BenryGale

Unfortunately no, I didn't do it in writing. I did it face to face and my bank manager acknowledged it...then forgot. I really wish I had written a letter instead of seeing him face to face. I realise that the claim of damage from the house is a seperate issue, I'm trying to deal with that by asking them to produce receipts for this €300 grass cutting. But as far as I can tell, my bank charged me twice. First the rental agency billed me for the damage and that came out of my current account, that's pretty normal. Then when my bank opened the secure account, they read the rental agency's report and said "Oh look, damage was done to the house, lets deduct that" and so I'm paying for the same thing twice.

Yes I have those documents and photocopies. But those details were missing on the original documents. It's not something you would notice, unless you walk over the exact part of the floor with the air bubble, you won't make a note of it. I did, my agent did, the woman I was renting from did at the time, but now says otherwise. Unfortunately whoever did the inventory, missed that spot.

I leased a house just outside Paris while waiting on my home in the UK to sell. My buyer was fine and it was just a matter of lining up the dates. I used a home finder agency who found one house which I was seriously thinking of buying at the time. During the first viewing a small detail came up, it meant nothing at the time but it's a major pain at the moment. We noticed that there was a minor problem with the floor in one room, not a major one, just a small air bubble where it wasn't put down correctly. Both the owner, the agent and myself were all aware of this. There was also a tree in the garden, one half of the tree was fine, the other half was getting too much sun and had no greenery. I noticed it but since I'm not into tree surgery, I didn't pay much attention to it. So anyway, we rented etc. but we had to give them a years rent in advance, stored in a secure bank account that no one can touch. Along with a seperate three months deposit. Just under a year later, I was offered a job in England. I informed the rental agency that I was leaving France, I gave them three months notice (as I am required to do) And they did an inventory to make sure the house was in the same condition as when I first moved in. They said that six weeks after I moved out, the secure account would be opened up and sent to me. That was four months ago. I've been dealing with the banks for months and still nothing. Yesterday my bank manager said that he had been trying to transfer the money to me for the past three days, it kept bouncing back....oh wait it just went through (but it may bounce back again). I'm sure he's just lying, I don't believe that he was trying and bouncing, but it just happened to work when I called, that just sounds like an excuse. But the best part is, the sixteen thousand I had in that account, is now down to fifteen thousand for two reasons. Reason one: Damage was done to the house, they are deducting money for that air bubble in the floor that was there when I moved in. They are claiming I caused that. They also claim that a tree was dying and the grass wasn't properly cut. Even though I cut the grass the week I left and the tree was in the same condition as when I moved in. I'm sure they are just finding any way they can to milk me for money, I contacted my agent and requested to see receipts for what I paid for but have yet to receive them. (apparently it cost €300 to cut the grass...seriously?) Reason two: Remember I gave three months notice, well, I asked my bank to cancel my direct debit for the rent. They didn't do this and continued to send money to my rental agency after I left. So because they forgot to cancel a direct debit like I told them, my account went into an overdraft and they are now billing me for that. Oh yeah, when I first set up my account I asked them not to install an overdraft facility. So because they put something into my account that I didn't ask for and because they didn't cancel a direct debit like I instructed them, I'm now paying them for their own incompetence. The worst part is, all the so called damage to the house. I paid for that out of my current account. But my bank is also deducting it from my secure account. I'm being billed twice. I would consider this theft, incompetence and a complete lack of ethics on the parts of my bank and rental agency. I still haven't received my 15 or 16 thousand. Does anyone have any suggestions because I am considering taking this up as a legal matter. So any suggestions? Where do I turn?