Landlord withholding deposit - court costs?

cinereus

AdrianC wrote: »

Ah. There's your problem.

Yes Unfortunately at no point did I realise that wasn't the correct course of action.

G_M wrote: »

The deposit scheme is there to help and protect tenants.

If you chose not to use it, and spent 3 months getting nowhere with the landlord, that is not a fault with the system, but they way it was used. Or rather, not used.

I chose to use it - I was told and understood my deposit was protected.

I took it up with the landlord and got nowhere which wasn't help by the fact I had to be out of the country. Given the whole time I believed my deposit was protected, I didn't see any issue with trying to resolve it amicably.

Now I've had time to look into the PI and HA2004, I can see exactly where things went wrong.

G_M wrote: »

You still have a perfectly straight-forward solution, all laid out in the link provided..

I've read your link and can't see anything beyond what I've already done - standard LBA followed by SCC filing through MCO. What am I missing?

G_M

cinereus wrote: »

I've read your link and can't see anything beyond what I've already done - standard LBA followed by SCC filing through MCO. What am I missing?

Nothing, assuming you wish to only claim the £150 + standard court costs & expenses.

cinereus

G_M wrote: »

Nothing, assuming you wish to only claim the £150 + standard court costs & expenses.

I thought courts have stopped paying the multiples?

Guest101

cinereus wrote: »

I thought courts have stopped paying the multiples?

What does this even mean?

cinereus

Guest101 wrote: »

What does this even mean?

Law allows for penalties of between 1 & 3 times the deposit.

jbainbridge

cinereus wrote: »

Law allows for penalties of between 1 & 3 times the deposit.

When the landlord has not protected the deposit. It doesn't apply in your case.

G_M

cinereus wrote: »

Law allows for penalties of between 1 & 3 times the deposit.

I specifically excluded that from my post. I said:

(you are missing) Nothing, assuming you wish to only claim the £150 + standard court costs & expenses.

If you wish to claim the penalty, the process is different.

I refer you again to the link provided.

cinereus

jbainbridge wrote: »

When the landlord has not protected the deposit. It doesn't apply in your case.

According to the link it does: "What if a landlord fails to register the deposit &/or provide the PI?"

G_M wrote: »

I specifically excluded that from my post.

You alluded to a possibility I could have claimed more.

If you wish to claim the penalty, the process is different.

I refer you again to the link provided.

Link says "via the courts" and then links to a form identical to the one you use with MCO?

But as I mentioned, I thought recent case law means that the penalty is never awarded any more anyway?

G_M

News to me. But I'm always open to learn.

Can you link the case law and I'll update the link.

cinereus

G_M wrote: »

News to me. But I'm always open to learn.

Can you link the case law and I'll update the link.

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2010/1224.html
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2011/604.html

I apologise, I misremembered - it's not that courts don't award it, it's that the landlord can almost always avoid it so it's pretty much never paid any more.

Court ruled that tenants are not able to make any claim for the penalty payment once the tenancy is over. Since most tenants will only find out when the landlord fails to return it, the landlord can get out of it by protecting late. After the tenancy has ended the claim can’t be made at all.