26 Sep 2014 9:57 AM:

Hello everybody,

I have big problem that I am hoping that someone can give me some advice about.

From SEP13 to JUN14 I was living in Spain with my ex-girlfriend. We are both UK citizens and English teachers and had a contract to work in a small English school in Figueres, Catalonia. This is a small town and we rented a 4-bed flat through a rental agency recommended at the school. At the beginning of the contract we paid 900euros deposit (2 months rent).

The apartment was pretty old and clearly hadn't been lived in for a while when we moved in. Before we started cleaning I took loads of photos to show how dirty it was. We then spent about 3 days cleaning the place.

During the tenancy we had a problem with a gas bill. When we recieved it, it was excessivley high. It was at this point we discovered that the landlord was difficult as he insisted to the agency that we should pay the bill. After about 2 months of wrangling we got the landlord to agree to pay if there was a problem in the house.

An engineer came out and found that a.) the boiler was broken and excessivley using gas and b.) there was a gas leak. Still the landlord protested and in the end we paid about a third of the bill.

At the end of the tenancy we paid all our bills up to date and gave the apatment a good clean leaving it in a far better state than when we moved in. This was the end of JUN and we moved back to the UK (where I am now).

The agency assured us that we would get our deposit within about two weeks. I left my email for them to contact if there is any problems. My Spanish is not good but there was one or two people in the office who spoke good english.

As the summer rolled on no deposit or email explaining why was recieved. I called the agency a couple of times but could never get anyone that spoke good english.

Mid-Sep I contacted my old boss (English but fluent in Spanish) to go in and find out what was happening. Aparently they had been having more problems ith the landlord and they had decided to take money for the deposit for 'cleaning'.

Eventually on 19SEP I recived a deposit back of 39 euros. I was astounded, they had taken 861 euros for cleaning. This seems utterly ridiculous as as I said the apartment was left cleaner than when it was found (and may I add nothing was broken).

I have asked the agency to give a full breakdown of what this money is for, but I feel completley rinsed. They have taken far too much money without my consent. It is theft.

I will also add when I was in Spain the agency were very nice, polite and helpful and admitted on several occasions that this landlord was particuarly difficult.

I need to know what the best thing to do now is. Can I do anthing? Has anyone had a similar experience? Doesn't the deposit go into a deposit protection like the UK? Do I have any rights in Spain?

If I need to write anything in Spanish I have several friends in the town I am still in contact with who can help me, including one prominent local buissnessman (CEO of one of the biggest employers).

Any help/ advice anyone can give would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Ben

 

 

 

 

 

Thread: Agency seems to have stolen 900 euros of my money - help/ advice needed!!!

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