Advice on absentee landlord

BitterAndTwisted

Oh, please give it a rest UK property "expert". The OP does not appear to be an opportunist, just that they they are not confident that their deposit will be returned at the end of the tenancy. All this court business will cost the OP money and they may not want to spend their time doing all that. They might just want to move, not be owed money and then get on with their life. I know I would

G_M

uk_property_expert wrote: »

Ok here goes,
If it is confirmed by one of the 3 scheme operators that if the landlady has not registered the deposit that the rent you have paid should be returned to you via a court action. You can take her to court. Once the court agrees that she should refund your total rent paid and she does not you can get a ccj issued, then if that is not paid you can apply for a charging order once that has been agreed you can force a sale to recover your monies.
I am 99% sure this is what i read and this is what has happened when 5 students sought justice for their deposit not being put into a scheme

You may be 99% sure you read it, and maybe you really did read it.

But it is still rubbish.

Please stick to giving advice within your area of expertise (if you have one).

Calling yourself uk property expert does not make you one.

uk_property_expert

I am trying to give the op an option they asked the question they are entitled to compensation if they want to persue it its up to them. With a little digging they may/ may not decide to follow this path but without knowing about it they would not have this option.

Introduction

The much publicised legislation governing the taking of deposits under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) is now in force. As from 6 April 2007, a landlord who grants an AST and takes a deposit from the tenant, needs to ensure that the deposit is protected in accordance with sections 212-215 of the Housing Act 2004 (HA 2004).

If a deposit is not protected through one of the three schemes, or if the prescribed information is not given to the tenant by the landlord, there are two sanctions:

1. No notice may be served on the tenant under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 (which enables landlords to recover possession under AST on giving 2 months' notice after the first six months of the tenancy provided any fixed term has expired).
   It appears that the intention of the legislation is that the right to serve a section 21 notice should merely be suspended, so that once the deposit has been protected and the requisite information has been given to the tenant the right will revive, although it is not clear that the legislation as drafted has this result.
2. The landlord must pay the tenant a fine of three times the amount of the deposit.

It is, therefore, vital to ensure that the requirements of the legislation are complied with.

so they can not only get their deposit back but also are entitled to 3 times the amount. There are no win no fee solicitors who will chase this. That is fact
As I said i did here of a case where the tenants got 100% of their rent refunded which may be rubbish but also may not

BitterAndTwisted

The only thing you appear to be an expert at is copying and pasting. Any fool can do that. Why don't you contribute some sensible advice?

uk_property_expert

so being able to claim 3 months rent compensation is not sensible advice?
pointing out there are no win no fee solicitors is not sensible advice.

G_M

Originally Posted by uk property ignorance : if the landlady has not registered the deposit that the rent you have paid should be returned to you ......she should refund your total rent paid

This is absolute rubbish!!! Both linguistically and, more importantly, factually.

N79

Ok - there are many myths and errors in this thread which should be clarified.

1. The LL does not have to provide a UK address but an address within England and Wales (assuming the property is in England and Wales).

2. Without this address rent is not lawfully due and the T can stop paying. However, all rent will become lawfully due as soon as the address is provided to the Ts so any T contemplating this action should carefully save the rent money as it is bound to become due as soon as the LL makes contact.

3. A section 8 notice does not require 8 weeks of rent arrears in order to be served. It is enough that the rent was paid late twice or that 1 pence is outstanding. However, the mandatory possession ground, ground 8, needs at least two months of rent unpaid at the time of service and the date of the court hearing (assuming a monthly tenancy period).

4. The maximum penalty a court can impose for failing to comply with deposit protection legislation (after a court has decided that a LL is in breach) is the return of the deposit to the T plus an addition amount of 3x the deposit. A court can not award the return of all rent paid to date. There is no connection to the montly rent in assessing this penalty.

5. OP - your best strategy once you have exhausted your current contact address is to withhold your rent until your LL comes out of the woodwork. You can then explain that they need to provide an address in England and Wales at which you can serve notices and that once they do so you will pay them all the outstanding rent. You can then use that address to start proceedings regarding your deposit.

Fire_Fox

uk_property_expert wrote: »

I am trying to give the op an option they asked the question they are entitled to compensation if they want to persue it its up to them. With a little digging they may/ may not decide to follow this path but without knowing about it they would not have this option.

If you are going to copy and paste can you please reference your source? I am sure you are aware the internet is full of useful information and equally full of misinformation. The source allows the reader to differentiate.

G_M

uk_property_inexpert wrote: »

so being able to claim 3 months rent compensation is not sensible advice?
pointing out there are no win no fee solicitors is not sensible advice.

No. It is not sensible advice. Since the OP will not be able to claim 3 months rent compensation.

Once again you have got yourself confused. From your own post: "three times the amount of the deposit."

PPPleeeeese stop posting inaccurate, false, misleading, erroneous 'advice'.

treblekicker

OK, so we have the receipts for the letters sent recording delivery and we are now about to send our landlady an email saying that we are going to withhold our last month's rent, due to all the factors outlined in the thread so far.

One possible complication has emerged in that according to this book, as we paid our deposit to the letting agents (who then passed it on to the landlady), it looks legally if we've interpreted it correctly that we'll owe the letting agent the money back for our deposit rather than the landlady.

We hope we're wrong on this - because if we're correct that surely means that withholding the rent to her isn't the right thing to do as it's not her legally speaking we owe the money to?

Thanks in advance!