tell my LL to keep Deposit as last rent payment?

tia_meena

I haven't given the 2 months notice yet. I need to send before the 20th, so I'm planning to send this recorded delivery on Monday 18th.

Not sure whether to mention the deposit scheme at this time or wait until he doesn't return it. but that might be a harder case.

tbs624

tia_meena wrote: »

.....when I signed a new tenancy agreement in Jan 08 it was the first time that the agreements mentions the deposit scheme. So it is in the tenancy, would be binding enough for me to say this in breach of the agreement and I demand my deposit back?

That's looking more hopeful - can you post up what it actually says in the agreement about the deposit scheme?

tia_meena

tbs624 wrote: »

That's looking more hopeful - can you post up what it actually says in the agreement about the deposit scheme?

This is copied from the agreement.
First page says:
[FONT=Arial,Bold]

The Deposit[/FONT].
The Tenant has paid the Landlord [FONT=Arial,Bold]£1200.00 (One Thousand Two Hundred Pounds) [/FONT](“the Deposit”) as a Deposit
which shall be held by Landlord. At the end of the Tenancy the Landlord, shall return the Deposit to the Tenant

subject to the possible deductions set out in this Agreement.

[FONT=Arial,Bold]

6.1. The Landlord shall place the Deposit in a designated account as soon as reasonably practicable. Any interest earned

on the Deposit shall be retained by the Landlord and used to cover administration costs.

one of the last pages of the agreement shows this: (this is before the page where all parties sign)
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Bold]

DEPOSIT: £1200.00 [/FONT]([FONT=Arial,Bold]One Thousand Two Hundred Pounds

[/FONT]

Deductions may be made from the Deposit according to clause 6.2 of the Tenancy Agreement attached.
A leaflet explaining how the Deposit is protected by the Housing Act 2004 will be provided to the Tenant by the person
holding the Deposit being the Landlord.
The holder of the Deposit will register the Deposit with and provide other required information to the Tenancy Deposit
Scheme within 14 days of the commencement of the Tenancy and provide proof to the Tenant of compliance. If the holder of
the Deposit fails to provide proof within 14 days the tenant should take independent legal advice from a solicitor, Citizens
Advice Bureau (CAB) or other housing advisory service.
The procedures for instigating a dispute regarding deductions from the Deposit at the end of the Tenancy are explained in
clauses shown below. No deductions can be made from the Deposit without written consent from both parties to the Tenancy
Agreement.

Procedure for Dispute at the End of the Tenancy.........

bandraoi

tia_meena wrote: »

I haven't given the 2 months notice yet. I need to send before the 20th, so I'm planning to send this recorded delivery on Monday 18th.

Not sure whether to mention the deposit scheme at this time or wait until he doesn't return it. but that might be a harder case.

Talking to people, telling them what your planning to do and acting like you trust them and expect them to act in good faith will, in 90% of cases, result in them doing so.

Writing your landlord a formal letter and sending your notice by registered post are quite agressive ways of opening the dialogue. Starting with a list of all the things he's done wrong and what a terrible landlord he is will not get you the result you want. Forget the deposit protection scheme and the gas certificate and the lack of repairs. That information can be used if necessary if he becomes awkward. Until then deal with him like he's a model landlord.

RING HIM.

Premier_2

tbs624 wrote: »

Meena has said that her tenancy started in 2005 and has subsequently been renewed. The Courts have not definitively ruled that the scheme registration rules apply to renewed deposits held under Tenancy Agreements, although many think that they should do where there has been renewal on or after April 06 2007...

I did say "in the event that the deposit should have been and is not protected by the time the matter gets to court"

If the deposit was not needed to have been protected, then there is no reason at all to threaten any legal action at all at this time.

However, the OP staes in the initial post:

"I've been there since Jan 2005 and every year I signed a now assured shorthold tenancy agreement."

