21 Sep 2011 12:00 AM:

Hello out there,

I was wondering if anyone had any advice to share.  Long story short - we rented an apartment for 11 months and paid 2 months deposit (1800 EUR) as well as the first month rent and one month to the estate agents.  We left the apartment 11 months later, having paid our rent on time, every month.  

On 1 August, I received an email from the estate agent saying that the landlord wanted to meet us to do a walk through, when were we available and that he would call us.  

On 1 August (same day, about 4 hours later) I replied by email that I was available anytime.  That was the last time I heard from either of them.  

So after sending 8 unreturned emails to both landlord and real estate agent (same message - when can we meet, deposit return, etc.), 2 phone calls and 7 weeks later, I finally got a hold of the landlord to try to arrange the walk through and settle the deposit and was informed that he already did the walk through and he had decided that it cost the whole deposit to fix it because it was really dirty, he had to repaint it and clean it and that for example, the fridge was really dirty.  

Shocked.  

My husband and I lived there for 11 months, we don't smoke, we didn't have parties, and we don't own pets.  We never put anything up on the walls.  I kept that apartment in excellent shape and I even have a video that I did of the last day in the apartment, giving a minute long tour of a perfect and spotless apartment (I had met the landlord previously and he was a bit neurotic so I spent about a day scrubbing and cleaning and washing that apartment so it was in better condition than we received it).  

What angered me was that I know that I left the fridge spotless and the video proves it.  What angered me even more was that in the video, I am proudly showing off how well I cleaned that apartment.  I now believe this landlord is fishy and a bit of a liar.  

Anyway, we disputed his claims (for example, he said he spent 200EUR to clean an already cleaned 55sqm?? apartment and having it repainted when it was fine - there was nothing done to the walls, they were exactly the same as we found them) and asked for receipts to show the work but he refuses to show us anything without his lawyer.  We are trying to settle/negotiate this matter out of court but he keeps ignoring us.  

I just wondered if anybody knows if it is legal for him to keep all our deposit without having a walk through, without us signing anything and without showing us any receipts of the work he has done and if there is any obligation on his part to have done so.  I am also curious if he can just keep the deposit like that without having it dealt with by a second party.  

We had one conversation with him since he informed us that he was keeping the whole deposit and asked him to contact us by email so we have a record of our exchanges. He refuses to, he does not want to communicate by writing.  

What???

I smell a horrible scam and I am unsure whether or not we can take him to court.  I have copies of the contract, I have 8 emails I sent to him over a period of 7 weeks, I have a record of two phone calls, I have a video of a spotless apartment with the date of our departure and 2 more emails my husband sent outlining our situation (all unreturned).  I also have various photos of the past 11 months in the apartment where there is absolutely nothing wrong with it and you can clearly see.  

I don't actually hope anyone has experienced this same type of situation but would appreciate any advice or insight into Spanish law and/or our rights in this matter.  

Thank you!

Thread: Getting your deposit back? Tenant rights

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