hi, recently i just finish 1 year contract rent in a condo, then i need to claim back my deposit, i have all the key ,card and agreement and form.

The owner is very smart, in the agreement / One of the tenancy criteria is stated that :
You need to stay here within 1/1/2015 to 1/1/2016, less than that deposit will be forfeited, no negotiable.
so the owner use this reason to refuse the deposit to me. She claimed that I never fully stay 12 months and half way move out, which is an excuse, but i really stay there for 12 month, and pay rent every month, however most of the rental receipt i throw away and do not keep well, mean no proof of rental receipt, but have other proof.(deposit, contract and agreement, and key still with me )

Add: the owner also change the lock of the front door. and my card key become unaccessible .

so what should i do? complain to police and management ??

Updated: yes i had moved to new place to stay, right now is the 13th month and the time to claimed back deposit.

The main problem is :
He claimed that i never rent fully 12 months,
1 of the criteria is You need to stay here within 1/1/2015 to 1/1/2016, less than that deposit will be forfeited, no negotiable., the owner use this reason as an excuse,
because the owner knew i moved out early last few days on December, thus left few days empty for the room.
but i did pay monthly rent however without much rental receipt, basically lost all rental receipt, only left all agreement and key, and deposit proof.
Question: if i take police action, should be no problem right ? mean can take back my deposit right? thats is

This post has been edited by yan7: Jan 2 2016, 09:40 AM

Tenancy is for 1 year in the contract...so is it 1 year already or not?

as long as you paid 12 months, it is equivalent of you staying there 12 months. U do not have to be 'physically' there. Unless u paid 11 and 1/2 month then of coz deposit forfeited.
no point complain to management. Agreement is between u n owner. First you can make a police report. Next is find lawyer sue. other than that, nothing much you can do. Do not make threat like will damage his house etc..just say if you want to go legal way then you will do it.
First go print out the deposit statement of your last month payment. Next , get a lawyer advise.

Ts if I were u, I'll try to talk to the owner again and try to solve this problem. If the contract really still left 1 month, just continue paying for that month (your loss this way is only 1 month instead of 2.5 month deposit).

And forget about getting a lawyer, it will cost you so much more money and time

Next time, read before you sign

the problem is all the latest rental receipt gone, only left agreement, contract, and card key

yes, 1 year to be exact, now is the time to get back deposit.

post note at the door till the house cant be rented out....see who lose more...next share owner info here and FB

The tenancy is btw owner and you, no agent involved?

The term of 1 year already stated wrongly, it should be 1/1/2015 until 31/12/2015 ( not 1/1/2016 )

And if u stay thru out these 12 months, u should be legally able to claim back the deposit. Unless the contract 1+1 and stated u must inform owner 2 mths before u move out regardless 11th or 12th month, or else deposit forfeite.

I duno why the owner so fussy and not willing to do so until change the lock and etc.

technically landlord cant change lock. you can sue if he still claims u stay there based on the contract.
You not paying not an issue, if he changed lock means admission that you had moved out.
suddenly change lock is illegal people!!!!

yup cannot change lock....

but TS, your story i feel got things u left out, whihc u duwan to tell us. pls be honest if you need help

Agreed with you here. as a landlord here, I wont change lock or cut utilities suddenly.
btw, u cant not pay last few months and asking ur landlord to deduct from deposits. can try but rarely ppl agree to this.
he or she can claim u defaulted. this is very common request.

no, i pay rent every month, it just most of the rental receipt i throw away.

bumpssss

If contract is over, why won't owner give u back deposit ? Even if follow the date in the agreement (1/1/2016), now already matured what

why you all guys dont understand the main problem ?
He claimed that i never rent fully 12 months, but i did however without much rental receipt, basically lost all rental receipt, only left all agreement and key, and deposit proof.
Question: if i take police action, should be no problem right ? mean can take back my deposit right? thats is

updated: refer to my first post, thanks

This post has been edited by yan7: Jan 2 2016, 09:40 AM

its unfortunate but this landlord is a rogue if you did indeed pay 12 months rent to him which means you did not
break the tenancy agreement.

even if you have lost the receipts you have bank statements to show that you have paid as evidence?

am not sure what the police will do though I doubt they will do much ..before you make the report, inform your ex landlord that you will
be making a police report and maybe that might "prompt" him to refund you the deposit..

you paid by cash or online transaction?
There is always evidence if you had done through online..

pay 12 months rent is equally stay for 12 months.

so you did not break the rules.

well, pay by cash, so.... how is it ? the owner say 'go ahead and report police' lol wtf

Can ask owner to show carbon copy receipt?

try file a tribunal case

lol owner refuse to show, therefore no proof lolz,
so....highly possible no return of deposit anymore?

