Witholding depost in case of unpaid bills?

princeofpounds

Regarding the 3x penalty, there has just been the first precendent-setting case under Judge Tugendhat. He decided that in some circumstances late compliance might get you around paying the penalty, which is a big shame, but the legislation is badly drafted.* So it may not be a bad idea to just go for the settlement if you can.

* For those interested, visit nearlylegal. Basically he decided that late compliance is not enough to inflict a penalty, but somewhat bizarrely not meeting the official requirements of the schemes (which can include 14 day compliance, but not in all cases) does incur a penalty.

One of the schemes figured this problem out and wrote the 14 days into their requirements, but the other two have not.

nikki_angel

Thanks again PoP. He has sent me an email confirming bits now. It all seems above board but if you can confirm what you all think that will be great.

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Further to our conversation earlier I can confirm that I am agreeing to cease the tenancy in advance of the contracted date to enable you to move to the new property, the planned moving date being 28th February. I will look at the number of days rent you have paid for in advance and when we settle the deposit I will also refund you on the days you have not lived there pro rata.

As I have not needed to use a Letting Agent to find replacement tenants there are no reletting fees you would need to contribute towards.

The terms in the contract still apply in relation to your responsibilities during and after the terminantion of the tenancy. An example would include you providing proof of closure on utility accounts.

Paul will contact you to arrange a time to meet ot do the move out inventory and take meter readings.

I hope this is what you needed.

Kind regards,

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BitterAndTwisted

You could consider contacting the utility companies now and asking them whether upon receipt of the final readings by telephone on check-out day they can issue a bill on their system immediately which you can then settle immediately in turn by paying with a debit-card over the phone in front of the person doing the final check-out and they can write you out a cheque for the deposit once you've done it. That way, there might only be a couple of days to cover the payments while their cheque clears.

Fire_Fox

nikki_angel wrote: »

Spoken to landlord, he is emailing me a statement to say he is releasing us early with no penalty. Haven't mentioned deposit yet as we may well get it back no probs. My new EA are livid on my behalf though and keep shouting 3x deposit rah rah rah but I just want what we are owed and move on. They have thrown in a bit of a moral dilemma though and have said what about all the other tenants and it only takes it for him to go bankrupt for them all to lose their deposits too. OOOH one for the weekly email lol!!

As you seem to have a good relationship with your landlord, I'd be inclined to e-mail him asking to confirm that your deposit is with the TDS as per your tenancy agreement as they seem to have no record? This is a a polite first indication to him you are aware that he has broken the law, without actually saying it outright.

nikki_angel

Thanks FF. May just do that

gamez-over

Some valid points made here guys with regards to the deposit. Nikki, you should have got a certificate to prove that your deposit had been registered with one of the three schemes.

The fact that he hasn't registered it, does give you an option to claim back your deposit in full and a 3 x fine on top. However as your landlord has confirmed the above, and the fact that you may need a reference from him in the future...you'd probably be better off just taking the deposit back. ;-)

nikki_angel

I don't want any hassle of small claims courts unnecessarily so I am going to see if I get the deposit (minus reasonable deductions if any of course) back before pursuing.

Thanks all!