How long do landlords have to return a deposit?

Exceltrup wrote: »

I moved out 3 weeks ago, and I've tried several times to get in touch with the landlord - I think he's ducking me. How long can they legally keep the deposit for? All I can find is a vague "prompt return" with no specific guidelines as to what this means.

I think your question is probably for @Exceltrup rather than me. My advice would be as above - open a case now and you can cancel it if needed. I've had to go down that route before, it's pretty straightforward so long as you have all your paperwork in order

It depends on the condition of the house during walkthrough/handover, when I had tenants leaving if all looked well and we agreed on ESB reading, I usually gave them a cheque within a week, on 2 occasions I was stiffed when they FO'd without paying last months rent and only once did I not return the deposit, the house was wrecked and eventually needed just over 16k to bring it back to standard.

If you left the house in a reasonable condition, the landlord should return the money within a week or so (IMHO) if he needs to get estimates from tradesmen then understandably that may take longer. From the evasiveness of the agent as you described, you're going have to go official with it I'd say.

When I was renting abroad it was as much as 8 weeks after moving out.

In Ireland the most I ever had to wait for my deposit was one month.

In my cases ESB bins and internet were in tenants name so the debt would follow them, not me.