Report 9 him to lhdn somemore. Its these ar$ehole landlord that spoils the market.
Good luck and sorry for you.

Share the owner info on media, fb, YouTube,etc

Ho ho ho. Happy New year !

Boss relax ,my opinion i think this is only TS side of story . Honestly , my family kena before as landlord . When tenant intent to move out , they will have ask you to deduct delay rental , deduct deposit etc etc . But from landlord point of view its no favorable especially the unit is fully furnished , obviously those fully furnish cost more than 2 months rental !

I didn't mean TS is those tenant that we met , But for me its too early to judge . Cheers!

Those day when after finish studying , i also tenant before . Really had bad experience when you really met CRUEL landlord .
That's why i love properties !

It's normal. Previously all my landlords are greedy whales. Trying to find any possible way to not give back deposit. Even wear and tear they wanna deduct from deposit. That's why the moment I could afford a place of my own I hopped on to it even if it's not very big and glamorous. I'm sorry that you met another one of those greedy whale landlords TS.

post address of property here.. Help him do some 'marketing'..

zzz the above replies seem no hope on it. so one of the option is spoil the owner reputation right?

bumps.... if it is still useless, lawless way must be use in this scenario

The thing that's left out is that TS looks like a naive young fellow who could be easily bamboozled by that absurd story. The owner already planned to forfeit the deposit, and so told him that crazy story about having to stay till 1/1/2016 as per contract. And what do you know, he swallowed it. Noticed his initial posts. He'd probably try to argue with the landlord on that point, lost the argument, and left disappointed. If it was you or I, the landlord wouldn't try anything so absurd. (He'd try some other tactic instead).

TS probably already previously informed the owner verbally that he would be moving out at the end of the year. The owner simply said nothing, allowed him to leave a few days early, and when he's gone, the locks were changed. When he went to return the keys and collect the deposit, the landlord surprised him with that clause.

He should go back and this time bring a friend. Someone older, who looks more experienced. Where does TS work? Got a friend who might pass off as a lawyer?

The unfortunately fact is, there's no such thing as "police action". You can go make a police report. But that does not mean a police officer will accompany you back to the landlord's home, and threaten him with jail if he does not refund you the deposit. For one thing, what he did is not a crime. For another, this isn't their job.

I don't know if you could get a claim at small claims court. Never tried it myself.

I like the UK system where the landlords do not get to keep the deposit. So they cannot simply trump up some violation on the tenant's part and refuse to refund the deposit. Sometimes, they don't even make the excuse. They simply try to avoid meeting or getting calls from the tenant. In one of my previous jobs, there was one landlord who played hide and seek for 3 years. In the end, my boss relented and wrote it off. After that, he does the other thing that's bad in Malaysia.

When they want to leave, some tenants do not inform the landlord. They simply drag the rental, paying later and later, until when they actually leave, they've used up all their deposits. This way, they're not left at the mercy of the landlord who may or may not refund their deposits. My employer, who was otherwise very good tenants, always paying promptly every month without being asked, did this with every subsequent shop that he left. Because he operated a chain, there were a lot of these. Unfortunately, this means the landlords lose money in the form of lost rentals. Instead of advertising for new tenants before the old tenants leave, they're surprised by the tenant leaving suddenly, with the result that the property is vacant for a few months while they look for another tenant.

That is just the tenants reacting to previous bad experience. Either their own, or their friends/relatives. You know the saying. Once bitten, twice shy.

What we need is the system they have in the UK.
https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/overview

dont have much to advise but from what i know on this statement.... when bring them into court / tribunal, the main thing is you as tenant will have to show proof if you had paid for the rental instead of the owner if they had received any rental fee or not.
Locking the main door is "crime". even if tenant dint pay rental for xx months.. owner still dont have the authority to lock / break in the house etc.. police report can be made on this issue.