Subletting

[Katrina00]

My tenants vacated my property last Saturday. Upon entering the house it found it was uncleaned, which took me three hours and they had left a pile of rubbish for me to dispose of. Whilst sifting through the rubbish I came accross a letter, dated the exact day they initially moved in, asking a third person who was not named on the contract for his share of the rent, deposit and agency fee. I also found a breakdown of an electricity bill divided between three people, including this same man unamed on our contract. In addition I found 3 keys for the property, one of which they had cut themselves. My contract strictly forbids subletting. Am I justified in keeping their deposit for breaching the rules of the contract? I have previously seen a third party at the house on two occcasions but was told that he was a 'guest' staying for a couple of nights.

[GPEL]

You cannot apply punitive judgement or summary justice. There are no grounds for keeping the deposit on the basis of them sub-letting. Deductions from the deposit would be for returning the property to the condition it was at the start of the let, less wear & tear etc.

[Trenners]

Hi Katrina,

I totally agree with GPEL (which is unusual for me - grin) - you have no right whatsoever to "help yourself" to the tenants security deposit.

It is fair to make deductions for cleaning costs and for any other damage that the tenants have caused to your property. You should keep all receipts, write to the tenants and itemise the deductions made.

You should then return the balance of the deposit back to the tenants as quickly as possible.

Best Wishes,

Mark

[Melboy]

I would concur with the comments above.