Deposit on rented room

samsamson

Just wanted to run this past you guys.

I viewed a place and we all agreed that I'd move in, but when I asked about a deposit, the girl who is leaving the house said that it should be paid to her.

This is ridiculous, right?

Surely only the landlord would need a deposit.

I'm well within my rights to insist that I only pay the landlord directly, right?

Custardpi

That's perfectly normal practice in many shared houses. She would have had to pay a deposit when she moved in. When you move out whoever moves in will pay a deposit to you which gives you back your money. That said, I'm not sure what legal protection you'll have by paying it to her rather than the Landlord. You can draw up a signed receipt for the money & of course get contact details for landlord to let them know you've moved in. Normal procedure basically but as in all cases there's no harm in making sure.

cruizer101

Common practice alright but not good practice, you basically have nothing to come back on in terms of getting your deposit back. It relies on you getting a deposit off the next person. Have you had contact with the landlord?
I wouldn't be paying it to her myself anyway,

Custardpi

cruizer101 wrote: »

Common practice alright but not good practice, you basically have nothing to come back on in terms of getting your deposit back. It relies on you getting a deposit off the next person. Have you had contact with the landlord?
I wouldn't be paying it to her myself anyway,

That's a bit unfair on her though isn't it, considering that she's only getting her own money back. If the OP isn't comfortable with the practice they should speak to the landlord before handing over money (actually it's a good idea to do that regardless if possible) & then once moved in suggest an alteration of the policy to one he/she would be more comfortable with. As regards relying on the next person paying a deposit the risk is the same as paying a deposit to the landlord. I've seen way more cases of landlords screwing people out of deposits than housemates via this practice, though you may technically :rolleyes: have more legal rights in the former case.

samsamson

Thanks for the replies guys.

It certainly does seem to be the case that she had to pay a deposit to the girl who moved out before her, so now she has to try and get that money back off me.

What makes me uncomfortable is that once I've paid the deposit, I'm basically relying on finding somebody else who's willing to pay me the deposit personally when I move out, which I imagine will be quite difficult to do.

I'd feel pretty uncomfortable asking somebody for €500 just before I grab my bags and leave to never be in contact with them again.

petethebrick

But you're forgetting that the landlord actually has your deposit and if you preferred when moving out you could give him one month notice, have him inspect the room, and then return whatever part of the deposit he deemed necessary. By paying your deposit to the vacating housemate you are simply cutting out the middleman. It is standard practice in every houseshare

samsamson

So I would pay the girl who is leaving the €500, and could then give the landlord 1 months notice that I'm leaving and then get my €500 back off him?

I guess I should try and get the landlords details and give him a phone call or something

Ray Palmer

samsamson wrote: »

So I would pay the girl who is leaving the €500, and could then give the landlord 1 months notice that I'm leaving and then get my €500 back off him?

I guess I should try and get the landlords details and give him a phone call or something

Pretty standard behaviour but it isn't a good idea. You give the deposit to the LL get your reciept the LL gives the old tenant their deposit back.

You should make sure the LL is aware of what is going on and that you are paying the correct deposit amount. Anybody who has a problem with that is not being reasonable.

The deposit is always to be held by the LL.

cruizer101

petethebrick wrote: »

But you're forgetting that the landlord actually has your deposit and if you preferred when moving out you could give him one month notice, have him inspect the room, and then return whatever part of the deposit he deemed necessary. By paying your deposit to the vacating housemate you are simply cutting out the middleman. It is standard practice in every houseshare

Yeah but the landlord has no obligation to pay you back, you never gave them any money and have no receipt from them as proof of deposit being paid. Thye could easily just tell you to get stuffed and you have no comeback. The only person they owe the deposit back to is the original person who gave it to them. You are relying on yourself getting a new tenant when your lease is up, which is basically doing teh landlords work for them. I'd be completely turned off by a setup like that.

I'll agree its a common setup but I don't like it one bit. By the sounds of it you havn't met the landlord or spoke to them at all, again this is something I would be making sure I do your contract is woth the landlord not with a previous tenant, to me it stinks of bad landlording and would inspire no confidence to move into the property.

bgo1

samsamson wrote: »

Just wanted to run this past you guys.

I viewed a place and we all agreed that I'd move in, but when I asked about a deposit, the girl who is leaving the house said that it should be paid to her.

This is ridiculous, right?

Surely only the landlord would need a deposit.

I'm well within my rights to insist that I only pay the landlord directly, right?

Far from rediculous, its common practice so the landlord/agency only has to do the work of making up a new lease saving them time and money.

That is the critical part, get a new lease drawn up with you on it, its presumably for the whole house at the moment but maybe suggest individual leases if landlord/agency allows it. Contact the landlord to tell them yor moving in and the lnew lease will mean the original deposit still with the landlord is yours..otherwise technically its not.

Also its quite likely you will find a tenant when your leaving, otherwise why are you moving in if its a wreck or bad value/location. Iv found the system has worked well for me.

Enjoy your new place

Victor

Without talking to the landlord, you have no way of knowing what the original deposit was.

You should also have the landlord inspect the property. For all you know, it was in much better condition when it was handed over to the people who are leaving.