Deposit Enquiry/ Issues

I app**** for an apartment with my flat mate. We got the place but it was not what we expected and when we communicated our concerns the building manager was rude and not efficient at all. We then realised that the apartment was having more issues, I.e having bugs and more mould than we found when we arrived and decided that we are not going to be staying long.

We sent a text to the lease agent, who then sent a link to use to inform them that we’re planning to leave on the 31/12/2023. We sent the notification on the 8th of Dec, and because in the contract there’s a clause that says we need to notify them of our departure within 30 days but we’re not allowed to move in on the 1st of Dec as the lease stipulated. Now that we decided we wanted to leave, we asked the lease agent about the rent deduction and the deposit. She said that because we will be submitting our vacancy notice we won’t get the penalty fee and the rent for January will not be deducted.

We left and the exit inspection was done on our absence as we gave permission for it and had to dispute that the bedroom door had chirps and we will have to pay for the damages. The dispute was said to be solved by the end of Jan, and when we sent a follow up email on the deposit team we did not get response until we included the senior building manager in the next follow up email.

So now when we received the deposit, they deducted the 50% rent reversal penalty from the actual deposit and sent a statement that broke down the deductions. The statement showed that the rent was deducted and reversed on the 1st which was not even the date on the debit order mandate. We tried asking why it was deducted and were told that we informed them late that we are leaving even though we asked and were told that we will not be paying any penalty fee. The reason we decided to leave early is because of the treatment we got and matters not being resolved and now it’s made worse with the deduction of the money in the deposit.