Hi Folks,

Is anyone aware of a Spanish equivalent to the rent deposit scheme back in the UK? I've read countless threads about the difficulties of recovering deposits at the end of a tenancy agreement.

I don't suppose a deposit being held by a third party completely solves the problem - in the absence of proper arbitration - BUT at least there would be some chance of getting my money back.

Thanks,

Mark

Rental agency SHOULD put it in a ring fenced account.. BUT.. most don't.

Thanks for the response.

Where it is held by the agent, and in the event of a dispute, any idea how any issues are resolved? Do both landlord and tenant have to agree to abide by the decision of a third party, like an agent? or would it be time to talk about the courts - which I assume deposit disputes never get to?

most of us would agree that most agents/owners will claim damages to the property at least to the value of the deposit


which is why so many renters simply don't pay the final month rent (assuming 1 month deposit held)

Yes, that's what I keep reading, assume that you won't get your money back and just don't pay the last months rent (or in my case last two months rent since it'll be two months deposit).

Still, I have read that it's possible to have the deposit held by a third party - even local government - where it is held until both parties agree that it can be released. I like this idea much better since at least the owner has to talk to me to resolve any dispute, not just keep the money and ignore me.

I like the idea, I'm just short of the detail of how to do the above. I've fired a question to a lawyer and will post it to the benefit of all if I receive useful answer.

Probably a lot of them don`t like that idea cos the rentals are not registered and legal.
A couple of months before you leave tell them you are moving out as you can`t afford to pay the rent any more.

As a landlord, why not simply go to a reputable agency/owner - ask to see his tax bill to prove he's legit. If he won't then he probably not legit nor honourable.

A deposit scheme does exist (so I am told) but I haven't looked into it myself.

Legally speaking, using the deposit to pay the last months rent, is not allowed. However, everyone does it I'm sure - it just leaves the problem that if there are damages or outstanding bills, the landlord has no 'finance'.

(Ignoring the legal aspect) where bills are on top of the rent, why not agree to take these out of the finance?

think this is a very grey area...finding decent landlords can be a problem as can be finding decent tenants

if there was damage at the end of the lease and you stopped paying the rent prior to leaving how would the landlord recover his costs ? doesnt seem very fair to me (but of course I agree its not fair if the landlord bumps up the "damages" so the deposit isnt repaid)

have heard many horror stories with people leaving unpaid bills, again not fair on the landlord, im my experience its never the tenants that are out of pocket !

Oh yes they are, when my daughter left one of her places I actually went round and helped her clean up as it was my deposit money. Despite it being spotless the cleaners told the agent it was really dirty and claimed extra cleaning money and there was no way they intended to pay out the full deposit. It is a total scam by the agencies, maybe face to face landlords are better.

Having rented two flats in Sevilla, Spain and three rental properties in London over the last three years (two daughters at University, one in Spain, one in London), would like to say that we have NEVER EVER received the full amount of the deposit back, and it was always witheld for totally spurious reasons.
Our best success in recovering this money was getting a CCJ against one London landlord, but we were well and truly taken to the cleaners by the owner of the first flat we rented for our daughter in Sevilla.
In each case, like JDR, I went round and helped clean up as it was my deposit money. It is obviously a well-known scam!

Unlike noelrosie above, having rented 3 flats previous to this one in Spain I can say I have always received the deposit back in full. It must be just a question of luck.

we did that several times, agent fully aware and in agreement usually.

So far we have got our deposit back in the UK.
But we rent our bolt-hole in the UK out, and have just received a bill from the agent for £55 for lawn mowing.

But we dug the turf out, and put weed suppressant and shingle down 3 months ago!

I think it is just not a very honest business at any end of the scale.

just about everyone I know does

one place we rented we were charged a separate 'cleaning' fee of about a 100 euros - and even then they claimed that the deposit wouldn't be refunded

we'd broken a couple of plates - couldn't get identical ones so replaced them with similar


that added up to 1000 euros of damage