Landlord deduct our deposit unfairly

Nettletea_2

moved out our rented property one month ago. when we vacated the house, the landlord came for a final check and said he was happy with the status of the house and would return our deposit.

but today we received his phone call saying he returned part of our deposit, deducting near 200 pounds for housing cleaning. He said he would show us all the invoices.

I was very unhappy about the deduction. I remember before we fully vacated the house on the last day, the landlord already put some of his stuff into the house. I said to him I would do the cleaning, he replied "not to worry about the cleaning". I did house cleaning anyway even he said so.

we moved into the rented property after April 2007, and we know the landlord didnt put our deposit into any deposit protection scheme. can we sue the landlord to get our full deposit back?

more info, when we moved in the house, no inventory check as the landlord went to holiday at that time, the house wasnt that clean when we moved in.

Ulfar

Raise a dispute with the relevant deposit scheme. If it wasn't in a scheme take him to court and if appropriate ask for 3x the deposit as compensation.

G_M

I assume you have a receipt for the deposit or the tenancy agreement shows the deposit amount?
Assuming you have and can therefore prove you paid it, write to him saying you are unhappy about the deduction, you intend to dispute it, and if it is not returned in full within 3 working days you will go to the Small Claims court and claim not only the deposit but 3 times deposit as well since he failed to protect it in accordance with the Housing Act 2004.

For info on protection see here.

edit - why oh why is it that so many tenants fail to ensure their landlords comply with this excellent law which is designed primarily to protect them....?

Nettletea_2

if our tenancy agreement has ended and we have vacated the property, can we still claim not only the deposit but 3 times deposit as well since he failed to protect it in accordance with the Housing Act 2004.

we mentioned the protection scheme to the landlord today. he laughed at us saying the tenancy agreement has ended so we could not sue him for not protecting the deposit.:(

shotton123

Very hard to claim, as I have found out, especially if the landlord uses the dps as there is no initial requirement to protect it within 14 days so therefore no breach of section 214 for 3 times the amount can ever be applied, something I have found out to my cost. Landlords are being allowed to get away with not protecting the deposits, and until something is done about it this will continue to happen, there has recently been a case took to the high court Draycott v Hannels it highlights the problems with making a claim, I sought advice from Shelter, DPS and CAB and still had the court decide not to award the 3 times the penalty.

Nettletea wrote: »

if our tenancy agreement has ended and we have vacated the property, can we still claim not only the deposit but 3 times deposit as well since he failed to protect it in accordance with the Housing Act 2004.

we mentioned the protection scheme to the landlord today. he laughed at us saying the tenancy agreement has ended so we could not sue him for not protecting the deposit.:(

shotton123

Where do you get the idea that this is a wonderful law, Tenants do not have a say in whether their deposits are protected, they believe there landlords when they say it has been done, and then have no protection from the law, This leglislation is very complex and advise reading the recent high court decision involving draycott v hannels before starting any court proceedings


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shotton123

I have noticed the link that you have provided to the direct.gov website, what the direct.gov website does'nt tell you is the dps does not have initial requirements wrote into their terms and condtions and therefore can never be breached for 3 times the deposit amount as per section 214 of the housing act. I am lobbying MP's, housing minister's to no avail, as the DPS do not operate within this legislation, and by allowing very late compliance a tenant is not able to make the claim for 3 times the amount, I suggest that you look at Draycott v Hannels the recent high court ruling in relation to this,

I feel that this is a very stupid piece of legislation that clearly does not work for all tenants.

I would very much appreciate any other tenants who have found themselves in this situation and urge that they contact Wendy Armstrong in the Housing Communities office as she believes there is not enough evidence on cases to substiate that this law is not working

shotton123

is this something that martin could perhaps take up on my behalf.

Thanks

shotton123 wrote: »

I have noticed the link that you have provided to the direct.gov website, what the direct.gov website does'nt tell you is the dps does not have initial requirements wrote into their terms and condtions and therefore can never be breached for 3 times the deposit amount as per section 214 of the housing act. I am lobbying MP's, housing minister's to no avail, as the DPS do not operate within this legislation, and by allowing very late compliance a tenant is not able to make the claim for 3 times the amount, I suggest that you look at Draycott v Hannels the recent high court ruling in relation to this,

I feel that this is a very stupid piece of legislation that clearly does not work for all tenants.

I would very much appreciate any other tenants who have found themselves in this situation and urge that they contact Wendy Armstrong in the Housing Communities office as she believes there is not enough evidence on cases to substiate that this law is not working

clutton_2

""Raise a dispute with the relevant deposit scheme. If it wasn't in a scheme take him to court and if appropriate ask for 3x the deposit as compensation. ""

you can either use the Arbitration Service of the relevant deposit sche,e

or

you can take the LL to court


you cannot do both......

tbs624

clutton wrote: »

""Raise a dispute with the relevant deposit scheme. If it wasn't in a scheme take him to court and if appropriate ask for 3x the deposit as compensation. ""

you can either use the Arbitration Service of the relevant deposit sche,e

or

you can take the LL to court


you cannot do both......

I don't think Ulfar was saying that you *could* do both?

If you read his postagain he says

"raise a dispute with the relevant scheme" (as in, if its registered with one, do this)

"If it wasn't in a scheme, take him to court" (as in, if it's not registered, do this).

So, yes, either /or.

If the deposit has been scheme registered then either party, of course, can choose not to use the adjudication option and proceed to court instead

tbs624

shotton123, there are two appeal cases (Universal Estates v Tiensia and Honeysuckle Properties v Fletcher) which were heard in May this year, but in which judgement was reserved.

The CoA is currently in recess, so it will be at least October before any decision/potential clarification on this issue becomes available.