Non protected deposit on house query

Lizzye

I'm after some advice please
We are in a very tricky situation ATM, our landlady of five years decided she wanted to sell her property. to cut a long story short, she's didn't issue us.a section 21 and then we also discovered she hadn't put our deposit in one of those deposit scheme things meaning she couldn't legally evict us with the section 21. The council phoned her to inform her of this and she went mental and told them she would get us out of her house 'outside of the law'. They called me back to warn me i think. I haven't heard from my landlady since.

Since this happened a few weeks ago we have found a place to move to and have paid deposits etc on it. I've tried to contact my landlady a few time to let her know we're looking, found somewhere, to expect a phone all for references, and more recently to say we are now moving out this weekend., but still nothing from her. I've even sent her a recorded delivery mail today to confirm again and try arrange meeting up to return keys and deposit to us.

I'm worried now as we did all this in the space of two weeks that we haven't given her the 4 weeks notice to move out, regardless of the fact she tried to evict us and wants us out quite clearly.

Can she hold back our deposit for this and can we still claim on it as she didn't protect it?

Werdnal

Why have you started a whole new thread about this when the original one is still running here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4463893=

In short, yes landlady can still hold you to notice, and yes she can make deductions from your deposit, or sue you for losses in court.

However, you can threaten to counter sue her for up to 3x the deposit value as a penalty for not protecting it.

Lizzye

Sorry I didn't realise it was the rule to carry it on there.

Will the fact she tried to evict us anyway go in our favour? She has issued us a section 21, even though it is obviously invalid.

Werdnal

Lizzye wrote: »

Sorry I didn't realise it was the rule to carry it on there.

Will the fact she tried to evict us anyway go in our favour? She has issued us a section 21, even though it is obviously invalid.

If you keep all the story together it helps everyone who has offered you advice to continue to do so in one place. Otherwise, we will all be going over old ground, asking you questions and covering the same advice all over again. There were 21 replies to the previous thread, obviously some were your responses to the questiosn people asked you for more info, but if you just added on another question at the end, it saves everyone repeating it all.

Going back to your question, the S21 (even if issued correctly)does not end the tenancy unless the landlord takes court action when it expires. If you as tenant wanted to leave, you still need to give your own month's notice before you move out. As you haven't, the LL obviously has a valid claim for the notice period you should have given.

However, as your landlord has not protected the deposit, they are in breach of the rules themselves, so I would be inclined to just write to them, adising you have vacated the property, even though their original S21 was invalid and did not oblige you to do so. If LL then starts making a fuss, point out that their lack of deposit protection means you can claim on them, and explain that you have noe surrendered the tenancy and feel you have both lost here, but are willing to leave any counterclaim for deposit non-protection, provided the LL returns whole deposit value now.

Obviously, if there is any damage to the property, the LL can claim separately for this, provided they have proof it was your fault.

Lizzye

Theres No damage to the propertyother than normal wear and tear and thats minimal. I've taken photos of every room in the house to be sure anyway.

I'm quite happy to end it amicably but she's not answering me at all I'm starting to get a little frantic.

Werdnal

Lizzye wrote: »

Theres No damage to the propertyother than normal wear and tear and thats minimal. I've taken photos of every room in the house to be sure anyway.

I'm quite happy to end it amicably but she's not answering me at all I'm starting to get a little frantic.

Write to her, as I have told you and you were told in the other replies on your other post. Phone calls can be ignored and you have no proof you have phoned her if she started to get funny. Texts and emails can also be deleted, go astray etc. Write a letter, keep free proof of posting (not recorded or registered post as she can refuse to sign for this) and if anything kicks off, you have a papertrail to prove your actions!

Lizzye

I have written to her as I stated in my first paragraph in this post. I have sent her a letter via recorded delivery and posted one through her door