# Rental Deposits



## Gazeebo (Jan 23, 2015)

Some of you may have been following my thread on other threads regarding problems with the state of a rental property.

Does anyone know where the landlord's agent is supposed to bank our deposit please?


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## Gazeebo (Jan 23, 2015)

Googled and read that it should be paid into a non-interest community account. Presumably the landlord or agent will have proof of this?


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Yes, the deposit (fianza) _should_ be held in an 'escrow' account - held by the local government (Consejeria de la Vivienda). However, I would guess that upward of 99% of landlords don't do this!

Recently, a good friend of ours rented a property. The contract stated that the money was to be held in such an account. Couple of months in and after many enquiries, the details of the account still hadn't materialised. The agent was not interested as "it was between the landlord and tenant" - this despite the agent organising the contract, agreeing that the deposit was to be held in this 'escrow' account etc. etc.

Any way, fast track 18 months, my friend has now moved out for a variety of reasons including everything from tiles lifting, electrics blowing up when things were plugged in etc. and the landlord not doing anything about it.

They left the place in a better state than they found it, paid all bills to date yet the landlord refuses to return the deposit which never did make it to an 'escrow' account.


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## Gazeebo (Jan 23, 2015)

snikpoh said:


> Yes, the deposit (fianza) _should_ be held in an 'escrow' account - held by the local government (Consejeria de la Vivienda). However, I would guess that upward of 99% of landlords don't do this!
> 
> Recently, a good friend of ours rented a property. The contract stated that the money was to be held in such an account. Couple of months in and after many enquiries, the details of the account still hadn't materialised. The agent was not interested as "it was between the landlord and tenant" - this despite the agent organising the contract, agreeing that the deposit was to be held in this 'escrow' account etc. etc.
> 
> ...


That is really worrying. At the end of the day, we are not willing to lose two months' rent paid as a deposit (we also paid a month in advance for the rent). We have a contract. We will now check with the legal cover part of the insurance we took out in England to see if, the landlord does not return the deposit, there is anything we can do. Maybe we are just panicking. :fingerscrossed: We thought we had all avenues covered with this rental, but maybe not.
We are meting with agent and landlord in about half an hour, and are asking for receipts for money paid to date. Could be interesting.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Gazeebo said:


> That is really worrying. At the end of the day, we are not willing to lose two months' rent paid as a deposit (we also paid a month in advance for the rent). We have a contract. We will now check with the legal cover part of the insurance we took out in England to see if, the landlord does not return the deposit, there is anything we can do. Maybe we are just panicking. :fingerscrossed: We thought we had all avenues covered with this rental, but maybe not.
> We are meting with agent and landlord in about half an hour, and are asking for receipts for money paid to date. Could be interesting.


Paying rent in advance is the same the world over - so nothing different there.

Paying a deposit against potential damages is the same everywhere. Whether you get it back is the same here as in UK - you are no more covered there than here.

So, don't panic unduly. If you were in this situation in UK, what would you do? In Spain you have the legal right to go after them if they don't return the deposit but this can be costly and time-consuming.

As a (law-abiding) landlord in Spain, I can't condone this but the practice seems to be to withhold the last two months rent in lieu of the rent. This is illegal but quite common. From a landlords perspective, if things are damaged, then they have no money to put these things right. Also, if the final utility bills go unpaid, again the landlord has no way to cover these bills unless they do so out of their own pocket.


Just hope for a good landlord. If necessary, don't pay any deposit unless it is into an escrow account. [which is not necessarily a "non-interest community account"]


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Gazeebo said:


> That is really worrying. At the end of the day, we are not willing to lose two months' rent paid as a deposit (we also paid a month in advance for the rent). We have a contract. We will now check with the legal cover part of the insurance we took out in England to see if, the landlord does not return the deposit, there is anything we can do. Maybe we are just panicking. :fingerscrossed: We thought we had all avenues covered with this rental, but maybe not.
> We are meting with agent and landlord in about half an hour, and are asking for receipts for money paid to date. Could be interesting.


Good luck....I posted on another thread what my advice would be....don't pay the last two months' rent. Yes, I know it's illegal but it's common practice. We realised very quickly that we were very unlikely to get our 1800 euros back so we didn't pay. We ignored all threats and after the first call put the agent's number on block. We cleaned the place up, arranged for our furniture and other stuff to be collected and moved to our new property,left the keys on the kitchen sink and shut the door behind us. We heard no more.
In reality, there is little a tenant can do to get redress. Or a landlord...as Snikpoh will surely agree.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

In our time here we have heard of many stories of deposits not being returned. Happened to us too. However, very often the threat of denuncia will be enough to stir the landlord into returning the deposit and we have seen this happen several times here. It probably won't come to this but if it does then this is another avenue you might use to get your money back. Assuming, of course, you don't trash the place...


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

thrax said:


> In our time here we have heard of many stories of deposits not being returned. Happened to us too. However, very often the threat of denuncia will be enough to stir the landlord into returning the deposit and we have seen this happen several times here. It probably won't come to this but if it does then this is another avenue you might use to get your money back. Assuming, of course, you don't trash the place...


Surely the police won't be interested in what is essentially a civil matter, though....
Most denuncias come to nothing anyway, assuming the police even bother to follow through. Those landlords must have been easily scared.I went to the police about a car dealer who sold me a car with fake ITV papers. They told me I should have researched the car's history before buying...Not interested in receiving a denuncia for an obvious crime, so doubt they'll be interested in a landlord/tenant dispute, unless perhaps they decide to get involved if the landlord cuts off utilities with a tenant in residence. 
Best way...don't pay until your deposit is used up.


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## Gazeebo (Jan 23, 2015)

Hello all. Had a meeting with the landlady and agent regarding state of the property. Fortunately agent agreed with us and even though I said I was going to spend the week cleaning, she, the agent, has left us 50 euros and arranged for her cleaner to come in and give us 5 hours work. She agreed with us about the condition of the property and, in particular, the state of the matresses and bedding. Unfortunately, the landlady has refused to buy a new matress but seems to have agreed to have it steam cleaned! We will wait and see. :fingerscrossed:

So, although I cannot name the agent at this moment in time - thank you!

As for the deposit, we will wait and see what happens in 6 months' time. However, there is no way we will be losing the deposit.


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