Deposit wording in contract

berwick53

Hi, first time poster. I'm currently awaiting the return of my deposit from a tenancy that ended on the 30th June. Below is an extract from the contract and seeing as the landlord has not informed me he wishes to make any deductions I should be entitled to the entire deposit without any deductions. Is my understanding correct in that he can't now make any deductions past the ten working days?

4. DEPOSIT

4.1 The Tenants shall pay a Deposit of £1200.00 to the Landlord or Agent immediately upon signing this agreement.

4.2 At the end of the Tenancy, the Landlord or Agent shall be entitled to withhold from the Deposit such proportion of the

Deposit as may be reasonably necessary to:

(a) repair or rectify any damage to the Property or the Contents caused by the Tenant's failure to take reasonable

care of the Property or Contents;

(b) replace any of the Contents which may be missing from the Property;

(c) pay any Rent which remains unpaid; and

(d) pay for the Property and the Contents to be cleaned if the Tenant is in breach of its obligations under clause 2.1

or clause 6.1.

4.3 The Landlord will arrange for the Deposit to be protected through Tenancy Deposit Solutions Limited (trading as ‘my

deposits’), who operate a government-approved deposit protection scheme.

4.4 The Deposit shall be held by the Agent.

4.5 The terms and conditions and the dispute resolution procedure relating to the protection of the deposit are set out at

mydeposits

4.6 The Landlord shall inform the Tenant by email within Ten Working Days of the Tenancy ending if the Landlord intends to

withhold all or part of the Deposit as detailed in clause 4.

4.7 The Landlord shall inform the Scheme Administrator within Ten Working Days of the Tenancy ending that the Deposit is

to be repaid in the sums agreed between the Landlord and the Tenant.

4.8 The Tenant shall not be entitled to withhold the payment of any instalment of Rent or any other monies payable under

this agreement on the ground that the Landlord, or the Agent, holds the Deposit or any part of it.

4.9 The Landlord shall be entitled to deduct from the Deposit all reasonable costs incurred by the Landlord or the Agent in

pursuing sums which are overdue under the terms of this agreement.

anselld

berwick53 wrote: »

Is my understanding correct in that he can't now make any deductions past the ten working days?

Not correct. The fact that he has missed the 10 days does not prevent a valid deduction claim if one exists.

You should claim your deposit back via TDS.

saajan_12

Contravening one particular sub clause in the contract doesn't invalidate the whole section or contract. At best, you MAY be able to claim for any direct losses as a consequence to not getting the email within 10 working days (though this is likely to be difficult).

The LL can still claim for reasonable deductions - I would get the process started by claiming the deposit back from the scheme, as that will make him return it or substantiate his claim.