Trying to get my Deposit Back from Landlord

AWT19

Hi All,

I've been waiting over 3 weeks to get back my deposit from my my landlord. The money isnt held with a TDS as required.

I have a couple of questions:

1) If the money was with a TDS, how long does it take generally for deposits to be returned? I hear that legally its within 10 days, but I cant find any solid evidence of this.

2) He asked last week for copies of bills / council tax accounts to show that these have been paid. We have paid these, but are just waiting for these to be sent in the mail. Has he the right to wait to receive these documents before paying the deposit back?

3) We overpaid our power bill, and as the account is in his name, the refund cheque is being sent to us, but in his name. What legal rights do we have to get this money back? Clearly he will have to cash it and return it, but I cant see him doing it.

4) With the money not being in a TDS, are we able to ask him to give us the interest that he has received on our money? As clearly he shouldnt have received this.

5) How long do we wait before taking this further legally?

Many thanks for your help!

:A
Angel

AWT19

Anybody out there?

NickWarren_2

With regards to the should have been in a scheme remark, when did you first pay the deposit?

tbs624

AWT19 wrote: »

..1) If the money was with a TDS, how long does it take generally for deposits to be returned? I hear that legally its within 10 days, but I cant find any solid evidence of this.

If there is no disagreement between the two parties then yes, 10 days.

Here’s what the Housing Act 2004 says:

“S213 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. “

Here’s what each of the authorised Schemes say:

1. Mydeposits (TDSL): "Your landlord or agent has 10 days to return the agreed amount to you after you have agreed with them how much of your deposit will be returned to you, or 10 days from the date that you formally requested the return of your deposit after the tenancy agreement period has expired. "

2. Deposit Protection Service (DPS) : "Once we receive a correctly completed repayment request, either online or in paper form, repayment will be initiated and released within 10 calendar days."

3. Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) : "The Member must tell the tenant within 10 working days of the end of the tenancy, (or as specified in the tenancy agreement) if they propose to make any deductions from the deposit.

If there is no dispute the Member will keep or repay the deposit, according to the agreed deductions and the conditions of the tenancy agreement. Payment of the deposit or any balance of it will be made within 10 working days of the Landlord and the Tenant agreeing the allocation of the deposit."

If a tenancy deposit is not registered (because deposit payment preceded 6 Apr 2007) then most people would expect a refund of the deposit within 10-14 days of the tenancy ending although many LAs do take up to 28 days to finalise things.

AWT19 wrote: »

2) He asked last week for copies of bills / council tax accounts to show that these have been paid. We have paid these, but are just waiting for these to be sent in the mail. Has he the right to wait to receive these documents before paying the deposit back?

If the bills are in your name and were paid by you its not really anything to do with the LL, however, most LLs will seek confirmation of this because if they have successive tenants leaving bad debts then the utility company will insist on prepayment meters being put in which make the property less attractive to future potential tenants.

AWT19 wrote: »

3) We overpaid our power bill, and as the account is in his name, the refund cheque is being sent to us, but in his name. What legal rights do we have to get this money back? Clearly he will have to cash it and return it, but I can’ t see him doing it.

Why was it in the LL’s name if you were paying it direct? How have you overpaid - were you on a monthly DD? If you were paying by DD could you ask the utility supplier to return the money direct to your account? If not you will have to pass the cheque to the LL (take a photocopy of it) and include the balance due to you in your letter asking for the return of your deposit.

AWT19 wrote: »

4) With the money not being in a TDS, are we able to ask him to give us the interest that he has received on our money? As clearly he shouldnt have received this.

If your LL had been using either of the non-custodial schemes he could have chosen whether to receive the interest himself, pass it wholly over to you, or split it with you. There is usually a clause in your tenancy agreement about interest allocation. LLs tend to use the interest to pay the fees involved in using the schemes, however, note that when the base rate drops below 2.32% then the DPS won’t pay any interest.

If you have to pursue the LL to court you can include an amount for court fees and lost interest on your deposit from the time it should have been returned to you onwards, but obviously this would be a pitiful amount at the moment.

AWT19 wrote: »

5) How long do we wait before taking this further legally?

Get on and write your first letter now, as per the suggestions linked to previously. Include the part about your tenancy deposit not being registered according to the law and you may just get a prompt return in full.

AWT19

NickWarren wrote: »

With regards to the should have been in a scheme remark, when did you first pay the deposit?

Thanks Nick,

The deposit was paid just before we moved into the apartment, at the start of the tenancy..... in March of 2008..

