Deposit advice needed

Mea786

Hi there,
New here and need some help if possible.

Me and my husband were renting a 1 bedroom annex from a private landlady who lived next door (we had our own bathroom, kitchen and living room - just central heating was shared) for 2 years.

She wasn't a good landlady in the sense where she wasn't registered, didn't protect our £350 deposit, didn't give a carbon monoxide alarm, never swept the chimney, when we had a crack in the flue pipe we were told to cover it up with fire cement, was only given a fire alarm few months back and didn't have clean drinking water for months.
While living there, all problems was dealt with face to face as she lived next door. So when the time came to move out, we told her verbally our notice face to face. Because of this she only gave partial of our deposit back because she wanted a written notice, but never told us nor mentioned it when we told her verbally that we will be moving as she was at first fine with it.

We now know that a written notice is required by law but we didn't know she would use it against us only when we have moved out she brought it up, keeping in mind she wasn't registered and our tenancy agreement was just one printed paper that we signed.

My predicament is, do we have grounds to send her to court on the basis that she never protected our deposit? Do we have a strong case that she didn't put the deposit in a protection scheme for the 2 years we were renting from her? Can we get the rest of our deposit back and compensation?

Many thanks in advance and sorry if this was long

Rambosmum

Are you in Scotland? or Wales?

Mea786

In Wales, the house was in a rural location.

pmlindyloo

Were you paying council tax separately - i.e did you get a bill from the council? Just trying to determine whether you were actually a tenant or a lodger.

pmlindyloo

You might want to give Shelter a call about this as I suspect your landlady may not be aware of her obligations and she may think you were lodgers because of the set up.

https://sheltercymru.org.uk/get-advice/renting/assured-shorthold-tenancies/

G_M

Assuming that you are tenants, not excluded occupiers (lodgers) which seems likely the LL has failed to

* register, and
* protect the deposit

as required in Wales. You could politely point this out to her whilst requesting your deposit back in full. If she does not cooperate, you could

* report her to the council and
* make a claim for up to 3 times the deposit via court

You could, of course jump straight to these actions, though an easier life if attained if you get back your deposit and move on.

A few more details re the set up might clarify your status:

* own front door?
* any services provided by LL? meals? cleaning? bed linen etc?
* seperate council tax?
* access to the annexe by the LL?

Mea786

We shared the council tax with her as it all came under one property and we lived in the annex part, but we had our own phone line.
No services from the landlady, just a shared oil heating bill, we had our own electric metre (that was in her home).
We had our own front patio door.
We signed a piece of paper when the tenancy started that said 'Assured Shorthold Tenancy' but it just a one piece of paper and that's all was given.

Mea786

I did tell her that it was illegal she didn't protect our deposit but she didn't respond and stuck with the written notice argument and gave only partial of the deposit.

pmlindyloo

Bit of a shambles to be honest.

How much notice did you give her?

You had been living there for 2 years so I would have thought, in the absence of any written agreement, 4- 6 weeks would have been reasonable.

You could get advice from Shelter and take it all the way which may open up a can of worms for the landlady or you could write a polite note saying that you have contacted Shelter and they had queries regarding whether this was an assured shorthold tenancy and whether she should have registered as a landlady and protected the deposit. You could then say that you do not wish to 'open up a can of worms for her' and would be happy if she just returned the remainder of the deposit.

Of course, up to you.

Guest101

Written notice is not a legal requirement, but perhaps a contractual one?

G_M

Mea786 wrote: »

We shared the council tax with her as it all came under one property and we lived in the annex part, but we had our own phone line.
No services from the landlady, just a shared oil heating bill, we had our own electric metre (that was in her home).
We had our own front patio door.
We signed a piece of paper when the tenancy started that said 'Assured Shorthold Tenancy' but it just a one piece of paper and that's all was given.

She's a numpty!

The set up sounds like it would be an AST, but the fact she gave you a 'paper' (contract? receipt?) saying AST means it IS an AST.

You can go to court and claim up to 3 times the deposit as a penalty for non-protection (plus the deposit itself).

Hand deliver a 'Letter Before Action' warning her you will do this unless the deposit is returned in full within 3 working days. Quote the Housing Act 2004.