Late deposit protection of my deposit by my landlady... Small Claims Court?

Jerome_TFB

focusonskill wrote: »

I've got a question on the DPS. My landlady only put in 75% of my deposit into the DPS, saying she need the spare money to buy some furniture for my rented house. Is it against the rule for her to do so?

As far as I know, she cannot use YOUR money to furnish HER property.

I know that landlords can protect part of the deposit if they have not received it in full, but it is not the case here.
That is your money, she can't use it to furnish the place...

fishpond

Jerome_TFB wrote: »

As far as I know, she cannot use YOUR money to furnish HER property.

I know that landlords can protect part of the deposit if they have not received it in full, but it is not the case here.
That is your money, she can't use it to furnish the place...

How else can a poor LL afford to furnish properties and still go on 6 months holiday a year?

FBaby

It's not a fine, it's punitive damages.

mmmm, 'punitive' origin to 'punish'; 'damage' come from the latin equivalent to 'loss'. So surely, this should be about punishing someone who has caused you a loss.

OP hasn't really occurred a loss (however much he tries to justify it) and it's not about punishing, it's about exercising the law.

So not clear how this would fall under the definition of 'punitive damage'.

Guest101

FBaby wrote: »

mmmm, 'punitive' origin to 'punish'; 'damage' come from the latin equivalent to 'loss'. So surely, this should be about punishing someone who has caused you a loss.

OP hasn't really occurred a loss (however much he tries to justify it) and it's not about punishing, it's about exercising the law.

So not clear how this would fall under the definition of 'punitive damage'.

Yes a 'Punitive Loss' to the landlord, a penalty, not a fine.


Not to punish a loss, but to punish via a loss


A fine is paid in essence to the court - to the treasury or to the public purse in general.

Miss_Samantha

'Punitive damages' is something different than the penalty we are talking about here. Not least because, as mentioned there is no 'damages'. Moreover, 'punitive damages' are only awarded in extremely rare and specific cases in English law.

But there is no point trying to point this out as someone always knows better than the rest of us...

FBaby

The legal definition is 'damages awarded to a plaintiff in excess of compensatory damages in order to punish the defendant for a reckless or willful act'

What's compensatory damages in this instance then?

Wikipedia states:
'In England and Wales, exemplary damages are limited to the circumstances set out by Lord Devlin in the leading case of Rookes v Barnard:[7]

Oppressive, arbitrary or unconstitutional actions by the servants of government.
Where the defendant's conduct was 'calculated' to make a profit for himself.
Where a statute expressly authorises the same.'

If this is correct, it wouldn't apply to this case unless Jerome could prove that his landlord kept the deposit for an extra 3 days for the purpose of making a profit which surely is ridiculous.

I admit to know nothing of the law whatsoever, so not arguing, it just doesn't make sense to me!

Lemonsqueezer78

I agree with the previous poster that a "fine" would better describe an amount that is paid to an agency or official body of some kind.

"Damages" is perfectly appropriate as a description, since the idea of the legislation is that deposit protection schemes do exactly that - they provide protection - without which the tenant is denied that protection. And as that is to the tenants detriment, the tenant is effectively harmed by the LLs action and is awarded damages as a result.

You would regard it as "punitive", as it is arguably designed specifically as a punishment to the offender where they are required to pay an amount that probably exceeds any actual financial loss incurred by the tenant - specifically to deter LLs from flouting the rules.

Lemonsqueezer78

The easiest thing is to just refer to it as an "award"

Miss_Samantha

The law uses the term 'penalty'. Why are you discussing whether 'fine' or 'award' would be good terms?

As for 'punitive damages', I think we've heard enough on this.

Jerome_TFB

To add to Miss Samantha's post, the template letter provided by shelter, the following sentence is used:
"If we do not receive payment of an agreed amount being the penalty for failing to comply with your legal obligations".
i assume these templates were generated by law-savvy people.

So I guess we can all stop the debate on the terminology... This is what is apparently used in this instance for this sort of cases.