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

Colincbayley

AWT19 wrote: »

Colincbailey - thanks for your post. I'm a tenant in the same situation as described here, with the LL returning the deposit after the claim was lodged to defeat the claim on the basis that the judge cant order the 3x penalty s214(4) if he cant order the deposit to be returned or protected S214(3) due to the 'must also' wording. Seems to me that the wording is in favour of the LL if the deposit is returned... thoughts?

Did this come up in the case with your tenant friend?

Also did it come up that only the tenant and not ex-tenants can apply?

Thanks!

The case that I helped out on was for an Ex-Tenant, where the LL had returned the deposit.

Try and look at it this way, the LL has broken the law. If you robbed a bank, got caught out, then returned the money, would the police turn a blind eye.

What would be the point of having a penalty of 3X the deposit, if all the LL had to do to avoid it is just give the deposit back??

As I have already said before, I don't think it is right, but the law is the law.

I do still have all the case notes and copies of the letters/court forms if they will help anyone else!
Just send me a PM with your email address.

SouthCoast

From CAB:

If your landlord does not protect your deposit using a tenancy deposit protection scheme, or will not tell you which scheme they are using, you can take them to court. The court will either order your landlord to pay you back the deposit or to pay it into one of the schemes. It will also order your landlord to pay you three times the amount of the deposit as a fine. If you are thinking about taking your landlord to court, you should get advice.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/h_tenancy_deposits.pdf

serious_saver

Yes, the landlord has been very stupid broken the law and as such they should be punished.

But, the idea of the DPS is to provide protection for both tenants and landlords. The custodial deposit protection scheme is free to use and if it went to arbitration, the LL may well have been told to keep some of the money.

We have a big problem in this country at the moment with what's known as "reluctant landlords" - those who are unable to sell and therefore let out their properties. Many of these people are desperate and rush into contracts in order to get the rent and pay their mortgages. Often they are unaware of the their responsibilities and I personally think more should be done to make them aware of the law.

If I were the landlord, this is what I’d do (I’m not a solicitor or legal expert so please take this with a pinch of salt and do what you think is right for you)

1) Calculate the interest that the tenant would have been getting if the money had been in a bank

Let’s say this is 5% (obviously not with the current banking situation but it’s an example.)

If the deposit is £600 this would be £30

2) Add the cost of court fees for small claims court. As an example, for amounts between £1,500.01- £3,000 it would £85.

3) Finally decide on a reasonable sum as a good will gesture/compensation for stress. Don’t be stingy, be fair. After all the tenant may have had to pay for legal advice.

4) Add these together and put it in writing explaining what each sum is for and offer this amount to the tenant.

If the tenant turns it down and it goes to court you can then prove to the court that you have made a reasonable attempt to compensate the tenant. The court may still order you to pay the full 3x deposit but it if you’re really lucky it could ask you to pay the sum you have offered the tenant in the letter.

I don’t know how much the deposit was. I’ve worked this out as £600 but if you offered compensation of £500 you would be paying

£600+£30+£85+£500=£1215 (minus what they’ve already had back)

as opposed to

£600x3=£1800

If you are lucky the tenant may be happy to accept your offer in order to avoid the stress of going to court altogether. You will also end up saving £585 on what you might pay if it went to court.

Basically you should brace yourself for fact that you may have to pay the full amount and learn from your mistake.

And, if you feel that the letting agent has mis-advised you or failed in it’s responsibility then you have the right to take you own action to the small claims court.

poppy10_2

You offered a settlement in the form of the amount of the deposit.
The tenant is under no obligation to accept this. You blatantly broke the law, and could well face a fine of 3x the deposit amount - if I were the tenant I wouldn't have accepted your paltry offer either.