New Landlord Deposit Rules

peter999

Wookster wrote: »

I've just had a phone call from my estate agent explaining this all to me.

They have also said that an administration fee of £50 to cover the costs of moving my deposit into the scheme will be passed on to me. Obviously I'm not happy about this at all, can they really charge me £50 for this??

Can I as a tenant insist that they agent uses the http://www.depositprotection.com scheme as it is the only free one?

If your tenancy is continuing, your Landlord/Letting agent don't need to put your deposit into the scheme.

They only need to put your deposit into scheme if & when you renew your tenancy from 6 April.

Your Letting Agent may have a big problem if they were made to pay all tenants' full deposits into the free scheme (instead of just an insurance premium), as they may not have such a considerable amount of money !! It may have gone walkies !!

peter999

Generali

peter999 wrote: »

Your Letting Agent may have a big problem...as they may not have the...money !!

peter999

Interesting point. LLs often seem to treat the deposit as their money. I wonder how many just spend/invest it when they get it.

thesaint

Generali wrote: »

For existing tenants it'll be hard for an agent to force the tenant to pay for the money to go into the protection scheme.

Conversation in my mind on signing new contract:

Agent: "You need to pay to protect your deposit"
Tenant: "I think not chum"
Agent: "Erm...."

Fast forward 2 weeks:

Tenant: "Did you protect my deposit?"

Scenario 1:

Agent: "Yes and we would really quite like you to pay the £50"
Tenant : "No thanks. Very kind of you to think to ask me though"

Scenario 2:

Agent: "No, we are awaiting the £50"
Tenant: "I claim 3x my deposit. Trebles all round!"
Agent: "I'm going to kick you out of the house"
Tenant: "You can't!"
Agent: "Doh!"

Can anyone see a flaw in this? It's how I understand that it works.

The agent/landlord will require the tenants signs the new agreement after signing for the payment of the new fee. If the tenant refuses the letting agent/landlord will let the tenancy go to a periodic one and give them an S21 by return mail.

Wookster

My tenancy is a renewal and it renewed on 7 April.

Thesaint: But surely the agent can't evict me if they haven't protected my deposit?

thesaint

Wookster wrote: »

My tenancy is a renewal and it renewed on 7 April.

Thesaint: But surely the agent can't evict me if they haven't protected my deposit?

It seems if they don't protect your deposit within 14 days, they are leaving themselves wide open. They may use the defence that they have deemed the new tenancy null and void and have let your original one slip into a periodic one. If you have a signed new tenancy agreement, they are going to be seriously stuffed, as I am certain a court would rule the new one is applicable.

They cannot simply charge you the money without your agreement.

All they had to do is do what I stated in my earlier post to force your hand.

Guy_Montag

Generali wrote: »

For existing tenants it'll be hard for an agent to force the tenant to pay for the money to go into the protection scheme.

Conversation in my mind on signing new contract:

Agent: "You need to pay to protect your deposit"
Tenant: "I think not chum"
Agent: "Erm...."

Fast forward 2 weeks:

Tenant: "Did you protect my deposit?"

Scenario 1:

Agent: "Yes and we would really quite like you to pay the £50"
Tenant : "No thanks. Very kind of you to think to ask me though"

Scenario 2:

Agent: "No, we are awaiting the £50"
Tenant: "I claim 3x my deposit. Trebles all round!"
Agent: "I'm going to kick you out of the house"
Tenant: "You can't!"
Agent: "Doh!"

Can anyone see a flaw in this? It's how I understand that it works.

Heh heh heh, that really made me snigger - good job Generali

Wookster 14 days is the magic number, they have to prove to you that it's been protected within 14 days, so you're looking at seeing evidence on the 21st. Put them off until then & claim your 3x. You may have to move out at the end of your tenancy though.

peter999

Wookster wrote: »

My tenancy is a renewal and it renewed on 7 April.

Thesaint: But surely the agent can't evict me if they haven't protected my deposit?

Very interesting question.

The agent should ask the Landlord to protect the Deposit
The agent should not ask the Tenant to protect the Deposit.

If the tenant pays a fee to protect the Deposit, the question is whether the Landlord has protected the Deposit & is actually protected ???????

The outcome could depend on who paid to protect the Deposit.

peter999

thesaint

peter999 wrote: »

Very interesting question.

The agent should ask the Landlord to protect the Deposit
The agent should not ask the Tenant to protect the Deposit.

If the tenant pays a fee to protect the Deposit, the question is whether the Landlord has protected the Deposit & is actually protected ???????

The outcome could depend on who paid to protect the Deposit.

peter999

It matters not "Who paid to protect the deposit". The authorities require it protecting.

Wookster

This is certainly turning into an interesting thread.

The agent told me that I needed to sign some sort of certificate to enable them to protect my deposit. It seems to me that all I need to do is refuse to sign it, refuse to pay them there £50 and then stick the renewal agreement, signed which takes effect on 7 April in there face and say "Thats not ieeeet"

Thesaint: there are several ways to protect a deposit from what I've read, just because I refuse to pay for it doesn't mean that prevents them from finding another way of protecting it - that excuse is almost like a pick pocket saying they wouldn't take a cheque so I stole it anyways.

seven-day-weekend

Generali wrote: »

Interesting point. LLs often seem to treat the deposit as their money. I wonder how many just spend/invest it when they get it.

As long as they are giving back what is due at the end, does it matter?

I hasten to add my grand amount of £230 from two lodgers in my UK house is sitting in MY bank account ,earning interest for ME. If/when they leave it will be returned to them in full (without interest) if they leave the place in a way they would like their own house to be left and not owing any rent.

Is there any problem with that?