Unprotected Deposit

ebsalita

I'll try to make this short and uncomplicated!

My sister and I moved into an apartment 18th October 2008. Handed cheque for our deposit 1,200 GBP to the letting agent as required, to forward this to our LL.

LL (for reasons he is yet to explain) did not cash our cheque until 13th November. I called to ask if we were protected and he says he tried to do this but sent the money to the incorrect bank account - I don't know if he's telling the truth here or buying himself time - (I assume he was trying to send the funds to one of 3 deposit schemes). He said he was working at getting the money back through the bank. As far as I'm concerned this isn't our problem - he could have made up the funds and dealt with reclaiming the misdirected funds as a separate issue. We handed over a cheque in October, which wasn't taken until November (the money sat in our account untouched there were always funds available) and it is now December and the deposit to our knowledge is unprotected - he never updates us about where this money has gone - we didn't even know he'd "lost" it until we asked.

I know that if he doesn't protect the deposit we can take him to court and possibly be awarded 3 x our deposit, would like to do this but don't know how.

I'd normally be more sympathetic (and patient) but we've experienced many problems since moving in:

1. Boiler failed twice - no hot water
2. Cooker has an intermittent fault
3. Washing machine broke down (no machine for 3 weeks)
4. Carpet on stairs was filthy when we arrived - this should have been seen to before we got the keys. We had to insist this was done as it is a condition of our contract that we clean the carpets at our cost before we leave. (Why should we therefore have to pay to clean dirt that was there before we arrived?) It's taken him two months to arrange to clean this!!


There are more issues I'd mention but the main thing is we no longer trust this guy, his attitude towards us stinks. You'd think he was doing us a favour when we pay nearly 800 pounds per month to live at his premises. We've paid our rent on time - in fact this month it'll be early.

We'd like to claim the money back from him and move on. Where do we stand and do you think we'll be eligible to get 3 x deposit? We're worried he has no intention of giving this back as he came round for the first time this weekend and tried to blame us for pre-existing damage (we presume from a tenant he's had problems with).

Thanks in advance for your help.

LoopsYorkshire

Hi

The rules regarding tenancy deposit protection scheme are quite clear, however once you have left a tenancy the cases that have gone through the courts dont necessarily make sense!! Basically - if your landlord hasnt protected your deposit you need to pursue them before you leave. The courts have recently confirmed the route to follow to pursue your landlord is using the form N208 you can check HM courts Service for more info on this.

If you have signed a fixed term tenancy you need to be careful as there is a possibility you could be held liable for the rent for the remaining fixed term, HOWEVER due to the landlord not protecting the deposit you could use this to maybe negotiate a mutual surrender with him (basically where you both agree on a certain date your tenancy will end - get this in writing though).

If you leave and the landlord hasnt protected your deposit then the only option to pursue the landlord is using the small claims court procedure.

You might want to discuss with someone in more detail you could ring Shelters Helpline on 0808 800 4444 from 8am - 8pm 365 days a year.

Good luck!

ebsalita

I'm waiting for a claim pack to come through and have also written to the landlord to ask if the deposit has been protected as yet. I had wondered whether the fact the landlord hadn't protected the deposit consituted a breach in terms of our contract meaning we would no longer be liable for the remaning rent and could exit without this being a concern?

Thanks for the response!

N79

ebsalita wrote: »

I'm waiting for a claim pack to come through and have also written to the landlord to ask if the deposit has been protected as yet. I had wondered whether the fact the landlord hadn't protected the deposit consituted a breach in terms of our contract meaning we would no longer be liable for the remaning rent and could exit without this being a concern?

Thanks for the response!

No, failure to protect the deposit does not mean the tenancy can be left early. It can, however, be used as a bargaining tool with the LL (early termination without penalty plus return of deposit in return for you dropping the DPS case).

Even being generous to the LL, your deposit should have been protected by 28 Nov. Have you checked with all the deposit protection schemes to determine if your LL has actually protected it and not told you about it? You really ought to do this before filing your claim.

ebsalita

Thanks to you too - good advice. I have checked two of the three schemes available and will check the third later this afternoon. I think the bargaining chip idea might be best to consider. I'll talk this over with my sis and see what she thinks. I think it might be a good idea to get away from this landlord and our agreement.