The landlord threatens to keep my deposit. Help!

Your complaint will not be a valued one as you are not the tenant and you have no legal papers with you. You can refer someone as a replacement and make arrangements with him regarding the money. That's the best option you have up front.

Since you have not contract, and are not even the registered tenant you really have no case at all.

Do you really expect the person you are renting from, to not be able to show the room and thus unable to rent it out until you've left? I don't see there being a problem if he's only asking for one hour per day, certainly you could arrange a time when you would be there too.

If you don't want him to show the room, then you should be prepared to lose the deposit since you are costing him money in lost rental.

Your choice!

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team

Thanks guys for the advice.

Well l told him that thats OK he can send people to view the place an hour daily and now he says NO. you either find someone to rent the place or l keep the deposit and u stay longer with the deposit money. l was like what the hell u cant do that. ANd now he blocked me on whatsapp, l cant contact him.

He is such a pain.

Umut_teacher wrote:

Thanks guys for the advice.

Well l told him that thats OK he can send people to view the place an hour daily and now he says NO. you either find someone to rent the place or l keep the deposit and u stay longer with the deposit money. l was like what the hell u cant do that. ANd now he blocked me on whatsapp, l cant contact him.

He is such a pain.

Everything depends on how you handle the people. In your previous quote, it's clearly understood that you were not cooperative to him even though you were staying without any legal documents. And now you are flexible which means, you came to his track. Definitely he will make use of this opportunity and it's not odd.

What the hell are u saying dude? That doesnt mean he has the right to take advantage of the situation knowing the fact that l am not the only guy staying the in the apartment. The building manager and security guys are aware of the situation. He is not allowed to enter thebuilding.

lf things dont work well l will take actions. l dont have the legal papers to stay there but he has no right to hold my money.

l was looking for advice, not ur opinion/comment.

Umut_teacher wrote:

What the hell are u saying dude? That doesnt mean he has the right to take advantage of the situation knowing the fact that l am not the only guy staying the in the apartment. The building manager and security guys are aware of the situation. He is not allowed to enter thebuilding.

lf things dont work well l will take actions. l dont have the legal papers to stay there but he has no right to hold my money.

l was looking for advice, not ur opinion/comment.

Advice is based on opinions, experiences and facts.  I'll remind you that everyone is free to comment here on this site.  Don't get upset because you don't like the answer to the question you asked. Remember, you are paying nothing for the responses given to you here; we give our time freely in order to help others.

With that said, and as James pointed out before, you have no leg to stand on without legal documents to stay there.  Since you have none, he does not have to cooperate with your understanding of what is fair.  Next time, be smarter and do it the right way with a tenancy contract, where your rights and obligations are spelled out for you.

Umut_teacher wrote:

Thanks guys for the advice.

Well l told him that thats OK he can send people to view the place an hour daily and now he says NO. you either find someone to rent the place or l keep the deposit and u stay longer with the deposit money. l was like what the hell u cant do that. ANd now he blocked me on whatsapp, l cant contact him.

He is such a pain.

It looks like your landlord has decided that since you did not wish to cooperate with showing the apartment that he too would take a hard line. He's given you his ultimatum, either find someone to take over the rental or he'll keep the deposit and you can stay until that runs out.

Since you have no rental contract there is little, if anything, that you can do. I'd recommend that you accept one of the options he has given you that will cause you the least inconvenience and go with it.

It's worth remembering that: a) you're not in your home country so laws are likely to be quite different; b) he is in his home country, so he will automatically be favored by the courts in any action against an expat; c) you have no contract, thus no proof of anything agreed to; d) he could simply show up and evict you on the spot if he chose to do so, and that would be a much more difficult situation.

Obviously the two of you are no longer on good terms, and trying to speak to him will be virtually impossible and not likely to improve matters. Time to cut your losses, find a renter or stay until the deposit runs out and hightail it on out of there, without any further confrontations.

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team

Your quote itself proves that you are not ready to accept what people say. We all have tried to make you aware of the situation, but you are expecting the answers according to your perspective and you want the people to behave according to your convenience. It's clearly understood that you made issues with the landlord , even though you don't have any right to (which means you don't have any right to). I don't think anyone can help you in this matter since you are too sclerotic.

Umut_teacher wrote:

What the hell are u saying dude? That doesnt mean he has the right to take advantage of the situation knowing the fact that l am not the only guy staying the in the apartment. The building manager and security guys are aware of the situation. He is not allowed to enter thebuilding.

lf things dont work well l will take actions. l dont have the legal papers to stay there but he has no right to hold my money.

l was looking for advice, not ur opinion/comment.

Hello Umit,

Please find out the answers for these questions by yourself.

1. In your quote, it's mentioned as you are not the only guy staying in the apartment. How about   others? Are they facing the same problem?

