房东如何掏空你的存款？

Q168

How landlords burn your savings
房东如何掏空你的存款
Like millions of others who live in London, I rent.

Owning a city home sounds great. But when you crunch the numbers itâ s simply unrealistic.

Take the average £367, 785 London house (yes, thatâ s the staggering average price now). A 10 pc deposit would set you back £36, 779 in one gulp. Repaying the remainder at 5 pc a year would work out at £1, 935 a month ( see our mortgage calculator). Too expensive by half, youâ ll agree - even if it is an extreme example.

So I rent.

Recently, on moving flats, I was reminded of one of the major problems with renting: stumping up the deposit. Landlords typically ask for six weeksâ rent from tenants, which traditionally has been a fallback to cover monthly payments that go missing.

Usually the landlord has a mortgage to square off; itâ s a simple necessity to have something in the kitty in case a tenant fails to pay up.

However, I increasingly hear of greedy landlords raiding this deposit fund for their own gain. They cite poor treatment of the property, which may have broken a nasty condition written into the contract.

Some landlords even whack down deductions for what you or I - or any right-minded observer - would class normal wear and tear.

Q168

I recently heard of a case where a wobbly toilet seat and a minor mark on a carpet were deemed a £200 expense. The worst kind of landlord, though, doesnâ t even bother matching their demands to reality. For example, one former landlord tried to charge me £140 for 'professional cleaning' of a flat which had been scrubbed, wiped, dusted, washed, hoovered, and shampood (carpets) to a very high standard by a professional company just days before for a similar cost. Or how about the case of a friend charged £300 to replace a sofa which had been damaged by previous tenants? The list of attempted theft goes on.

This greed, aside from the obvious injustice, I blame for causing a serious problem when you move.

Q168

To avoid living on the street, you have to sign a contract on a new place before leaving your current one. When doing this, youâ re forced to put down a NEW deposit, too. Yet landlords, set on siphoning off some of your hard-earned cash when you move out, wonâ t return your current deposit until youâ ve moved out,   even if youâ ve paid your rent to the end of the contract.

This means renters are forced to dig deep into their savings - or beg and borrow if they have none â just to move flat.

There are plenty of decent landlords out there for whom this will make frustrating reading. But the holding of deposit cash until someone has left a tenancy seems a highly unfair system to me. Put simply, tenants - already hit twice by outrageous agency fees on moving in and out of rented properties, remember - are being treated as cash piñatas.

Q168

Hereâ s my suggestion. How about the landlord conducts a thorough check of the property two weeks prior to the move-out date. The whole deposit is then returned to the tenant, minus any deductions deemed necessary. These are held by an independent deposit scheme until after the move has been completed. They can then be disputed or agreed and used by the landlord for repair work. That way, the tenant at least has some immediate cash to put down on the new place and the landlord is no worse off.

This system is still open to abuse by greedy landlords, but it seems a great deal fairer. Which is why, sadly, I doubt it'll ever to catch on.

Q168

房东如何掏空你的存款
和成千上万居住在伦敦的人一样，我选择了租房住。在城市里拥有一处房产听起来真不错，但是计算一下数字，你就会发现这只是天方夜谭。

    以平均367，785英镑的伦敦房子计算（是的，这庞大的数字现在仅仅是均价）。10平房子的首付会让你一次性破费36，779英镑。每年按揭5平需要一个月节省出1，936英镑（参见抵押贷款计算表）。太贵了，是吧？——即使这是个很极端的例子。

    所以我选择租房。

    最近，我想起了在租房中出现的一个主要问题：付保证金。房东一般要求房客租六周以上，传统上可靠的按月付款已不复存在。通产房东会摆出一项抵押贷款；只是为了在房客付不起租金的情况下作为储备。

    然而，我听说越来越多的贪心房东将这些储备基金揣入自己的腰包。他们用了不平等待遇的资产，可能已经打破了写入合同中的令人生厌的条件了。

Q168

  有些房东甚至因为你我是正直的人就使劲扣钱，这是正常情况吗？我最近听到这样一件事，摇晃的马桶座和地毯上的小痕迹就被扣除200英镑的费用。最恶劣的房东甚至不屑于将他们的要求付诸实施。例如，一个前房东为房子的“专业清洁”而试图向我收140英镑的费用，说什么几天前已经按照专业清洁公司的高标准进行擦，抹，掸，洗，刷过了，只是成本费而已。还有一个朋友因为换了被之前的租户损坏了的沙发就扣300英镑的费用。还有企图盗窃的单子呢。

    贪婪，还有明显的不公，我强烈谴责这种租房中造成的严重问题。

    为避免睡大街，在离开现住地方之前你必须为新租房子签署一份合约。这样做时，你又不得不再交一次保证金。然而，只要你想搬走，房东就会想方设法窃取你辛辛苦苦挣来的钱，直到你搬出去都不会返还现在的保证金，即使到合同期末的租金你都已经付过了。这就意味着房客被迫花掉大笔储蓄——没有的话就乞讨或借钱——只是为了搬家。

Q168

对于很多像样的房东来说，这的确很令人沮丧。但是直到某人弃租前一直持保证金对我来说是绝对不公平的做法。简而言之，租户因为租房已经遭遇缴两次可恶的代理费，记住教训——被视为现金皮纳塔。

    以下是我的建议。在租约期限到期前两周房东进行一次彻底的检查怎么样？然后所有保证金全部归还租户，扣除任何认为必要的费用。直到搬家完成后，这些都由独立的保证金计划实施。他们可以同意或不同意房东进行修复工作。这样，租户至少还有些现金来租别的房子，房东的情况也不会变糟。

    这种方式仍然被贪婪的房东们公开滥用，但是似乎公平了许多。可悲的是，我担心它会再度盛行。