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Tenancy Deposit Wasn't Protected
emoscotty28
Posts: 9 Forumite
Hi there,
I was wondering if someone could give some advice on whether it would be worth pursuing my ex-landlord with court action.
Basically I signed a new tenancy agreement 18 months ago with my previous landlord and all seemed good. He told me that the £400 deposit I paid had to be paid into a seperate bank account due to new legislations (I didn't realise at the time that this wasn't the case.) After living there for 18 months my LL decided the rent was going to increase (he gave me just over 5 week's notice before the end of the term of my AST.) So after asking him how much notice he would need should I decide I didn't want to continue living there, he told me to let him know as soon as I could, should I wish to leave the premises.
A little under 2 weeks later, I had managed to find a new flat and got accepted through their "checks" so informed my LL that I would be moving out on the last day of my term so as to not have to pay up until the end of my term. When his brother came round to collect the keys, (LL is away in Europe travelling for 3-4 months) he noted that there was a little damp showing through in the front bedroom but said there wasn't any damage so I should be fine for the full deposit back.
After a couple of days, I hadn't heard anything from my LL about when I should expect the deposit etc so decided to get in touch to find out. He stated that he was waiting until his new tenants had paid their deposit till he could pay my deposit back and also that he was witholding £140 for "cleaning and painting" that the property required to bring it back up to a rentable state. I obviously disputed this and told him he had plenty of chance to inform us of any repairs/cleaning that needed doing prior to us vacating the premises. He at no point made a check-in nor a check-out of the property, nor took any pictures of any damage. I then asked him for a receipt of work that had been carried out without my knowledge and also for the details of which deposit protection scheme the deposit was being held with so I could raise the dispute with them. No answer.
After speaking with Shelter for legal advice regarding the issue, I applied a little pressure to my LL stating that because he had repeatedly failed to provide me with details of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme which was holding my deposit, I was well within my rights to pursue the return of the deposit in full along with compensation no more than 3 times the deposit amount, per calendar month that I had been resident in the property. His answer - "Dont worry, I will pay you the deposit back tomorrow in full into your Paypal account." Great, success finally!
In the meantime though, his brother is still hounding me as there is apparently "debt on the pre-payment meters" which were installed in the property prior to us moving in and also he is wanting me to contact the new tenant to let them have my details as apparently they need to give the energy company my details so they can put the bills in their name (something which we didn't have to do when we moved in.)
I wasn't going to pursue for the compensation for not protecting my deposit but after my LL has now tried screwing me over on 2-3 occasions (luckily I am the kind of person who doesn't just agree to something but research the subject first) I am now wanting to pursue for the compensation as well for failing to provide me with the details for the tenancy protection scheme and, as far as I can see, failing to protect my deposit full stop. Am I still within my rights to issue my LL with a court summons for failing to protect/failing to provide details of the tenancy deposit protection scheme or is my LL paying me the deposit back in full nulled this right? It may sound like I am being spiteful and I may be however my LL has chosen the complete wrong time to try screw me over having just lost a very close family member and suffering from Anxiety and panic attacks has only made the situation worse.
Any help advice would be greatly appreciated - apologies for the lengthy thread!
I was wondering if someone could give some advice on whether it would be worth pursuing my ex-landlord with court action.
Basically I signed a new tenancy agreement 18 months ago with my previous landlord and all seemed good. He told me that the £400 deposit I paid had to be paid into a seperate bank account due to new legislations (I didn't realise at the time that this wasn't the case.) After living there for 18 months my LL decided the rent was going to increase (he gave me just over 5 week's notice before the end of the term of my AST.) So after asking him how much notice he would need should I decide I didn't want to continue living there, he told me to let him know as soon as I could, should I wish to leave the premises.
A little under 2 weeks later, I had managed to find a new flat and got accepted through their "checks" so informed my LL that I would be moving out on the last day of my term so as to not have to pay up until the end of my term. When his brother came round to collect the keys, (LL is away in Europe travelling for 3-4 months) he noted that there was a little damp showing through in the front bedroom but said there wasn't any damage so I should be fine for the full deposit back.
