Advise regarding the Safety Deposit Scheme/ County Court orders really appreciated

BenJon82

Hi all,

My first post so please go easy on me

I moved into a private letting in Dec 07 with my partner and paid a deposit to the landlord, he turn provided me with a reference number after claiming that he had paid my deposit into a Deposit Protection Service (DPS) scheme.

After spending a year in the flat my partner and I decided to extend the lease for a further 6 months with a break out clause of 3 months. We signed a new contract, we then shortly after went on holiday with some piece of mind.

Upon returning from our break I was unsure if the previous scheme we had paid into had expired and so I contacted the landlord. The landlord has claimed that he is in the process of depositing the money into the new scheme but has been delayed by the fact that it is taking some time to get the money back. He has also stated that the scheme will only protect the scheme for a minimum of 6 months and therefore that there may be issues if we decide to invoke the 3 month break clause.

To help him out I gave two of the schemes (DPA) and (My Deposit) a call to investigate other possible alternatives. The news I received was that there was no minimum protection period. This started the alarm bells ringing and I decided to check the details he had previously provided. To my horror it appears that the deposit we paid over a year ago has not been placed into the scheme (and indeed the reference he had previously provided was for the previous tenant). To make matters worse the balance was zero.

I'm pretty disgusted by the deceit (albeit that I've had my reservations about him so I'm not entirely surprised) that this has occurred and am considering court action. :mad: I understand that I am entitled to make a County Court application as he has breached the Housing Act 2004.

I have notified him of the results of my investigation and have requested he provides me with the correct reference for the scheme that our deposit has aledgedly been paid into for the last 12 months. I'm assuming there'll be some kind of audit trail.

My questions are as follows:

Has anyone got any advise regarding the above?

Does anyone have any experience of the process around county court applications or how I can go about making such an application?

Can I make the aforementioned application retrospectively.

Any advise would be gratefully received.

Many thanks.

B

BenJon82

Bumped back to the top

Troubled_Joe

Luckily enough HMCS have recently issued some guidance so here it is....


Tenancy Deposit Protection – Housing Act 2004

County court applications under section 214 of the Act



Background

• Landlords and agents are required to protect their tenants’ deposits under a scheme set out by the Housing Act 2004 (“the Act”) [1].

• Under these provisions, the landlord or agent is required to place any deposit into an approved tenancy deposit scheme (“TDS”) within 14 days of receipt. The landlord is also required to provide the tenant with confirmation that the deposit has been put into a TDS.

• Where a landlord fails to do this, a tenant may apply to the county court to compel the landlord to repay the deposit or place it in an approved TDS (see section 214 of the Act).

“Section 214” application to the county court

• The application under section 214 can only be made on limited grounds. If the court is satisfied that those grounds have been met, the court must either order the repayment of the deposit or order the person who appears to be holding the deposit to pay it into a designated account under a authorised custodial tenancy deposit scheme. The court must also order the landlord to pay a sum of money equal to three times the amount of the deposit.

CPR Part 8 procedure

• The appropriate procedure for starting a “section 214 claim” is provided by Part 8 of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). A tenant will therefore need to follow the procedure set out in Part 8 of the CPR and the accompanying Practice Direction and pay the appropriate court fees in accordance with The Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008 (if not exempt). Details about the correct claim form to be used (Form N208), the contents of the claim form and filing of evidence in support of the claim, and also the procedure to be followed by the defendant landlords are set out in this part of the CPR – for more details see footnote[2].

• Detailed guidance on completing Form N208 and subsequent action to be taken by the defendant landlord is also set out in the relevant forms as attached below (also available in hard copy from any county court office):
  • Part 8 Claim Form (N208) http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/n208_1000.pdf
  • Notes for Claimants (Form N208A) http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/n208a_0499.pdf
  • Notes to Defendants (Form N208C) http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/n208c_1202.pdf

7. To avoid any confusion, Part 56 of the CPR will be shortly be amended to state that section 214 applications must be started using the Part 8 procedure.

Disputes after deposit is placed in a TDS

• Please note that this guidance is only aimed at resolving disputes about placing a deposit into a TDS. It is not aimed at resolving disputes about the return of a deposit that has been placed in a TDS – e.g. at the end of the tenancy. Each TDS scheme is supported by a free alternative dispute resolution (ADR) service whose role is to resolve such disputes about the return of a deposit that has been in a TDS. Use of the scheme’s ADR service is not compulsory but their purpose is to avoid such disputes reaching the courts.

• If however parties to such disputes do decide to use the courts to resolve these particular matters, they are advised to seek separate advice about appropriate court procedures that may be available.

[1] See sections 212 to 215 Housing Act 2004 - http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2004/plain/ukpga_20040034_en_19#pt6-ch4

[2] http://www.justice.gov.uk/civil/procrules_fin/contents/parts/part08.htm

poppysarah

There are previous threads on this sort of problem. Best have a read through for them.

BenJon82

Thanks Joe, much appreciated