Is this fair/right?

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atot

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We gave less than a month's notice in for leaving the yard (it was pretty urgent, so it was literally only a weeks notice.) The YO refused to give us the £400 deposit back...Mum was a bit cross, but understood because we gave v. short notice, and it meant they were losing their only full livery client....

Are YO's allowed to do that....I thought it was especially cheeky, considering the fact that they've now given C's stable to someone else, even though we haven't actually left yet (leaving this Saturday...yipeee) So she's now out 24/7 for the last few days. funny how they "didn't have enough space" when we asked for her to go out 24/7 quite recently - but now when they really need to they can organise for my horse to go out in a field with only one other horse to prevent injury just before she leaves us for 3 months.

Thoughts on the deposit thing?? Thought it was pretty stingy, personally...
 
How much were you paying per week?

If you had paid for a month's notice, even if you didn't take a whole month to leave, then it should affect your deposit/bond being returned in my opinion.
 
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How much were you paying per week?

If you had paid for a month's notice, even if you didn't take a whole month to leave, then it should affect your deposit/bond being returned in my opinion.

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per week it must've been....*tots up numbers*....roughly £115. I thought that too - there is absolutely no arguing with her though. Rather than kick up a fuss we are just getting out. Want nothing to do with that yard ever again.
 
Well that makes it a bit different. Had you been talking of just £30 a week perhaps in DIY, then it'd make it worthwhile to pay the month's notice in order to be granted the £400 in returned deposit.

I'm not sure where you stand, but no doubt your agreement will state the deposit is only returnable when a month's notice is paid for or served? I assume this is why the deposit is such a high fee. I've not heard of anyone paying that much before.
 
Yep, and she stated that on the phone - but quite a few people just don't have the time to give a months notice. If they find a better place, they will want to leave asap, so I guess that's why it's so high.
 
As a yard owner I am on the other side of the fence, I too ask for a months deposit in advance so that the livery client will then give me a months notice to try to replace the soon to be lost income. We tend to count on all our income and so for a livery to just leave within in a week can make quite a difference to our day to day living & running of the yard, I am sure you & your finances would be effected if your boss dropped your wages next week by a considerable amount. If you signed a contract that stated 1 month notice was required then I am affraid it is legally binding.
 
Do all yards charge a deposit?

I've got two liveries currently and have had others in the past. I've never asked for a deposit.
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To be honest, you should insist on having a stable - if you have paid for it, then you should also insist that you KEEP your stable just in case you would like to return to it during the month. Perhaps you want to store something in there?
 
If you have only given the YO a weeks notice then I would say the YO is well within their rights to keep the deposit as like Dressage_Babe said it will effect their income. However I would definately demand the stable back as in effect you are still paying for the use of it until you leave.
 
I would say that if you have paid a full month in lieu of notice, then your deposit should be refunded, if you have not paid up-front for the month, then she has every right not to refund.
 
I think you should pay for the next month if that's what you agreed to in the contract. If that is the same as your deposit, then no, you shouldn't get it back.

However I think if you went to them and expressed you displeasure at them using your stable before you've left, maybe they will come to an arrangement with you.
 
No - woops. I only found that out tonight. But no doubt they will send us the bill for the rest of the month which we did not stay at the yard for. So it IS fair that they keep the deposit then....
 
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As a yard owner I am on the other side of the fence, I too ask for a months deposit in advance so that the livery client will then give me a months notice to try to replace the soon to be lost income. We tend to count on all our income and so for a livery to just leave within in a week can make quite a difference to our day to day living & running of the yard, I am sure you & your finances would be effected if your boss dropped your wages next week by a considerable amount. If you signed a contract that stated 1 month notice was required then I am affraid it is legally binding.

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I totally understand what you are saying. But they are not losing income - they've filled my horse's stable with another horse already, and my horse is spending her last few days there out 24/7 (which we both want, so we gave permission for that!). I'm not trying to wriggle out of it at all - we are decent clients, but they do not like the fact that their only full livery is leaving. Of course if it's legally binding we will obey. I should've found out before I posted this whether we had paid the monthly bill, which we haven't. But they YO will be sending that to us in the post - fair enough, because we didn't give a months notice. Sorry for the confusion!
 
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I'm sure you would want a month's notice if she had wanted you to leave.......wouldn't you????

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Course I would. But then wouldn't you want the YO to do a proper job, in order for your money to be well spent!
 
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To be honest, you should insist on having a stable - if you have paid for it, then you should also insist that you KEEP your stable just in case you would like to return to it during the month. Perhaps you want to store something in there?