2.How can you say he is not allowed to enter the building since he is the landlord and you are staying without any records?

3. You give value for your money. Same like, the landlord also invested his money by expecting income from it. Do you think it as fare by just asking your deposit money and blocking interested people to see the room before you move?

4.What is the action that you are going to take since you don't have any records?

5.. And about your last point, you are looking for advice, not opinion. What does it mean? Do you think all should answer according to your expectations?

It's clearly understood that you were not cooperating with your landlord, even though you were staying in his apartment illegally. (You don't have any papers to prove). No one can blame him for being annoyed by your attitude. Now you are showing your frustrations to the people who give you ideas and opinions( or comments as mentioned in your quote) . You should accept the fact, you have no right to re size my feet according to the shoes you make.

Hello Linda,

Thank you for your response.

First of all, of course l am open to recommendations and comments but what l wanted to clarify is some people are not sympathizing my issue it seems. Of course l know that l should have rented it from  the beginning in order not to have the issue l do now but whats done is done. l was expecting to receive some advice on what to do on my current situation.

For your questions, yes that guy is not technically landlord, he is also tenant himself, thats why why HE IS DONE FROM THE BEGINNING IS NOT RIGHT.

YES, there are like 7 other rooms in the apartment which are occupied by people. This actual legal tenant is making a lot of money.

l let him send people to view the room and l am OK with that but he is being really rude and careless that you cant imagine.  He replies to my requests only when the rent pay comes.

ROmaniac, instead of trying to give me a lesson why dont u learn the difference between opinion and fact?

Let me remind you that you are not that you are not that free to say whatever comes to your mind considering the manners and attitudes. l am not upset at all, what l have been trying to say is l am not seeking comments.

I WANTED TO GET IN TOUCH WITH GUYS WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED THE SAME ISSUE SO THAT I COULD GAIN SOME IDEAS ON WHAT TO DO TO BE ABLE TO DEAL WITH MY CURRENT ISSUE.

l KNOW THAT L HAVE NO LEGAL RIGHTS TO CLAIM ANYTHING FOR THE PLACE, BUT WHAT THE GUY IS DOING WORSE. HE IS RENTING THE APARTMENT EVEN THOUGH HE IS THE TENANT HIMSELF.

Again l dont need you to tell me what to do next time, Thats not what l have been asking for lf you read my issue at the beginning you wouldnt be saying this.

Btw did u write your judgemental comment after or before you found out that l am Turkish?

Hello James,

Thank you very much for your helpful message. You are the only one who answered my questions and gave me some ideas on what to do. l guess you understand what l am going through a lot better than the others here.

The others are giving their opinions based on you should have done/ should have done which l dont need at all. Of course everyone is open to comment freely but l am in a situation where l have no place to receive judgemental comments rather than useful advice.

ANyways, it seems l will keep on staying until the deposit amount runs out. And the renter is not local, he is Syrian actually. ANd he is not the landlord, he has rented the whole apartment from a landlord.

Thanks a lot.

l think l should make things clear. lts not l am not aware of whats happening here. of course l am and l made this mistake which l admit but this is njot what l am looking for here. l just needed a bit of advice by experienced guys,

and l made another mistake by sharing it here cos it seems l am wasting my time and writing responses to you.

Hi everybody,

Please calm down. There is no need to argue here please.

Thanks,

Priscilla

Dear Umut teacher.. if you are so serious about your money then stay in the place until the deposit money covers. Legally speaking hes also doing this business illegal and u r also living illegally. But when considering the loss on a legal fight the biggest loss will be for him. It can create trouble to him and u may juz loose 1500 if u really gonna fight. So you have all the right to threaten him and create an issue there. But considering in a human way hes also right and he cannot loose his money also by keeping vacant his premises after u vacate.

THE INTERNATIONAL LAW IS YOU NEED TO GIVE 30 DAYS NOTICE  FOR MOVING OUT

30 DAYS NOTICE

MEANS UNDERESTANDING THAT THE PERSON LET YOU AND HELP YOU TO LIVE THERE IS ALSO HUMAN AND NEED TO ARANGE HIS OR HER LIFE

AND    MS. Umut_teacher    PLS BE POLITE ON YOUR WRITTING AS YOU ARE LIVINING IN UNITED ARAB EMIRATES  AND IN THIS COUNTRY SAYING BAD WORD TO PEOPLE IS AGAINST THE LAW

I DONT KNOW YOU OR THE PERSON LET YOU STAY THERE  AND I DONT NEED ANY RESPOND FROM YOU ,THIS WAS ANSWER OPINION ON YOUR REQUEST FROM PEOPLE

Hi Al sabah > Thank you for your contribution. Just to inform that members should please avoid caps lock on the forum.

again please calm down.