Landlord is disputing bond ! help
 

Hi
Well the short version of the story is the landlord signed our bond paper agreeing for our bond to be repaid . However , as her boyfriend had signed the original paperwork they wrote to her to confirm it was her signature and she has now replied saying she is disputing the bond repayment !!! I am confused , I dont see how she can now change her mind , she accepted the return of the keys and said all was ok , the house was cleaner when it was returned than when we took it over ! . We have had no communication with her since that day and we only knew about this when we phoned to ask why it was taking so long to repay the money . Where do we go from here ? she does not return our calls and the bond people just say it is in dispute . Anyone have any ideas ?

Thanks Karen

Re: Landlord is disputing bond ! help
 

Hi Karen

Sorry you're having such a difficult time of it.

Speak to Tenancy Services, they actually hold the bond, not your landlord

http://www.dbh.govt.nz/tenancy-index

If you look down the right hand side there are several ways to contact them.

HTH

Re: Landlord is disputing bond ! help
 

Sounds all to familier I am afraid and the only way forward is to put a complaint into the Tenancy Tribunial.

I am a bit confused here as to who is claiming what? If you paid the bond then its up to you to claim your bond back its your money. Head to you local Citizens Advice Bureau they are should be able.

More info and contact info can be found here.

http://www.dbh.govt.nz/tenancy-index

We rented from 4 landlords and two of them were difficult to deal with at the end of tenancy.

Re: Landlord is disputing bond ! help
 

Hi,
We had the same thing. It was all smiles & all signed off. There were a few empty boxes left in the house which NZ Vanlines were supposed to pick up the next day but didn't. The landlord then decide to pay someone else to get them removed without checking with us first & it cost him $100, so he immediately put the bond in dispute to claim back the money. We found this out a week later when we phoned up the Tenancy Agency to find out where the money was. It was then up to US to contact the Landlord to sort out a new form he has to fill in & send to us to sign & send off to the refund office.
We then got loads of abuse from him saying he could not re-rent it out because of the boxes!!!:confused: Load of rubbish as he is selling it anyway.
He did then send us the new form & we are now sorted, but what a pain in the A***. I think the Tenancy Agency should take more responsibility towards the tenant & help more. After our bad experiences over the last year it seems to be always biased towards the Landlord, which is surely wrong, as whose money is it they are holding???

Re: Landlord is disputing bond ! help
 

Thanks for the replies and we will get in touch with the tenancy agency to see what we have to do next , we dont know why she has put it into dispute as she wont return our calls . It seems very unfair , should she have stated why she was disputing it , she signed and agreed the full amount could be returned when we were at the house . It seems to me the form is worthless as they can agree and them withdraw that agreement later , really , signing that means absolutely nothing , I feel it should be legally binding. She has had the keys back for 4 weeks now anything could have happened in the house during that time that we cannot be held responsible for .

Thanks again Karen

Re: Landlord is disputing bond ! help
 

Hi Karen,

Can't help you, but just wanted to say that I'm sorry to hear that the landlady is being a complete idiot again! Hope it gets sorted in your favour very soon.

Hope the job's going well. I think I may have a job at Birthcare on their bureau. Will find out later today.

Give us a call if you need to vent:ohmy:.

:wub: Anne x.

Re: Landlord is disputing bond ! help
 

Tenancy Services should be able to supply you with the reasons given by the Landlord for with-holding any or all of the bond. The reasons, together with the amount $, should be written by the Landlord on the bond repayment form which you will both have signed. A copy should have come to you. It is simply not good enough that you just be given a reason of 'with-held'.

Whatever, it will be a feeble excuse put forward by the Landlord in my experience. I know of many folks that have been ripped off in this way. Bloody nightmare and bloody disgusting.
As you have been out of the house for 4 weeks now, I can just hear the claims of 'the tenants let the garden go wild' for starters. Or how about this old one 'carpets needed a clean'.

When you speak with Tenancy Services , be tough ! Make it clear that you feel you are entitled to your bond back in full plus interest for the delay.

Make contact with the Landlord . Face to face is best. Both of you go and state that you intend to take the matter all the way and to court if necessary. It's a face off and you need to make sure this charlatan knows you mean business and will not just give up and go away. Keep it civil and calm but make sure they understand it could cost them more - expenses and fees, if they don't do the honest and proper thing by you.

Follow up the communications you make to both the landlord [that means both of the people involved in the tenancy - boyfriend, landlandy and uncle tom cobbly if necessary] and tenancy services with written letters stating your case, listing the facts in a no nonsense way asking for the complete and full return of your money - plus interest of 'say, 10% per week ! Send those letters by the New Zealand version of recorded delivery - where the letter MUST be signed for by the person receiving it.

You can start a tribunal claim on-line with Tenancy Services. The first step though will be arbitration and mediation.
If this poxy greedy git knows that you are going to make this long-winded, difficult and expensive for her/him/it , then they just might back down from their current stance.

Stick to the facts and the truth ,which of course you will. Pick up on any small mis-representation or fib that these people make and pin them down on it.
If you have problems writing a letter or a precis of the facts of your case, come on here and we will all help with this.

Don't let the b*stards get away with this. Our first landlord & her family tried it on and had the air sucked out of their collective low-life lungs pretty damn quick . Don't think they expected this ole pommy girl to bite back quite so hard. They paid up .;)

Re: Landlord is disputing bond ! help
 

Having been through this process myself if you need any help give us a yell.

We walked away with a win situation!

Re: Landlord is disputing bond ! help
 

Hi Karen2000

This makes me MAD as hell.

Firstly, the tenancy advisory can't help with bond issues, your'll have to make contact with the department of building and housing. Secondly, a bond is held by an objective party - NOT the landlord. In order to acquire any of the monies, they must indentify a cost, such as carpet cleaning and a receipt to the DBH. They can't request a random amount for no good reason. The paperwork was signed, blo*dy DBH. We had an issue with our bond in that my husband didn't sign the form. The DBH were incredibly unhelpful, you have to really push them hard to get answers, a lot of it depends on whom you talk to. The law is on your side - unless you really pulled a number over that house! I think that the girl will realise its not in her best interest try and recover costs. You could also try the Citizens advice bureau. As someone else said, keep details of all dates, conversations and NAMES of people you speak to. Even if you didn't get any info. Have you tried writing a detailed letter to the DBH? Outline everything, including that this woman won't communicate with you. You've done the first bit, you've tried to reason with her and she's not interested. I find it slightly odd that her name wasn't originally on the form. You need to be strong and keep banging away at it.

I'm sorry that you're experiencing this. All the best and keep us informed,

Nikki

Re: Landlord is disputing bond ! help
 

Might be missing this part

How many weeks rent was the Bond Equal to?

Did she take the Bond and Lodge it with the Department of Builing and Housing?

If she did not then SHE is has broken the Tenancy Act imeediately by not lodging that bond within a certain time.

I assume you gave her three weeks notice as well when you said you were vacating the property?

If not then she has a legitimate right to block your bond repayment.

Without the actual facts then its going to be hard to give a objective answer and the direction to follow.