tenant now nearly 8 weeks in arrears

bindiboo

hi guys sorry for the delay

the long n short of it is that no, hubby hadnt put deposit (£250) into a scheme. (I know I know, I kept telling him he had to)

Anyway, solictors say that if she doesnt vacate on friday, then we can apply to the courts of a possesion order which he said would not be affected by the fact that the deposit isnt in a scheme. We shall wait and see what friday brings then. I am gonna draw up a letter stating our action should she not pay the arrears and vacate, just so that she is aware.

sooz

bindiboo wrote: »

hi guys sorry for the delay

the long n short of it is that no, hubby hadnt put deposit (£250) into a scheme. (I know I know, I kept telling him he had to)

Anyway, solictors say that if she doesnt vacate on friday, then we can apply to the courts of a possesion order which he said would not be affected by the fact that the deposit isnt in a scheme. We shall wait and see what friday brings then. I am gonna draw up a letter stating our action should she not pay the arrears and vacate, just so that she is aware.

I would get a new solicitor.
You have an invalid section 21, as you did not give 2 month's notice, & you did not put the deposit in a scheme.
You can put the deposit in a scheme right now. It takes less than 10 minutes...no excuses.

Premier_2

bindiboo wrote: »

hi guys sorry for the delay

the long n short of it is that no, hubby hadnt put deposit (£250) into a scheme. (I know I know, I kept telling him he had to)

Anyway, solictors say that if she doesnt vacate on friday, then we can apply to the courts of a possesion order which he said would not be affected by the fact that the deposit isnt in a scheme. We shall wait and see what friday brings then. I am gonna draw up a letter stating our action should she not pay the arrears and vacate, just so that she is aware.

Well you certainly can apply to the courts, but whether you'll get a posession order is not so clear cut.

You can't file a legitimate s.21 as the deposit hasn't been protected. (Why not protect it now, stops the chance T makes a valid claim in the county court for it's return in full or protection and possible compensation of £750! as well as allowing you to file a valid s.21)

Ground 8 is the only other way of securing definite eviction, and if T is smart or seeks advice, T will pay you £1 and the court action will fail as they no longer owe you 2 months complete rent.

There are other grounds too to apply for eviction under (I'm sure your solicitor will inform you to try these as well), but these do not guarantee posession even if you can prove them to be valid.

tbs624

bindiboo - I hope you manage to get a satisfactory resolve on this but there is absolutely *no* excuse for not registering a tenant's deposit.

Yes, the tenant should pay her rent but there is something very wrong about a LL trying to pull a tenant up over breaches of contract when they themselves have failed to comply with the law. I hope there are no other holes anywhere, because if your tenant gets an experienced housing lawyer they'll check everything.

You & your OH need to join a National LL Association and get yourselves up to date with the requirements for letting property out if you intend to keep the property - it will be less stressful for you personally and fairer on any future tenants. Even if you use a LA the buck stops with you as LL.

bindiboo

thanks guys...........I know the the deposit should be secured and will talk to hubby bout it tonight.....again!!

speedtwin

Last time i when to court the issue of the deposit being protected did not come into it but it wasnt defended and i got posession. You could take a chance and hope it isnt defended or the court requests the info but it will cost you £150 to find out. Or you could return the deposit now or protect the deposit and serve another s21.

Otherwise go downthe section 8 route

littlemissmoney

Maybe the tenant is thinking you haven't bothered to protect their deposit so you are probably a dodgy landlord who is going to try and keep it all. Therefore they will get out ASAP (after 6 months) and not pay the rent at the end so they recover their deposit. And I can't say I blame them.

Landlords who don't comply with the law just give good landlords a bad name. I no longer have any sympathy for your situation.

tbs624

speedtwin wrote: »

Last time i when to court the issue of the deposit being protected did not come into it but it wasnt defended and i got posession....

My underlining there.

That's interesting Speedtwin - here you are popping up all over the board telling people to use arla reg agents (and not bother with solicitors) but are you saying that you personally fail to protect tenant deposits?

Either you need to take your own advice & get a good agent in place pronto or if you already use one, you need to check that they are doing what you pay them to do and keep you advised of the law as it applies to lettings.

No excuse for LLs not to register tenant's deposits.At all.

paintpot

The last accelerated possesion application form I saw it asked for evidence of the deposit being protected to be submitted. The application was rejected by the court on a technicality not the fact the deposit was unprotected because it was and evidence was submitted but my point being, the courts will pull you up, and do regularly, on the smallest point on the form. I advised the landlord in question on the form and is was subsequently accepted upon amendment.

I am amazed if the deposit issue is overlooked by the court when it is clear a deposit should have been protected.

speedtwin

tbs624 wrote: »

That's interesting Speedtwin - here you are popping up all over the board telling people to use arla reg agents (and not bother with solicitors 1 POST) but are you saying that you personally fail to protect tenant deposits?

.

I have not said do not protect the deposit. If you read my post again a bit more carefully i said the issue of the deposit protection wasnt mentioned by the court or the judge though it WAS. The point i was making was they could take the risk and go for a hearing without it and may get away with it. All deposits should be protected if using a ast.

You dont need a solicitor to get a fairly standard contract and any good agent can organise that at a lot less cost. A good agent knows a lot more about housing law than a run of the mill solicitor unless they specilise in it.

You do have a problem with me "popping" up on the forum or do you have the monopoly on it?