Tenant taking me to court - TDS - will I be ok?

barnaby-bear

PasturesNew wrote: »

Can you be 100% sure that you are up to date legally for your new tenant? What if there are other laws you aren't aware of (bound to be).

Wonder if he did his energy certificate for the new tenant....

ConfusedLandlord09

Catblue wrote: »

So then why on earth did you later return that money? If the deductions were indeed reasonable, then there was no need to return this money.

Simply to avoid the fine! The legislation is quite clear that if you return the deposit fully, you cant be fined, so I returned it. This did leave me out of pocket, but better than paying the fine!

But lesson learnt... I have protected my existing tenants deposit and it wont happen again :-) I promise!

ConfusedLandlord09

alunharford wrote: »

So you left the tenant with nowhere to serve legal papers and then promptly broke the law?

I had a letting agent let the property on my behalf, and they provided an address for serving of notices. (all court documents relating to this go through them). So that was all covered!

I sense a bit of anger towards landlords on this site!

barnaby-bear

ConfusedLandlord09 wrote: »

I had a letting agent let the property on my behalf, and they provided an address for serving of notices. (all court documents relating to this go through them). So that was all covered!

I sense a bit of anger towards landlords on this site!

So why isn't your agent notifying you of basic requirements to let.... that's what they are paid for..... the new tenancy started in october 2008? The EPC requirement came in on 1st October 2008 - did you get it done?

Lavendyr

ConfusedLandlord09 wrote: »

I had a letting agent let the property on my behalf, and they provided an address for serving of notices. (all court documents relating to this go through them). So that was all covered!

I sense a bit of anger towards landlords on this site!

Confused, I wouldn't say there is general anger towards landlords in general, but speaking as a tenant who has experienced renting under an 'amateur' landlord who was not familiar with tenancy legislation, it is a very unpleasant situation to be in, and it is genuinely frustrating that there are so many landlords who do not make sure they know the laws surrounding tenancies, and worse, think that it's OK to flout those laws because they 'didn't know better'.

Renting is a business, and most sensible people would not start a business without having a good understanding of the laws and requirements involved (or without employing someone who did have knowledge of these), and landlords should be absolutely no exception to this, regardless of their circumstances. Being out of the country is absolutely no excuse for not being familiar with the laws which are applicable to your business. Nor is it acceptable to blame the letting agency or pass your responsibilities on to them - they are your agent, you remain principally responsible for their actions and therefore when selecting a letting agency it is still your responsibility to make sure that tenancy laws and regulations are complied with.

Edit to point out: I am not accusing you of any of the things above personally, just providing an explanation of the situation. Whether or not it applies to you is for you to judge, not me

I would heartily recommend www.landlordzone.co.uk as a good source of knowledge for landlords as well as www.shelter.org.uk - if you are still not up to date with current legislation and best practice, please do visit those sites.

ConfusedLandlord09

Since this issue came forward, I have made sure everything is up to date with my new tenant, as best as I can. Including getting new gas safety certificates. So I am now all up to date, and as I said, this wont happen again.

I'm just pleased that this time around it hasnt cost me too much!

alunharford

ConfusedLandlord09 wrote: »

I had a letting agent let the property on my behalf, and they provided an address for serving of notices. (all court documents relating to this go through them). So that was all covered!

Then there is the separate question of why the agent didn't advise you that you needed to put the money in a TDS (particularly if they acted as a middleman and took the deposit from the tenant).

ConfusedLandlord09 wrote: »

I sense a bit of anger towards landlords on this site!

I'm not sensing that at all. I think your insistence that you have acted reasonably and 'in good faith' (when people here are under the impression that you not only acted unreasonably but completely unlawfully) has people riled.

barnaby-bear

ConfusedLandlord09 wrote: »

Since this issue came forward, I have made sure everything is up to date with my new tenant, as best as I can. Including getting new gas safety certificates. So I am now all up to date, and as I said, this wont happen again.

I'm just pleased that this time around it hasnt cost me too much!

I asked about EPC not gas safety - the EPC is a new (if usefless pointless) one....

barnaby-bear

ConfusedLandlord09 wrote: »

Since this issue came forward, I have made sure everything is up to date with my new tenant, as best as I can. Including getting new gas safety certificates. So I am now all up to date, and as I said, this wont happen again.

I'm just pleased that this time around it hasnt cost me too much!

Which kind of implies you weren't....

ConfusedLandlord09

EPC? Sorry thought you meant gas safety... you might want to explain this one!