Tenant Case Studies
Four Times the Deposit
Mr J contacted us because he had left a property where he had been a great tenant for more than three years and he returned the property to his landlord in a good condition. However, the landlord refused to refund the deposit.
After reviewing the case, we noticed that the landlord had not registered the deposit into any deposit protection scheme. We wrote to the landlord asking him to pay the deposit back and make a claim of penalty equals to three times of the deposit. The landlord initially refused to communicate with us in a very aggressive manner. After three notice letters, our solicitor submitted a claim through the court.
The judge ordered the landlord to pay an amount equal to four times the amount paid as the deposit as well as all the costs of the court proceedings.
What if your agent neglected your maintenance request
Ms L would like to share her story with you all: ‘I believe many of you agree that finding a room to rent has never been easy in London. I approached loads of estate agencies and one of them was really nice. They were like a ‘yes-man’ at that time, very helpful and always with a quick response. Everything was good until I actually moved in.
I found a crack and leak in the kitchen at the very beginning and my flatmate told me that the crack had been there for a while already. We thought it would better for us to report to the agent. The agent seemed to try to help, but after a few email conversations they showed their true colours. They ignored my email for over a month when the leak was getting serious. I had had enough with it, which was why I went to find property consultants to help my case and I was glad that I found JCRE.
JCRE dealt with the agent on my behalf, and there’s finally someone came to fix it in two weeks. I really appreciate how efficient and professional they are. They even gave me advice, like what should I do if anything similar happen in the future. I would definitely recommend JCRE to anyone who rented with a bad agency like me.
How to find your desirable home in London when you are overseas
Mr H contacted us when he received an offer to study at UCL. He instructed us to arrange viewings on his behalf while he was still in China. We first had a video conferencing/ online meeting with Mr H to understand his preferences in property search (budget, location and special requirements etc.). He initially had a budget of about £1,000. Also, his own bathroom is a must for him. Based on our long-term experience in central London, we helped him to finalise the feasible and optimal solution: an en-suite room around his campus or a studio in Zone 3-4 in South West London.
Then we searched the market and showed him the shortlisted property options. He chose 2 rooms and 1 studio out of those and instructed us to liaise with the agents for the viewings. After the viewings, we provided him all the necessary photos & videos plus viewing reports including property facilities, suggestive concerns, local area amenities and transportation for his consideration. He considered all the essential factors such as rental price, commute expenses, area and condition of the properties. He had chosen an en-suite room which was in a sharing property with 3 other tenants (one British student, one Italian young professional and one Korean student) only took 2 minutes’ walk from the UCL buildings he was about to attend. The monthly cost would be £1,200 which was slightly higher than his budget but after considering the daving of commuting expenses in London, he felt that was the most cost-effective option.
Mr H was satisfied with our service, so he also instructed us to carry out the paperwork review. We had done the due diligence check on the agent and property owner and confirmed all the necessary information; for instance, the regulation scheme, the redress scheme and the deposit protection scheme. Our residential specialised solicitor reviewed the tenancy agreement and made a suggestion of a change in the break clause as Mr H’s girlfriend might be coming to London in 5-6 months’ time. The amended break clause offered him better flexibility if he would like to relocate to a new place with his girlfriend.
After Mr H moved in his new home, we reviewed the paperwork and certificates. We then noticed that the prescribed information and HMO license were missing. We helped Mr H to draft an email to request those two documents from his agent and had the full set of documents by the first 25 days of his tenancy.