Complicated deposit quandry

rich13348

I am looking for some impartial advice. My recently former landlord is a the father of one of my friends. I am in Scotland and have discovered his is not registered (I have already reported this to the council) and more importantly I suspect he is not using a tenancy deposit scheme to hold my deposit.

To be clear we have moved out but deposit not yet returned. He wants the garden returned to grass as I dug it up for veg so he is looking at getting someone to do this.

But that's besides the point my issue is that he is not using a TDP to hold my deposit and all the things I have read tell me to take him to court and I should get a decent amount back, 2-3 times the deposit. But should I do it because as previously stated he is a friends parent so it could become messy personally. So not really a question of law more a question of ethics. That being said if I don't get any deposit back or he takes more that I think is acceptable I will most likely take him to court if he is not willing mediate, but if he doesn't take more that is acceptable should I take him to court.

pmlindyloo

rich13348 wrote: »

I am looking for some impartial advice. My recently former landlord is a the father of one of my friends. I am in Scotland and have discovered his is not registered (I have already reported this to the council) and more importantly I suspect he is not using a tenancy deposit scheme to hold my deposit.

To be clear we have moved out but deposit not yet returned. He wants the garden returned to grass as I dug it up for veg so he is looking at getting someone to do this.

But that's besides the point my issue is that he is not using a TDP to hold my deposit and all the things I have read tell me to take him to court and I should get a decent amount back, 2-3 times the deposit. But should I do it because as previously stated he is a friends parent so it could become messy personally. So not really a question of law more a question of ethics. That being said if I don't get any deposit back or he takes more that I think is acceptable I will most likely take him to court if he is not willing mediate, but if he doesn't take more that is acceptable should I take him to court.

First of all check whether your deposit is protected. The schemes are listed here:

http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/paying_for_a_home/deposits/tenancy_deposit_schemes

with other useful information.

Since you have already reported him for not registering then I suspect that any relationship breakdown would have already occurred.

Please note the time limits for going to court after you have left the tenancy.

Because of the time limits you need to speed things up and ask the LL for the deductions he intends to make from the deposit. It certainly sounds like you will have to pay for re grassing if it was noted as being grassed on the inventory and you didn't get written permission.

No one can tell you what you should do if the deposit is not protected.

Personally if the LL had rented out before then he should be aware of the legislation. Did you have a proper tenancy agreement? Did he fulfil his responsibilities of being a landlord? - eg gas certificate/doing repairs etc etc

On the other side why did you not raise this issue when you moved in?

If you are using this soley as a negotiation point to get your deposit refunded then its' up to you to negotiate without having to go to court.

Registering a deposit is a legal requirement.

Since you want points of view , I would (if deposit wasn't registered)

wait until the LL told me what the deductions were and then say' I am happy to give you £*** towards the cost of re grassing (because that was something I should have rectified or at least asked permission to do) but you forgot/didn't register the deposit and I could take you to court for ............. (remember it is up to 3 times - this may not be awarded) so shall we call it quits to save further hassle?'

You didn't seem too concerned about reporting him for not registering so my gut feeling is that you are using this to save some money which is OK, but morally you did wrong too by growing your veggie patch without permission.

Just my point of view.

rich13348

Hi Lindyloo. So some more info that might shed a bit more light on things. My former LL is a friends dad and it just so happened that we were looking for a new house to rent as they were looking to move back to their hometown. LL had never rented before and I believe sought legal advice from a solicitor in his hometown. I only became aware of the neccissity to protecting deposits when I moved to my new house last week.
We did start renting in June 2011 but I'm sure the solicitor who LL went should have known of this by then.

It was a proper tenancy as I insisted on it as did LL hence the solicitor but this was the first time I rented and the same I think can be said for the LL. There is no gas but he'd did get the sockets checked and PAT test the white goods so he was fairly proficient in LLing.
While I reported LL to the council I asked them to refrain from using my name so he may not know and there is probably a few nosey neighbors who could be blamed.
I really don't want to ruin a friendship by taking my friends dad to court.

I guess I will see how the negotiations go and take from there.

Thankfully my new house is maintained by a letting agency so no love lost there and they hopefully will do it by the books.

ali_hire

Sounds fairly simple to me.

Is 2-3 times the deposit worth more than your friendship with this person? If so, report him and follow it through.

If it's not, then I'd contact him saying you've taken advice and you know he should have registered the deposit and you know you can take it further and he'll have no leg to stand on. However, because of the friendship you won't take it any further if he just pays back the deposit in full now.

Cheeky_Monkey

rich13348 wrote: »

While I reported LL to the council I asked them to refrain from using my name so he may not know and there is probably a few nosey neighbors who could be blamed.

How on earth would the neighbours know that the LL didn't protect your depost? Unless of course you told them!

If the Council do contact him about it, he wouldn't have to be a genius to work out that it was you who reported him.

pmlindyloo

Cheeky_Monkey wrote: »

How on earth would the neighbours know that the LL didn't protect your depost? Unless of course you told them!

If the Council do contact him about it, he wouldn't have to be a genius to work out that it was you who reported him.

It wasn't to do with the deposit not being protected.

In Scotland it is a legal requirement to register as a landlord.

This is what the OP reported - his not registering.

https://www.gov.uk/renting-out-your-property-scotland

Errata

It was a proper tenancy as I insisted on it

Really? An un-registered landlord and no deposit protection tells me you hadn't a clue, or didn't care.

rich13348

Thank you Errata for your scathing reply. While I am now much more educated on l tenancy agreements. At the time deposit protection was not mandatory also by proper tenancy I meant that I wanted it on paper and signed and not something as wavy as a gentleman's handshake.