Getting Your Rental Deposit Back: Tips and Advice

Questioner

I would like to know the following. I have terminated my lease and have moved in the meantime. (I had to leave the accommodation before 1 December and I terminated on 31/10/2014). I have kept to the notice period of 1 month and have also paid my rent for the last month. Now I am waiting for the return of the deposit. My former landlord has not yet paid this back. How long does he have to do this? And am I legally obliged to give him my new address details? He uses this as an argument to be able to repay the deposit. To be honest, I don't give him this information because I don't trust him. I would like to hear from you, thank you in advance!

Lawyer

There is no legal provision that regulates when a security deposit must be repaid. This is usually stated in the rental agreement or the general terms and conditions that apply to the rental agreement. You can check this. If a term is stated in the rental agreement, for example within one month after termination of the rental agreement, your landlord will have to adhere to this. If this term has expired, you can send a notice of default. An example of this can be found on the website of the Legal Desk: https://www.juridischloket.nl/voorbeeldbrieven/ If no term is specified, you can send the landlord a letter in which you give him a term to pay back the deposit. For example, you can state in this letter that your landlord must pay back the deposit to you within one month. In principle, you do not have to give your new address, as long as you are reachable for the landlord and leave a correspondence address. This is for possible final settlements etc. It is possible that your tenancy agreement states that you must give a new address. If you have any further questions or if you cannot reach an agreement with the landlord, you can contact me directly.

Lawyer

Apparently the link doesn't work. You can find the sample letter by going to the Legal Desk website and clicking on 'sample letters' in the column on the right. The letter in question is then under the heading 'housing' and is called 'sample letter return of deposit'.