RE unscrupulous landlords in Leeds – this is not an isolated incident and many students suffer financially after 'returnable deposits' are kept by unprincipled and ruthless landlords or landlords' managing agents.
My daughter and her two friends were left with no pocket money for holidays after their graduations because the letting company kept the girls' deposit in, presumably, their client account for almost two months, earning interest on £900 whilst claimi
ng to have to wait for an invoice from their cleaners, which is about £45.
The girls' tenancy ended on June 30 and one of the three girls returned the keys to the flat after she showed a receipt for a professional cleaning.
Whether the agency provided the girls with a final inventory check list against the original inventory list, on which was recorded that the flat was left in a need of a second professional cleaning, cannot be confirmed until the girl who was last in the flat and in the agency, would return from her holiday. However, that would only throw a light on the need for the cleaning, it would not justify the letting company keeping the full £900 and earning interest on the amount for two months.
Students everywhere have no income and only a limited access to their parents' money, but they are often too embarrassed to question the conduct of the landlords or their managing agents and tell their parents about the unreturned deposits.
It is shameful that the landlords who profit in students' towns are so dishonest and greedy.
Lady V B Bilek, Chelsea, London
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