(I think 'now' should have read 'new')


Edit: it appears from subsequent posts that a new tenancy agreement was indeed started in January 2008 and so the deposit should therefore be protected.

redcar_2

I think though the OP has already established that this is not a model landlord - see post 19.

I think a letter is now required alhtough maybe not the letter before action stage just yet as if it does go to the courts it would be important to have a record of trying to sort the problems out.

Premier_2

tia_meena wrote: »

Do I still need to ask him to protect my deposit? - he had 7months time for that! If I send him a letter demanding to protect my deposit or return it, than of course he will quickly protect it.
Doesn;t the law states that he should have done this within 14days? Why give him another change? He has been really dificult with repairs etc,, see earlier posts and I feel I should get my deposit back on the bases that he hadn;t secured in within the required time.

I'm about to give my 2 months notice, so I might as well wait then and until he doesn;t return the deposit so I can take him for not protecting it as well.

Have there been cases where a tenant asks for the deposit back - during the tenancy?

sorry to be so difficult on this. I feel the LL will just get away with everything!

This is what the law states:

213 Requirements relating to tenancy deposits
(1) Any tenancy deposit paid to a person in connection with a shorthold tenancy must, as from the time when it is received, be dealt with in accordance with an authorised scheme.
(2) No person may require the payment of a tenancy deposit in connection with a shorthold tenancy which is not to be subject to the requirement in subsection (1).
(3) Where a landlord receives a tenancy deposit in connection with a shorthold tenancy, the initial requirements of an authorised scheme must be complied with by the landlord in relation to the deposit within the period of 14 days beginning with the date on which it is received.
(4) For the purposes of this section “the initial requirements” of an authorised scheme are such requirements imposed by the scheme as fall to be complied with by a landlord on receiving such a tenancy deposit.
(5) A landlord who has received such a tenancy deposit must give the tenant and any relevant person such information relating to—
(a) the authorised scheme applying to the deposit,
(b) compliance by the landlord with the initial requirements of the scheme in relation to the deposit, and
(c) the operation of provisions of this Chapter in relation to the deposit,
as may be prescribed.
(6) The information required by subsection (5) must be given to the tenant and any relevant person—
(a) in the prescribed form or in a form substantially to the same effect, and
(b) within the period of 14 days beginning with the date on which the deposit is received by the landlord.
(7) No person may, in connection with a shorthold tenancy, require a deposit which consists of property other than money.
(8) In subsection (7) “deposit” means a transfer of property intended to be held (by the landlord or otherwise) as security for—
(a) the performance of any obligations of the tenant, or
(b) the discharge of any liability of his,
arising under or in connection with the tenancy.
(9) The provisions of this section apply despite any agreement to the contrary.
(10) In this section—
“prescribed” means prescribed by an order made by the appropriate national authority;
“property” means moveable property;
“relevant person” means any person who, in accordance with arrangements made with the tenant, paid the deposit on behalf of the tenant.

214 Proceedings relating to tenancy deposits
(1) Where a tenancy deposit has been paid in connection with a shorthold tenancy, the tenant or any relevant person (as defined by section 213(10)) may make an application to a county court on the grounds—
(a) that the initial requirements of an authorised scheme (see section 213(4)) have not, or section 213(6)(a) has not, been complied with in relation to the deposit; or
(b) that he has been notified by the landlord that a particular authorised scheme applies to the deposit but has been unable to obtain confirmation from the scheme administrator that the deposit is being held in accordance with the scheme.
(2) Subsections (3) and (4) apply if on such an application the court—
(a) is satisfied that those requirements have not, or section 213(6)(a) has not, been complied with in relation to the deposit, or
(b) is not satisfied that the deposit is being held in accordance with an authorised scheme,
as the case may be.
(3) The court must, as it thinks fit, either—
(a) order the person who appears to the court to be holding the deposit to repay it to the applicant, or
(b) order that person to pay the deposit into the designated account held by the scheme administrator under an authorised custodial scheme,
within the period of 14 days beginning with the date of the making of the order.
(4) The court must also order the landlord to pay to the applicant a sum of money equal to three times the amount of the deposit within the period of 14 days beginning with the date of the making of the order.
(5) Where any deposit given in connection with a shorthold tenancy could not be lawfully required as a result of section 213(7), the property in question is recoverable from the person holding it by the person by whom it was given as a deposit.
(6) In subsection (5) “deposit” has the meaning given by section 213(8).

