fuss.

mhiyang13
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Post by mhiyang13 » Fri, 05 Jul 2013 10:11 am

Have you all now left the house?

No my friend is still there and will only leave on 31st July. the owners said that before my friend leave the house we need to repaint it and fix the door. there's nothing wrong with the door except its track.

Thank you for your advice.

katbh
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Post by katbh » Fri, 05 Jul 2013 10:16 am

You can not get your bond back until you have all left.
Get your friend to photograph the house an the door so that if you need it later , you have proof of the state the house was in.
I usually buy a can of white paint and a roller and do a few touch ups around a house when i leave - around light switches, on corners, on stair walls - those places that get grubby. Then there can be no complaints.

mhiyang13
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Post by mhiyang13 » Mon, 08 Jul 2013 9:57 am

thanks katbh.

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