Protected Deposits

Generali

The Government have introduced a Deposit Protection Scheme where tenancy deposits will be lodged with an independant 3rd party and LLs will have to apply to have money deducted.

We seem to have a lot of tenants that start threads on this board, trying to get their deposit back from their LL at present.

At the same time I have seen several LLs complaining about how it's an unwarranted intrusion by Big Government and will cause them to have to raise rents.

So waddya reckon: deposit protection - good or bad?

nelly_2

Suprising lack of answers here so far???

Considering the amount of threads on here about land lords trying to skank deposits of people of £500 to clean 1 window etc I'd say its a good idea.

I'd allso say a better idea is to not pay the last months rent and call it straight

Generali

nelly wrote: »

Suprising lack of answers here so far???

Considering the amount of threads on here about land lords trying to skank deposits of people of £500 to clean 1 window etc I'd say its a good idea.

I agree with you but LLs seem to feel differently. Perhaps it's a handy way of making up voids.

nelly wrote: »

I'd allso say a better idea is to not pay the last months rent and call it straight

Agree there too. Mrs Generali makes me pay it though and then go to court. It's a massive pain in the whatsit.

Guy_Montag

It is, in fairness to the govt, one of the most useful things to improve the lot of tenants.

peter999

Deposit Protection is long overdue.

It will have wider impact in regulating the sector as LandLords & Letting Agents clean up their act.

Large deposits being taken, routine problems tenants were getting from Lords of the Manor meant it needed to be regulated.

Probably take few years for Landlords & Agents to get used to things as they still try to play usual games with tenant's deposits.

peter999

nelly_2

Generali wrote: »

I agree with you but LLs seem to feel differently. Perhaps it's a handy way of making up voids.


Thats because a lot of them suffer from a missguided superiority complex


Agree there too. Mrs Generali makes me pay it though and then go to court. It's a massive pain in the whatsit.

I've found a prop forward with a baseball bat in hand is much quicker than courts and a damn site more fun to watch too

Generali

peter999 wrote: »

Deposit Protection is long overdue...

Large deposits being taken, routine problems tenants were getting from Lords of the Manor meant it needed to be regulated.

Probably take few years for Landlords & Agents to get used to things as they still try to play usual games with tenant's deposits.

I suspect that it's not going to take tenants long to cotton on that they can sting their LL pretty hard if the deposit isn't protected.

18 weeks rent for complaining to the court and the LL can't even evict you until the deposit has been protected. I reckon there will be tales of woe on this and the DFW boards in a few months along the lines of:

"The LL has protected my deposit but I already spent the 3xdeposit. I thought it was a cashback or something as my last 3 LLs had to give it to me. Help!!!"

If Gordon B wins the next election (heaven forbid but perfectly possible - think 1992, Labour had that one in the bag) I reckon we'll see more regulation of the private rental market. Security of tenure anyone? What about rent increases limited to RPI? Or worse, CPI?

RHemmings

Rent increases limited to CPI? Now that would do really nasty things to the BTL market.

prudryden

Not sure whether it changes anything for most landlords and tenants. If there is an issue which can't be settled by a little give and take or negotiation, then a third party will make the decision. Doesn't matter if it is in a county court enviroment or some other simulated court. I would imagine that the proof and the process of convincing the third party will essentially be the same.

nelly_2

prudryden wrote: »

Not sure whether it changes anything for most landlords and tenants. If there is an issue which can't be settled by a little give and take or negotiation, then a third party will make the decision. Doesn't matter if it is in a county court enviroment or some other simulated court. I would imagine that the proof and the process of convincing the third party will essentially be the same.

Yeah but when the LL has the money in their pocket they are suprisingly slow to answer phones and things like that.

A mate of mine got ripped off once and drilled a hole in their toilet waste pipe and filled it with expanding foam

Generali

nelly wrote: »

Yeah but when the LL has the money in their pocket they are suprisingly slow to answer phones and things like that.

Perfectly true.

Mrs G and I just got judgement against our old LL BTW*. It's taken a year so far and I still don't have my money. She hasn't a leg to stand on (no inventory and trying to charge £1k for leaving a bag of garden rubbish in the sitting room by mistake) but I'm still out of pocket.

Hopefully with this new scheme I'd have my cash in a fortnight.



*I think so anyway, I've not done this before.