Advice on renting law please?

Geordie_bear

Hi MSE's

My brother has seemed to got himself in to a situation that I feel totally not justified!

Right here's the scenario:-

My brother bought a house with his new girlfriend 2 years ago, they tried to sell his girlfriends current house but couldn't so they were in a bit of a dilema! They decided to live in the one they need to sell & do a short term rent on the house they've bought, so they enlisted the help of a renting agency! This renting agency were far from great from the outset & on a few occasions they didn't release the funds in time each month anyway that's another story.

The tennents that moved in left the place in a right mess, broke the dishwasher & their little tearaway offspring graffited the wall with their crayons!

Now here's the annoying bit, the tennents put a £700 deposit on the house which was meant to be kept by the agency which in turn was supposed to be in a independent governement backed account. In fact the renting/letting agency wrote in a letter stating as much! Few months ago this agency went in to liquidation (surprise, surprise) & now my brother has been given a letter from the solictor of the tennents wanting their £700 back within 7 days & if it's not paid they will take legal action. Apparantly a new law has came in back in April 2007 stating that this money needs to go in the government backed scheme infacts my brother has a letter from the agency stating such & signed but as they've gone belly up it's seems by poor brother is now liable!:mad:

My brother has spoken to a solicitor & the solicitor states that unless he can prove unequivically (sp) that the wrecked the place then not only will he have to pay the £700 he'll have to pay an extra £1400 plus court costs

Has anyone been in the same boat & if so what happened? If this was you what would you do?

real1314

I've not been in the situation, but what the agent has done is commit an act of fraud. imho.
Unfortunately for you the tenant is not the person who will have to deal with that, you will. However, I'd reckon that a judge might not award the 3 x dpeosit penalty in this sort of case, but again that's just imho.

You could repay the deposit in full and take the hit on damages, or go to court for the damages and run the risk of getting the 3 x award againt you instead.

For the sake of paining the walls and replacing a dishwasher I'd take the hit, but I prefer to move on in that sort of situation.

I'd also be contact anyone from the agency, especially the managing directors to discuss the fraudulent act they have committed and how they intend to deal with it.
And if they say they are doing nothing, go to the police and discuss the fraud act with them.

Debt_Free_Chick

Geordie_bear wrote: »

Now here's the annoying bit, the tennents put a £700 deposit on the house which was meant to be kept by the agency which in turn was supposed to be in a independent governement backed account. In fact the renting/letting agency wrote in a letter stating as much! Few months ago this agency went in to liquidation (surprise, surprise) & now my brother has been given a letter from the solictor of the tennents wanting their £700 back within 7 days & if it's not paid they will take legal action.

So the agent did NOT put the deposit in one of the tenancy deposit protection schemes? You are sure about this?

Or is the money in a scheme, but you don't know which one?

tbs624

Geordie_bear wrote: »

Hi MSE's

My brother has seemed to got himself in to a situation that I feel totally not justified!

Right here's the scenario:-

My brother bought a house with his new girlfriend 2 years ago, they tried to sell his girlfriends current house but couldn't so they were in a bit of a dilema! They decided to live in the one they need to sell & do a short term rent on the house they've bought, so they enlisted the help of a renting agency! This renting agency were far from great from the outset & on a few occasions they didn't release the funds in time each month anyway that's another story.

The tennents that moved in left the place in a right mess, broke the dishwasher & their little tearaway offspring graffited the wall with their crayons!

Now here's the annoying bit, the tennents put a £700 deposit on the house which was meant to be kept by the agency which in turn was supposed to be in a independent governement backed account. In fact the renting/letting agency wrote in a letter stating as much! Few months ago this agency went in to liquidation (surprise, surprise) & now my brother has been given a letter from the solictor of the tennents wanting their £700 back within 7 days & if it's not paid they will take legal action. Apparantly a new law has came in back in April 2007 stating that this money needs to go in the government backed scheme infacts my brother has a letter from the agency stating such & signed but as they've gone belly up it's seems by poor brother is now liable!:mad:

My brother has spoken to a solicitor & the solicitor states that unless he can prove unequivically (sp) that the wrecked the place then not only will he have to pay the £700 he'll have to pay an extra £1400 plus court costs

Has anyone been in the same boat & if so what happened? If this was you what would you do?

Your brother is learning the hard way that even if you use an LA, the buck stops with you asthe actual LL and the fact is that he has *always* been liable for ensuring compliance with the deposit regs. and, ultimately, the return of the deposit to the T.

He won't want to hear this but his best option is to repay that deposit in full: his only other option is to belatedly register it with one of the schemes. If either of those things is done prior to any court hearing then some LLs seem to have got away without being ordered to pay 3x the deposit amount as a penalty. Prescribed information onf the scheme would also have to be provided to the T.

Incidentally, if your brother's solicitor told him that if the T was successful at court then he'd have to pay an extra £1400, he is wrong - it's the deposit itself *plus* a further 3x the deposit amount so £2100 on top of the deposit plus interest, plus costs.

Was the LA signed up to ARLA, OEA, NALs, UKALA? If they were then any tenant deposit should have been kept in a client a/c and be separate from any liquidation. ( The deposit reg schemes areof two types: one is custodial so you actually hand the funds over to the scheme itself, and the other 2 are insurance based where the LA or LL keep hold of the actual deposit money.

As DFC suggests, it may be as well to check with all 3 schemes

Did your brother and his GF also seek consent to let on this property btw?