Please Help! My Mum is in tears! :(

wezznco

Thank you all so much, but amongst all the debate,

WHO DO I GIVE THE DEPOSIT TO TODAY?

I'm sending my mum the link to this page (she's off today) and she'll read everything you post/have posted and do whatever you suggest be done.

Thank you again, really appreciate your help.

Sam

amersall

did not want to read and run, you have some wonderful advice from people on her, Hope you get this sorted x

poppysarah

Is a 3X deposit award trumped by the 3X deposit repairs that might need doing?

Lavendyr

1) Protect deposit, taking note of N79's information above. Do this now. It is the law to protect a tenant's deposit within a prescribed scheme.

2) Check she has a valid gas safety certificate. It is the law to provide one of these to your tenant, and it should be renewed every year.

3) Make sure your mum has declared to HMR&C that she is running a rental income business, even if she is making a loss.

4) Your mum legally needs to give two months' notice to her tenant under Section 21; 1 month is not sufficient. The notice needs to expire at the end of a rental period.

5) Is there a full, itemised inventory in place at the start of the rental period, which has been signed by both landlord and tenant? If not, your mum should be very careful as to how she treats this tenant, since she would have no proof of the state of the property when the tenant entered & would accordingly experience difficulty in making good the property on the tenant's exit.

6) The underpayment of rent is a separate issue and assuming that a contract is in place for the full monthly amount, your mum should be able to claim this back. She may need to take it to court unfortunately, though.

I'm sorry that your mum is so upset, but renting is a business, it's not something that is done 'between friends'. You would not go into any other business without understanding the sector and the legalities surrounding it. Why take that risk with renting?

princeofpounds

N79 is the only person who has given you the right advice on which scheme to use. The previous posters commenting on the DPS cases are either a bit out of date or not really giving you complete information.

The current situation, as decided in Draycott, is that your mother should avoid the penalty. It's a bit technical why, but the important thing is that she does not put it in a scheme where the 14 days rule is part of the scheme's own internal regulations (as it is in DPS). So the other two should be totally fine.

Basically the judge decided that the wording on the penalty in law was a bit loose, and the limit needed to be repeated in the scheme rules to be valid. Not that anyone (including the schemes) actually realised that so we end up with the current messy situation.

So step one is protect the deposit.

Once that is done, she needs to understand section 21 and section 8 notices which are the first step in eviction. The landlordzone link given previously has explanations of these, as would any good landlords association. But you can't use the easiest process (section 21) unless the deposit is protected, so that's why it's important to do it first.

I should also impress upon you the importance of your mother not locking the tenant out, cutting off utilities, or harrassing her. Eviction is ONLY possible with a court order, and to attempt to do it any other way is a criminal offence with a potential fine and jail sentence.

What is also critical is that if there is gas equipment there is a valid gas safety certificate. If there is not, you should organise a gassafe check (was called corgi before). If the tenant denies access, you should at least have evidence that you tried all reasonable steps to arrange one - written letters requesting access, records of booked appointments etc.

The good news is that if you learn about and manage the process correctly your mother is unlikely to get a fine and will recover the property within a few months. So there will be lost earnings and hassle but hopefully not too much else.

Jowo_2

Once the deposit is protected, If you and your mother don't have the appetite to do all the complicated paperwork yourselves to evict the tenant, look into using Landlord Action or a similar organisation who have significant experience in this area and do their work on a fixed fee basis, charging separately for each step needed to get possession of the property.

Is there a signed inventory/schedule of condition?

Is the tenant on housing benefit/local housing allowance?

N79

poppysarah wrote: »

Is a 3X deposit award trumped by the 3X deposit repairs that might need doing?

No - there is no right of set off. This, I suspect, is one of the reasons that have led judges to try to water down the law. The other main one, which was discussed in Draycott vs Hannells being that is it really fair that a LL who protects a deposit on day 15 through no fault of their own (eg cheque lost in post) has to pay 3X deposit to the T. The High court thought not.

poppy10_2

poppysarah wrote: »

Is a 3X deposit award trumped by the 3X deposit repairs that might need doing?

Naughty!

Fire_Fox

C_Mababejive wrote: »

I wonder what the friend has to say about it and can they bring any pressure to bear on this parasite?

I hope she manages to get rid of her without too much cost and stress.

Let this be a lesson to all those amateur and BTL landlords out there.

There are professional parasites out there who can and will make mincemeat of you.

Protection from Eviction Act 1977, harassment is a CRIMINAL offence.

vaporate

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Well, she should have protected the deposit in a scheme. Now her tenant can claim 3 times the deposit.... She should get it protected as soon as possible.

As for the court claim, well the tenant is still in place, so the court claim [NOT court order!] is ill founded.

Second.

Your mum broke the law and put the deposit in her account which is fraud.

Karma.

And forget about doing it now as there is a time limit to put the money in the scheme which you need a receipt for. Been there , done it, sued for