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2004/ukpga_20040034_en_19


or in plain English:

If a tenant is concerned that his deposit is not protected by a scheme and/or he has not been provided with the prescribed information and/or the scheme administrator does not confirm that their deposit is protected then he can commence proceedings against the landlord under HA 2004, s 214. Although it appears that if, by the time of the hearing, the landlord has complied with the requirement there is no sanction. If the court finds that the landlord is in breach then it must order up to three times the amount of the deposit to be paid to the tenant within 14 days (s 214(4)) as well as ordering the deposit to be paid either into the custodial scheme or to the tenant (s 213(3)).

http://www.propertylawuk.net/residentialdeposits.html

Although, in your case if you were only to apply to the courts today and plan to have terminated the tenancy agreement in 2 months, I suspect that will before any court hearing date so the option to then protect would not in my opinion be possible or appropriate.

It would be in your interests to ensure the deposit was protected asasp (if not otherwise returned) as it would probably help you in getting the deposit back at the end of the tenancy. e.g. the TDS scheme (one of 3 available) states that where the deposit is not registered within the 14 days, then it may refuse to arbitrate in any dispute and just award the deposit in full back to the tenant at the end of the tenancy.

bandraoi

The fact that the landlord hasn't acted as a model landlord doesn't mean the best course of action is to effectively tell him:
"you're a terrible landlord, you've screwed me over, you haven't done this, that and the other, and I'm going to get the courts on to you"
and to do that in a registered letter, is worse still.

It's like life in general, if you have a problem you give someone the chance to solve it amicably before declaring war. There's no advantage in getting shirty before he does.

If she rings him, tells him politely she wants to move out on Day X and would like the deposit to be taken as the final months rent, he may very well agree and everyone will be happy.

If he doesn't, he may propose an equally reasonable solution.

At that point you write him a polite letter outlining what you've verbally agreed and post it off.

If he starts ranting and declares you're not having your deposit back and you can't move out until next January, that's the point at which to start sending registered letters detailing his faults as a landlord and your rights as a tenant.

Once the tenancy is safely over and you have your deposit back, you can write a note to the HSE that he hasn't got a gas safety certificate to your knowledge etc.

Bungarm2001

I think someone else has posted this here...DON'T get freaked out by what you read on here and definitely don't think that what you read here will apply to you too.

We only ever hear one side of the story here, and very rarely actually get a post from OP's telling us the outcome of their actions, whether they got the result they wanted or whether it all went pear shaped.

Your very first step should be polite communication with your LL in a letter stating your plans. You should at the very least let him know these in a calm and business like manner before you mention words like 'courts' and 'small claims.' Time for that later, if appropriate. If you made any kind of threat at this stage, it could cause problems. Put yourself in his postion. If he did a similar thing to you, how would you feel?

Remember, you can catch far more flies with honey than you can with a rolled up newspaper.

Give the bloke a ring or at least write to him, then depending on his answer, come back here and post again.

moneysavinmonkey

tia_meena wrote: »

I haven't given the 2 months notice yet. I need to send before the 20th, so I'm planning to send this recorded delivery on Monday 18th.

Not sure whether to mention the deposit scheme at this time or wait until he doesn't return it. but that might be a harder case.

I really think you best bet is to make a friendly phone call into your landlord today, let him know that you'll be sending written notice of ending your tenancy on monday and see how the land lies regarding deposits.

Your getting really ahead of yourself with all this TDS/court cases etc stuff.