landlord refusing to return deposit

gemrol

<li class="additional-post-data"> Hi guys I am new to this.
I am in real need of advice.
We moved out of our previous property one month ago, our landlord was out of the country at the time so his son came to do the inspection and handover keys. We were led to believe that he would have the deposit with him but he didn't so we wrote out a statement explaining that the house was left in a reasonable standard and that his parents would be in touch to return the deposit and him and my partner signed it.
We didn't hear of them for a few day so we sent an email. He then claimed that we had destroyed a piece of furniture. However the furniture in question was thrown away on request from the landlords wife.
She came for an inspection and told me that she didn't even realise that it was still in the property and that if it was taking up space then to get rid. This is now being denied by them.
When we moved into the property there was no inventory as we were told they didn't want to pay for one.
We have issued them with a pre action letter requesting the return of our deposit but as of yet we have not received anything and that was 3 weeks ago.
Also we have since found out that the deposit was not protected so we cant dispute it that way.
We have been told to go to the small claims court but we are unsure on how to do this and to be honest a little scared as he is a business man with lots of money and we are just a couple with 3 kids on a low income so this money is a lot for us.
Please and help and advice would be grateful.

Hou

https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/if-your-landlord-doesnt-protect-your-deposit

Hopefully that will help, they should have protected it and can be charged if not

Prothet_of_Doom

As a Landlord myself this boils my P ! 5 S

People like this are the reason why more regulation is coming and it will be painful for everyone.

No Inventory ? Not Protected the deposit?

Letter before action.

Dear LL, You have not Protected my deposit as required, you have not provided an inventory, and I have a piece of paper signed by your representative on checkout stating that everything was fine.
Because of your failure I to protect the deposit I am unable to ask the DPS to rule on your refusal to pay back my deposit, so I give you 7/14/28 days to pay it into my account otherwise I will take legal action to recover it. I would like to point out that typically in cases like this the county court awards 3 times the deposit plus interest plus costs against any landlord who has failed to carry out all his obligations under the law, and so if you feel lucky, go ahead and ignore this letter, and gamble on how much it costs you.


Then 7/14/28 days later take the action

Claim 3 x deposit plus interest

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/court-fees

I would suggest that it's well worth the investment and will be a good learning experience. You have NOTHING to loose.

Prothet_of_Doom

gemrol wrote: »

We have been told to go to the small claims court but we are unsure on how to do this and to be honest a little scared as he is a business (or crook) man with lots of money and we are just a couple with 3 kids on a low income so this money is a lot for us.
Please and help and advice would be grateful.

Money Claims on line is designed to be easy and stress free for the little man, and you can only loose your fee.

dancingfairy

There's 2 issues. 1 is suing for the return of the deposit. You can certainly submit the paperwork online, costs about 80 ish pounds I think. If landlord wants to defend then it will involve a hearing. Small claims is set up for the ordinary man in the street and you would be expected to probably represent yourself, although I think if you want to you can take a lawyer with you but this is not the norm from what I understand. Basically it would be you, the landlord and s judge in a small office/ room. This is not a crown court with huge courtrooms and jurors and lawyers etc etc. It really is just a smallish room ( they're unlikely to give you a big one) and both parties and the judge. You give your evidence, landlord gives theirs, judge decides. Normally each sides pays their own costs although the landlord could ask for you to pay his legal costs it is very unlikely a judge would order this, even if you lost. You would only have to pay the other side fees if it was obviously a completely made up claim and you were timewasting or trying to get revenge or something.
2) a separate issue for not protecting the deposit. This is slightly trickier. You can sue for up to 3 x the deposit however I believe the fees for this are much higher than for just a straight return of the deposit case as the court process is slightly different ( I think it's because the amounts are generally larger).
You can ( and should) take option 1 and sue for the return of your deposit. You can also do option 2 as well but I believe this is more expensive to do and a bit more hassle so you might not want the hassle of doing this.
Good luck
Df

dancingfairy

Do you have proof of paying a deposit? A receipt or bank statement showing the deposit? Basically your case is:
Deposit paid on x date, no damage caused and deposit not returned. They can't claim your deposit as there was no inventory signed by you at check in or checkout.
Df

G_M

I hope (though suspect not) that when the LL told you to get rid of the furniture, you got this confirmed in writing? Next time......

However as there is no inventory, there is no evidence that the furniture in question was ever in the property, therefore you cannot have got rid of it, can you........???

Lack of inventory is a big problem for the landlord - not for you.

As said above, claiming the depoit via the samall claims court is straight-forward, and you'll win. You'll get your court costs back (though cannot claim legal fees eg a solicitor)

Claiming the 3 times penalty is a little more complex/costly (initially - again you reclaim costs), but unless the LL responds to your Letter Before Action by returning your deposit in full, I urge you to claim the penalty too. LLs need to realise their legal obligations ad deposit leglislation is not new. It was first introduced by the Housing Act 2004

For full details:

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

dancingfairy

For the return of the deposit:
Do you have the landlords address to serve court papers?
Do you have a case?
Do you have evidence to support your claim?
What asset(s) does the landlord have/ how are you going to get your money? Let's say you win but the landlord refuses to pay, then what? Would you appoint bailiffs? Or go for bankruptcy? A charge on the house,? A deduction of wages?
You should win but actually getting money is a different thing. How far will you go? If he doesn't pay what is your next step? It's good to have a think/ vague plan of action just in case he doesn't pay up. Bailiffs, particularly high court ones can be a good choice and is possibly the easiest one and probably what I would do.
Df

gemrol

Thanks all for your advice the landlord owns a large kitchen company so I don't think there should be any worries of him being un able to pay. I think we are definitely going to go to small claims for the deposit but we are going to look into the fact that they did not protect the deposit as it seems like a very long drawn out complicated process.

ThePants999

Don't worry about going to the small claims court, it's straightforward, and you're at no disadvantage as an individual.

[Deleted User]

I read a post on here about three months ago where a link was provided (by theartfullodger) to a case where the ex tenant submitted a claim via MCOL for 3xdeposit for an unprotected deposit as well as return of original deposit (I can't find the case anymore). He said that the judge could have decided to throw that part of the claim out and send it on another track (more expensive) but the judge didn't and awarded the 3xdeposit via the MCOL process.

Whether the cheaper normal online claims process can work for the 3xdeposit case to work, depends on the judge. You have nothing to lose by including it.

If it helps, today's Sheriff's Are Coming (the very first case) is about the same situation. The ex tenant did rather well, defendant didn't even turn up. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b077rg9x/the-sheriffs-are-coming-series-5-episode-5

This might also be useful http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/small-claims-court or https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/JCO/Documents/CJC/Publications/Other+papers/Small+Claims+Guide+for+web+FINAL.pdf

However, while the letter before action example given earlier is on the right lines, its a bit unprofessional (sounds a bit like a rant lol), I'd change it a bit.