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

barnaby-bear

ConfusedLandlord09 wrote: »

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

http://www.gatehouserental.com/tag/epc

A pointless bit of paper detailing how efficient the house is energy wise so the tenant can make environmental choices.... lack of it may mean a tenant claiming their excessive utility bills although no cases so far but again something that potentially carries a fine.... for £80 you can join the NLA and they'll tell you this stuff.... it sounds like your agent isn't really doing their job - surely they should handle this for you....

ConfusedLandlord09

Thanks... I'll look into this with the agent and see where we are at.

I am only really here to find out if I am ok with this case, but this is all really useful info also. I think I need to have words with my agent. I know its my ultimate responsibility, but they need to be doing a better job!

So do you think I will be ok? Given that I have returned the deposit? I cant see anyway that this defence wont work...

Thanks for your help!

Geenie

ConfusedLandlord, if you have been using an agent to sort out your rentals, then it is them who have a lot of explaining to do to you! You don't make it clear if they were doing all or only part of the tenancy stuff. But as you state you were in the US, I assume they should have been looking after everything and haven't, putting yourself in this position and potentially the tenants at risk. I would look at the contract you had with them, what they should have done or told you to do, and if this has been carried out.

ConfusedLandlord09

There job was to let the property. They then gave me the deposit to look after, so I put it in a ring fenced account. Should have protected it. I'm sure the miscommuncation between them and I wont count for much in a court of law. Ultimate responsibility is mine I realise, but luckily if you return the deposit, you're safe. So no 3x fine for me :-)

Sorry TBS "Penalty Payment"!

olly300

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!

Your post is scary ....:eek::eek:

I suggest you:
1. See if you can use another agent
2. Regularly - once a month - go onto the sites that Lavendyr has linked to, to check for new legislation.

tbs624

ConfusedLandlord09 wrote: »

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

It's not a case of "anger towards landlords" in general, more that LLs who fail to act within the law over straightforward things like tenancy deposits and then offer up poor excuses will draw some blunt responses.

You'll see similar response posts on threads in which *Ts* have failed in their legal obligations.

You'd no doubt be surprised to know that some posters are LLs themselves.

Geenie

I am a LL OP, and don't let any anger put you off posting. As tds624 states, it works against tenants as well when they mess up, so not just us.

I would really recommend that you join a LL association, like the NLA or Landlord Zone for instance, which help to keep you up to date with what you need to be doing. As well as online information and forms to download, they have help lines if necessary. Also if you go to the Deposit Protection Service site, which is the free goverment one, they have lots of information on the legislation and exactly what you need to do when you receive a deposit. Read everything.

There is an awful lot of form filling with it all now, but it is worth doing everything you should, and then if ever you get any problems in the future and it goes to court, you can show that you didn't cut corners and abided by the law. Keep copies of everything, oh and don't get disheartened by this. If you are willing to learn from this experience, you will become a great LL, and run a succesful business.

ConfusedLandl0rd09

ConfusedLandlord09 wrote: »

Hello,
I currently have a claim against me by a tenant who moved out in October of last year. I never protected the deposit but now realise that I probably should have. I have now protected the deposit for my new tanant. I returned the full deposit less some deductions that I thought were reasonable, 1 month after the termination of tenancy. The tenant wasnt happy with this and so lodged a claim for the 3x deposit fine. After I received this claim I then returned the remainder of the deposit, but admittedly this was 5 months after the tenant moved out. It's now going to court. I've returned the full deposit so I should be ok? The tenant hasnt had any financial loss out of this, so whats the big deal right?
Thanks to all.

TROUBLE!

My tenant has returned the amount of money that I had paid to him in final settlement for the deposit. The amount that I initially withheld for deductions, but returned after I received the claim.

Can he do this!!!???

He says that he "does not accept this payment as full and final settlement" and that "this became a matter for the court to decide when the claim was lodged".

This leaves me with some of the deposit.

Does this mean that the court can now order 214(3)
(a) order the person who appears to the court to be holding the deposit to repay it to the applicant,
And then he "must" order me to pay the 3x penalty?

Surely the tenant is taking the !!!! here and the Judge will not be happy with this?

Should I just return the amount back to the tenant the day before the hearing?

Please help!

Emmzi

no, you should let the court decide.

that is what it is there for.

Blacksheep1979

You can't force money on someone in final settlement of a matter, if they aren't happy with the situation it's their prerogative to chose to go to court - ignorance isn't a defence I'm afraid.