jojo83

Hi,

I am leaving my apartment on 31/05/2017. I have paid one month of rent in fianza and 3 months in deposito de garantia.

Can I ask for my March, April and May rent payments to be deducted from deposito de garantia? They can then keep fianza as a security for damages. Or shall I just stop paying?

I will also mention, that they have not paid my one month's fianza to Incasol.

Please advise.
Thank you,
Joanna

Rosemary

Hi and a warm welcome to the Spanish forum on BE. Myself and Fred James are the moderators for the Spanish forums whilst BEVS moderates Europe. Moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. This is so that members gain the information that they are looking for and find their experiences on the forums to be friendly and worthwhile.

Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderator who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are usually friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge about the issues of living in Spain. I hope that you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

snikpoh

Hmmm - honesty first - I'm a landlord, so I would suggest talking to them about using the guarantee for the next 3 months. As you say, the final month needs to be left for damages and for outstanding utility bills (as I presume the contracts aren't in your name).

Just one question - have you told them when you're planning to leave. If you don't want to, then you don't have to which I'm sure you already know.

jojo83

That's not an issue. I am just very suspicious as they havent put my one month fianza into scheme and were arguing with me that they dont have to, where I am well aware that they do have to.

I am leaving Spain for good. And I am leaving this apartment within 60 days notice I have already given. Contract is in my name.

I am ok for fianza to be returned after final inspection. But what if I move out, and will never see my garantia de pago, which covers extra 3 months of rent? They cant use it against damages, only for unpaid rent. So I thought it would be wise to use it towards rent, as the agent already told me that money is with landlord not with the agent.

So many stories I have heard about landlords not returning garantia de pago, which I understand is totally different to fianza, which I am ok for them to be used as a damage deposit.

But why do they say I can not use garantia de pago toward last 3 months of rent, if that cant be used against anything else? I am pretty sure, they once the month after returning keys will pass by, they will tell me to contact landlord directly, where I dont have any of their details and I will be left empty handed.

snikpoh

As I said, use the garantia for the last 3 months - let the agent argue about it if they want! This garantia is not very common and certainly I've never asked for it nor heard of anyone else paying it.

Expect to lose your fianza - this is VERY common with some (most but not me) landlords in Spain.


Yes, officially, the fianza has to be held by a special scheme - I have yet to find any landlord that has done this. It's not illegal not to do this, so many simply don't bother.

jojo83

Thank you, I am going to email them today with an offer. Deposit scheme said they can be charged penalty up to 75% of the amount of fianza, which was supposed to be paid in to deposit scheme.

Apparently, there is a law stating, that if they haven't paid that into deposit scheme, they can not treat it as fianza and I could also use it up as a payment towards my rent. But they are checking this properly for me at the moment.

As I said, I am totally fine to leave one month fianza with them. This seems quite fair. But for the last 3 years, they acted very dodgy, they were charging us 25 euros, for 2 days of being late with rent payment - which I have now checked and it is not stated in our contract.

I will see what will they say about my offer, but I do not see a reason, they keep saying no for garantia de pago to be used against my rent. Propably they have already planned I will not see it again.