After a couple of days, I hadn't heard anything from my LL about when I should expect the deposit etc so decided to get in touch to find out. He stated that he was waiting until his new tenants had paid their deposit till he could pay my deposit back and also that he was witholding £140 for "cleaning and painting" that the property required to bring it back up to a rentable state. I obviously disputed this and told him he had plenty of chance to inform us of any repairs/cleaning that needed doing prior to us vacating the premises. He at no point made a check-in nor a check-out of the property, nor took any pictures of any damage. I then asked him for a receipt of work that had been carried out without my knowledge and also for the details of which deposit protection scheme the deposit was being held with so I could raise the dispute with them. No answer.
After speaking with Shelter for legal advice regarding the issue, I applied a little pressure to my LL stating that because he had repeatedly failed to provide me with details of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme which was holding my deposit, I was well within my rights to pursue the return of the deposit in full along with compensation no more than 3 times the deposit amount, per calendar month that I had been resident in the property. His answer - "Dont worry, I will pay you the deposit back tomorrow in full into your Paypal account." Great, success finally!
In the meantime though, his brother is still hounding me as there is apparently "debt on the pre-payment meters" which were installed in the property prior to us moving in and also he is wanting me to contact the new tenant to let them have my details as apparently they need to give the energy company my details so they can put the bills in their name (something which we didn't have to do when we moved in.)
I wasn't going to pursue for the compensation for not protecting my deposit but after my LL has now tried screwing me over on 2-3 occasions (luckily I am the kind of person who doesn't just agree to something but research the subject first) I am now wanting to pursue for the compensation as well for failing to provide me with the details for the tenancy protection scheme and, as far as I can see, failing to protect my deposit full stop. Am I still within my rights to issue my LL with a court summons for failing to protect/failing to provide details of the tenancy deposit protection scheme or is my LL paying me the deposit back in full nulled this right? It may sound like I am being spiteful and I may be however my LL has chosen the complete wrong time to try screw me over having just lost a very close family member and suffering from Anxiety and panic attacks has only made the situation worse.
Any help advice would be greatly appreciated - apologies for the lengthy thread!
0
Comments
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Nevermind, don't anyone answer. I've done some digging myself and found some solace in a high court ruling which could be used as a test case.
Thanks everyone!0 -
Reading through your lengthy post it would seem your pretty much up to scratch with the power of the internet and your rights.
It amazes me how many threads pop up in here about shoddy LL's and their bad practices, take the LL for the 3 X deposit if it wasn't protected. The more the bad LL's are weeded out the better and that's coming from a LL.2 kWp SEbE , 2kWp SSW & 2.5kWp NWbW.....in sunny North Derbyshire17.7kWh Givenergy battery added(for the power hungry kids)0 -
Yes you can sue and no the return does not null the right.emoscotty28 wrote: »Hi there,
....
Am I still within my rights to issue my LL with a court summons for failing to protect/failing to provide details of the tenancy deposit protection scheme or is my LL paying me the deposit back in full nulled this right?
However it does mitigate.
If you go to court, the court must impose a penalty on the LL as he failed to comply within the 30 days.
The penalty is "up to" 3 times the deposit.
Since the LL appears to be returning your deposit in full, the court is unlikely to award you the full 3 times penalty, but will award you some lesser amount.0 -
Yes you can sue and no the return does not null the right.
However it does mitigate.
If you go to court, the court must impose a penalty on the LL as he failed to comply within the 30 days.
The penalty is "up to" 3 times the deposit.
Since the LL appears to be returning your deposit in full, the court is unlikely to award you the full 3 times penalty, but will award you some lesser amount.
Just a minor clarification. The penalty is " not less than the amount of the deposit and not more than three times the amount of the deposit ". So the minimum award is whatever the amount of the deposit was. This penalty is in addition to the actual deposit which, the tenancy having ended, the court should order that they also repay.0 -
I am in a similar situation at the moment and am going to try a little pressure on my landlord who hasnt provided me with the relevant information about where my deposit has been kepy.0
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