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We've paid for it, but we're doing a favour for a friend, who really needs a stable for her horse. She was terribly worried, and we got a call asking if they could have the stable until we leave - mum made it clear that it was a big ask for us, but she said it was okay for her to have it, as long as they would put her in a suitable situation which suited us. We did after all ask for our horse to go out 24/7 a few weeks back, but they said there wasn't enough space.
 
So the YO is being paid twice for the same stable. Hmmm. Sounds like a good deal. Make life unpleasant so that people leave, then charge them for the privilege and rent the same stable out to make twice the money.
 
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I would say that if you have paid a full month in lieu of notice, then your deposit should be refunded, if you have not paid up-front for the month, then she has every right not to refund.

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Okay, I understand a bit more now.
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But, at the end of the month, we assume she will send us the last monthly bill. Because we didn't give a months notice, we still wouldn't be entitled to the deposit would we?

Thank you everyone for the explaining - I know I haven't put myself in a good light here, I stupidly forgot to ask if we had paid the monthly bill.
 
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I'm not too sure to be honest, sorry I'm not really much help!

Which yard did you choose in the end though??
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We changed circumstances pretty quickly, because of a lot of things, so all my yard research has gone out the window.
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She's going to a family friends for 3 months during my exams (and half the summer!). Mum just thought it would be best, because I worry about her quite a bit, she wanted to see if it would stop my headaches, and give me a bit more to concentrate on my looming gcse's.
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If it were me then I would work out a months notice and then knock off the £400 deposit YO is keeping and then see if you owe her or she owes you? So if you are paying £115/week then a month's notice is £498.33 - £400 deposit so you owe her £98.33 and I would NOT be prepared to pay her anymore than that regardless of whether she bills you for more or not. Especially as she has filled your stable already.
When we left the last place we moved on the 8th of the month but still paid for the full month, mad YO's weren't grateful as they told people we'd knicked their fencing when we left - yeah right rusty barb wire and no fence at the top of the field - we took our own electric posts and tape but none of their stuff!
 
But, then we didn't give a months notice, so even though it doesn't affect their amount of income, we still wouldn't be allowed the deposit back.
 
IMO doesn't matter when you give your notice whether you stay the month or not, a months notice is that - so pay for the month and no more, regardless of whether you are there or not! Does that make sense?
 
I paid a month in advance and was 2 weeks through the month when I went down to my pony. His field was right next to the M6 and when I went to get him in, the fencing was down (he could've stepped over it). I told the YO, who said they knew but didn't have time to fix it. To cut a long story short, I rode him off the yard and found somewhere for him that afternoon and we didn't return. YO's tried to get 2 weeks more livery from me as I hadn't given a months notice. I refused. They took me to court, I counter claimed against them as they had a duty of care for my horse that they didn't carry out. I won. One very p****d off YO but one very happy and £200 richer ex-livery.

I know this doesn't entirely match your situation but I just thought I'd share it with you ;-)
 
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IMO doesn't matter when you give your notice whether you stay the month or not, a months notice is that - so pay for the month and no more, regardless of whether you are there or not! Does that make sense?

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Not really....
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I paid a month in advance and was 2 weeks through the month when I went down to my pony. His field was right next to the M6 and when I went to get him in, the fencing was down (he could've stepped over it). I told the YO, who said they knew but didn't have time to fix it. To cut a long story short, I rode him off the yard and found somewhere for him that afternoon and we didn't return. YO's tried to get 2 weeks more livery from me as I hadn't given a months notice. I refused. They took me to court, I counter claimed against them as they had a duty of care for my horse that they didn't carry out. I won. One very p****d off YO but one very happy and £200 richer ex-livery.

I know this doesn't entirely match your situation but I just thought I'd share it with you ;-)

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Interesting story, thank you. I could take them up on a lot of things, very similiar to what you said - But I'd rather just be out of there, then get more involved. I'm glad you won!!
 
Ok, so disregard the fact that the £400 was your deposit, look on it as payment towards your livery bill.

Day 1 - hand your notice in.
Day 7 (?) - you move off yard, so not technically given a months notice.
Day 30 - end of the month's notice.

So all you need to pay YO for is the 30 days as above, really doesn't matter that you weren't on site for some of it.

So all you need to pay is for that month, minus your deposit YO has kept. So......
1 months livery - £498.33
Deposit kept by YO - £400
Leaves a balance of £98.33 to be paid.

If she gives you a bill for the time you were there then you need to pay up to £98.33 but no more, obviously pay for any extras but the full livery should not be more than this £98.33 otherwise she is charging you for more than a months livery.

If you're still not sure on this and she sends you a bill then please PM me the details and I'll have a look at it for you?
 
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