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.