AWT19

tbs624 wrote: »

Why was it in the LL’s name if you were paying it direct? How have you overpaid - were you on a monthly DD? If you were paying by DD could you ask the utility supplier to return the money direct to your account? If not you will have to pass the cheque to the LL (take a photocopy of it) and include the balance due to you in your letter asking for the return of your deposit.

Get on and write your first letter now, as per the suggestions linked to previously. Include the part about your tenancy deposit not being registered according to the law and you may just get a prompt return in full.

Thanks tbs624, shame I can only thank you once really.

We overpaid because we gave the utility the wrong meter reading and ended up paying too much. We were paying the LL's bill for him effectively and never got it changed over to our names. I only realised that we were supposed to get it changed over to our names, according to the contract, today. This isnt like to cause any problems is it?

As for the letter, I'm really thinking I want to take this guy to court for the 3x, as he still is being difficult to deal with. We've been out now for 4 weeks, and he still is taking his time, and is starting to question things like why we never paid the water bill (it is the responsibility of the building management). It will be interesting to see how much of our bond we actually get back. If he decides to take anything off then I will be definately going to court to question it. And I guess it makes the case for the 3x stronger as by not protecting the deposit, he has removed chance to question this.

The way I see it though, is that as he still holds the deposit, he can still, in theory protect it, and as this has been shown to be sufficient for a LL to get out of the 3x fine, I thought it would be better to wait until I receive the deposit back (the longer it takes the better really) and take this option away from him. And then go for the 3x for the deposit not being protected for the length of the tenancy. Or am I just being silly here? I guess I'm also curious just to see what would happen.... or do you think it would just be best to send an email now stating that we will be chasing the 3x and give him a chance to pay it before taking it to court?

Thanks again, your help is greatly appreciated.

:A

kj616

I was in a similar situation although my LL was planning on making deductions from our deposit (see http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1447873&highlight=tds+dispute)

Provided you are sure that your deposit hasn't been protected and that it should have been, write him a letter marked 'Letter Before Action'. Explain to him that he has breached his statutory obligations and ask him to pay you back your deposit plus three times the value of the deposit in 7 days or face legal action.

It is likely that he will refuse, at which point you should send him a further letter marked 'Without Prejudice, save as to costs'. Suggest a sum that you would be happy to accept in full and final settlement of your offer (I asked for a sum slighlty less than half of the £10,000 that I would have claimed in court).

Don't worry about him subsequently protecting your deposit. Whilst it certainly would strenghten his position in court there is no clear precedent to suggest he can rely on this. Consequently there should be enough doubt in his mind for him to want to avoid litigation.

Hopefully LL will realise the risk he faces in attempting to defend your claim and settle.

mandi72

hi,im hoping i might get some advice,i have just left a property on march 19th this year ,the inspection went ok with only 3 minor problems which we wernt aware of but are willing to pay for we rented the property through an agent IMS lettings since we left though we have been getting very little feedback from the agents .They initialy told us that we have a decision in 10 working days,this date passed on april 1st, i have chased it up on a weekly basis even giong as far as seeing CAB and emailing the managing director of the letting agents,i have since been told from them that their hands are tied until the landlady agrees to release the deposit which is with the TDS i cant even dispute any costs as im not even being told what the landlady wants!can they do this as this can drag it on for months!ive also been told that shes adding more costs as time goes on even though we left the property in clean and tidy condition(possibly even better as we had to clean it for a week before we could move in and even had the envioromental health out due to a very severe damp problem).Can she do this even though at the final inspection very little fault was found! IMS are not even telling me what costs are coming in.To top it all off i had a call from the police saying shes made an allegation to them that we have stolen some of her loft insullation!!!!the police think this rubbish and are not taking things further but i feel that that shes only done it to put another bill in!!can anyone offer any advice on timescales in which i have to get my money back etc.Sorry for the ramble im at the end of my tether.thanks

mandi72

Still no deposit,why does the TDS take so long,and how long should it take,,please help

clutton_2

it rather sounds as if your landlady may have refused to use the Deposit scheme Arbitration scheme. if she has done this - your only way forward will be to take her to court .

but - phone the scheme first and see what the state of play is...

debrag

well my deposit for my last place was said to be with TDS but I can't get anything out of the EA/LA, no reply to emails, phone calls etc. More than happy to give me a reference but ignore me when it comes to the deposit. I doubt it was placed anywhere going by how crap they are. I have no clue who the LL is.

Going by the TDS site my agent isn't even on their list. Can you do a search on DPS?