Rental Dispute Deposit Recovery | Legal Aid
Questioner
From June 2015 to June 2016 I rented a (student) room, for which I had to pay a month's basic rent, €255.00, deposit. When moving into the room it turned out that the laminate floor was not completely covering, because the seams on the side were visible (5 cm and more from the wall) and the floor was held together by double-sided tape. Permission was then given to remove an iron pole with table, which of course caused a hole in the existing laminate floor. For this reason we laid a new laminate floor at our own expense, because it was the weekend and I wanted to move in quickly and also wanted it to be neat. The floor is now fitted with skirting boards and has been laid neatly. Since there were many defects in the house that were only solved with difficulty or not at all, I finished the year and looked for another place to live. After 12 months I would be entitled to a refund of the deposit. Terminating the lease after 12 months was difficult, because the landlord did not agree with my departure and reasons for leaving (he indicated that everything would be fine now). After terminating the lease, we tried several times to make an appointment to hand over the keys and get the deposit back. They made things difficult about the dates and the difficultly made appointments were cancelled via WhatsApp. In the end, my father and I indicated that we would unlock the door so that he could inspect the room himself. With the intention that he could then transfer the deposit, after which we would return the keys. Before the inspection of the room, he indicated that the window was leaking and that there would be a different floor. To which we indicated that we had indeed laid a new floor at our expense because the existing floor was not completely covering and that this was an improvement. We also indicated that the window was already leaking before I moved into the room. An inspection was carried out by him, which he confirmed via WhatsApp with the response that he would get back to us. After having contacted him several times by phone and WhatsApp. In this, with the request to indicate about the return of the deposit, a response was not received until we also sent his son a message. He replied that his father had given the result. We will spare you the details of the rude response. This message was sent to the landlord again with the request to respond and what was wrong with the room. To which we again received no response. As a last attempt, we sent a letter with the notice of default with the request again to indicate what was wrong with the house so that we can repair it and that if there was no response, we would assume that the current state of the room is acceptable. This letter also states that if there was no response, we would hand this over to a debt collection agency. This is possible with a no cure no pay debt collection. Here too, we have little confidence that this will succeed. We immediately tried to make an appointment for the transfer of keys when we terminated the lease on 30 May 2016 and after that we have been busy making the appointment from 23 June 2016 until now. The new tenant would move in on 1 September and we therefore no longer have time to repair any things. The expectation is that the new tenant will move in without any adjustments from the landlord. Our question is whether we have a strong position or whether the landlord is right in this case. In addition, we are afraid that given the amount, it is not worth starting a lawsuit. Therefore, we would like to hear what the possible costs are if we were to do this? This is because I am still studying and €255 is a large amount.Lawyer
Now that the landlord has apparently failed to meet his obligations to help you deliver the room you rented, he is deemed to have accepted it and that the condition was the same as the condition prior to the period that you rented it. This applies if no written document of the delivery statements is kept. Furthermore, if the old laminate was depreciated and you have made significant improvements, you may claim the difference in value in addition to the costs of the deposit. Your case lends itself to having a legal e-mail drawn up.Neem de volgende stap
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