KISSING GOODBYE TO TENANCY DEPOSITS

A couple of months back I raised the hot topic of lost deposits on rental properties. The pros had their say of course and why not? Tenants are not against deposits in principle but there is weary resignation that they can kiss their deposit goodbye. For this reason many properties stay empty.

We walked away from several we were looking at - and they are still empty. Some wanted two months rental-deposit so a €500 tenancy requires €1,500 upfront and ’trust me’ on getting the €1,000 back. Dream on! Pull the other one.

Short-term greed is losing long term gain. A €600 pm property losing the security and maintenance of a tenant and €7,200 rent a year for a lousy €600. Duh!

Why raise the point again? Dear friends of ours, a hard-working couple with a perfect record of tenancy have just been fleeced of their deposit. They had placed a €1,100 (two months rent); left the house as they found it but only €500 was transferred to their account without even an explanation. Not surprisingly, she and her husband are fuming at the theft, for that is what it is. Nothing has changed my opinion, pay a deposit and presume to forfeit it.

Did they rent through an official agent, so called "agent" or one of the many working from home on the internet? Now that sales are few and far between with much lower commisions many are relying on rentals to make ends meet and unfortunately what you describe is common place. When you dig deeper you find that many are also taking a finders fee from the tenants as well as the commission from the property owners. Best advice is to rent direct from the owners whenever possible.

Does Spain have tenancy deposit protection schemes in operation?  Scandalous behaviour.

Good question Christos.......all of these incidents that increasingly bring into question consumer protection issues in Spain need to be resolved if Spain is ever to recover purchaser's/renter's trust.

I keep pressing the point about the dire need for adequate timely consumer protection/justice across member states and the need to establish a reputable independent system of accreditation for the various professions to route out the bad apples from within.

Let's hope that those in power both in Spain and the European Commission, start to heed the message and replicate good practice wherever it exists, learn lessons, and bring to the table a workable and fair package of reform (ever the optimist!).

It's unfair not only to innocent consumers caught up in these abusive practices but also those who are desperately and courageously striving for reform from within (for whom I remain very grateful).

I thought that 2 months rent was normal. Then when you give notice, min 1 month, you don't actually pay the last month. So effective only 1 month deposit. Could this be what happened with MW friends?

You should always use the deposit to pay the last month's rent, or in this case, the last 2 months rent.  This is what the Spanish do as they know they will never get their deposit back otherwise.