Abuse from housemate, evil landlord!

pinkshoes

Check immediately to see if the deposit was registered with one of the three schemes. If it wasn't, she needs to send a recorded delivery letter stating that as they failed their legal requirement to register her deposit with a scheme, then she is suing them for 3x the deposit amount, which she is entitled to do.

She should say that if they return her £350 deposit within 7 days, she will not pursue the matter any further.

Lazyteacher

Wow! Thanks for the advice guys. I'm not sure if it was registered with one of the three schemes or not, but i will check! I will try to get back to you about the questions you answered. I really appreciate the information here, it sounds pretty positive that she has a chance to at least avoid this payment, if nothing else!

I'll find out and get back by tomorrow. Thanks again!

princeofpounds

So, broadly what she has to do is write a letter titled 'letter before action' to the landlord, copying the agent.

It should be concise, factual and clearly written.

She should make the following points:

- She accepts liability for only the 4 days of rent where the room was vacant, as the landlord is not lawfully permitted to charge an ex-tenant when the room is re-let.
- She accepts reasonable costs for re-letting the property (she should provide an estimate for this - maybe the cost of a newspaper advert and an hour's labour).
- She does not accept the spurious charges for either departing the tenancy early or having visitors.
- The common area charge is a bit up in the air at the moment. She can choose to accept or to fight. Might be best to say she doesn't accept it either for now, if arbitration or court eventually award it to LL anyway then that's fine.
- She expects the remainder of her deposit returned in full within 7 days.

Then we get into playing hardball. If you can use these depends on the questions we have asked.
- She should note that the LL did not provide a gas safety certificate. Failure to provide one is a criminal offence.
- She should note that the property is an HMO and not properly registered or run, and that the council can fine the landlords of unlawful HMOs.
- She should note, most importantly, that the deposit was not protected in an official scheme as required by law. The penalty for this should the LL be taken to court is 3x the deposit paid to the tenant.

State that if the remainder of the deposit is returned within 7 days then you will take no further action. If not, then she will use all possible avenues to seek redress. She needs to be prepared to go to court if necessary, some LL are quite obstinate. She should keep all evidence of communication, not communicate in phone calls - always preferably writing.

You can of course still grass the LL up for the HMO if applicable afterwards

She can choose to be more or less 'hardball'. For example, with these levers it might even be possible to escape the valid charges. Up to her how far to push it, but often its best to seem reasonable when it gets to court/arbitration.

Send recorded delivery or some other proof of posting (hand-deliver with a witness, get a reply in return etc). This just helps establish a timeline for you.

Lazyteacher

Hi, having checked all our information we cant find anything about a deposit protection scheme (in her new house she received an email from the DPS very rapidly) does this mean she was not covered? And if she was not covered what would be the next steps? Personally i want to take this as far as we can, but would we end up out of pocket if this went to court? And what would be the likelyhood that we would win?

Thanks

Lazyteacher

We just read another post saying that if the TOTAL rent on the house was in excess of 25,000 then it would not fall under the schemes, is this true? Or is it 25,000 for each individual tennant? How frustrating if this is the case!

BitterAndTwisted

You absolutely need to check on the deposit-protection schemes' websites to definitely confirm whether your g/f's deposit was protected or not. Once you have done this the way forward will be clearer.

Should your g/f need to issue a summons in the Small Claims Court (this may not be necessary, the threat of it and the potential penalty of three times the deposit might prompt the LL to pay up) I believe the cost is around £50-£80

princeofpounds

As we have told you several times, she just has to ring the schemes and check. Usually no info means not protected, but not always so you should check yourself. There are only three schemes, the government websites give you the details for them.

The next step is the letter before action as we have also outlined. This is just a warning, it looks good if you get to court to attempt resolution beforehand, and it may mean you never need to go there.

If you go to court you can sue for the deposit, the 3x penalty and your costs, so you will not end up out of pocket if you win and enforce the judgment.

You might even end up with a big profit if you get the 3x penalty, but most probably the LL will just protect the deposit late, which currently means (though a mistake in the legislation) that the penalty no longer applies, but then you can go to arbitration under the scheme and get a fair hearing over the deposit.

If the landlord is really dim/obstinate and goes to court and loses, then it sometimes can be a bit of a hassle getting the money out of them afterwards if they don't mind having a CCJ against them. You can do all sorts of things like attachment of earnings, putting a charge on the property, freezing his bank accounts and so on, but it can take effort. So you might have to spend a bit more money on the enforcement process as well as the case before you see a return. You do get to add it all on to your costs though.

Keep all info as to his bank accounts, anything you know about his employment etc. At least as a LL you know he has a property, so you can put a charge on it and it can't be sold without him paying you back ever.

You will be in small claims so don't need to use a solicitor, but you will need to understand the process.

princeofpounds

Depends. It is 25k per tenancy. If she had her own individual contract under 25k then the total amount for the house is not relevant. However, if she was in a joint and several tenancy with all the other tenants, then it matters. The limit is rising to 100k, but that's a few months in the future.

Jowo_2

Is this property located in England and Wales? TDS doesn't apply in Scotland. I've only had a quick whip through this thread so apologies if I've missed the location.

clutton_2

""She accepts reasonable costs for re-letting the property (she should provide an estimate for this - maybe the cost of a newspaper advert and an hour's labour)."

i, of course, do not condone what this landlord is doing... and hope he gets his comeuppance.. but lets me clear

the amount of time it takes a LL to get a new tenant bears no relationship to the cost... MAny letting agents charge one months rent to find a new tenant... whether it takes a day or 6 months for them to succeed....

But the LL WILL have to produce evidence of his expenditure in court if he challenges this .....

oh that it were as simple to find a new tenant as a small ad and an hour's labour !!