Deposit problem

mattpaint

Long story short - I live in a house share but am moving out in two weeks and it has just come to my attention that four months ago my landlords removed my deposit from the protection scheme and told them I had moved out and they haven't protected it again. The previous tenants have only just had their deposits returned from when they moved out four months ago and now I'm in the position where I have zero protection but need the deposit back reasonably quickly after I leave. The landlords are not reasonable people and this is a major reason I'm leaving as well as basic repairs not being carried out. How easy is it to sue for the return of the deposit and how fast is this process? Does anyone know please?

anselld

The L cannot simply remove the deposit. It must have been agreed by one of the Tenants, eg the lead Tenant in joint tenancy.

So find out how the deposit return was allocated from the DPS. Depending on the answer you may need to sue the L or the Lead Tenant. To answer the question, fairly easy but not quick.

FBaby

I'm assuming from your post that you were all under one ast and only one deposit given jointly. If that's the case, then the deposit would have been returned (whatever sum was agreed or decided) to the tenant who would have been named the lead tenant. THEY should have then given you your share of it, 'share' which can sometimes cause problems with sums have been withdrawn for issues that has nothing to do with you. In this instance though, your dispute is with the lead tenant, not the LL.

If you had a separate ast, between you and the LL only, your deposit should have been protected separately. In that instance, if the LL agreed to release it, it should have come to you as it should have been protected under your name with your bank details. If that's not the case, you need to look into why that is as you should have been contacted by the scheme when they received your deposit.

If you are saying that you were all on one ast, the money was returned to the lead tenant, who then gave you your share, which you then gave to your LL again to protect, you might have a case, but this scenario doesn't make much sense, unless you'd take out a new ast, but that wouldn't be for 4 months, so doubt this is the case.

Waiting 4 months for the release of a deposit is not that unusual if the amount was disputed and needed to go through the ADR process.

mattpaint

All the tenants had separate ASTs. They moved out at the end of the fixed term and mine went onto a periodic month to month tenancy. MyDeposits say I should have received a letter telling me the deposit had been taken from the scheme and it is no longer protected. Basically it seems the landlord has told them I moved out too to get the money back. Three of the other tenants didn't dispute the deposits - two did - but they've all only just received their individual deposits back and so I'm keen to avoid this as much as possible.

G_M

When the LL applied to remove the deposit, the sceme mst contact you for your agreement. So ask them why they did not do so.

Or ask yourself why you ignored them when they did.

But either way, you are now in a strong position. If the LL fails to return your deposit, or delays, you can tell him you will sue for the penalty of 3 times the deposit for not keeping the deposit registered for the duration of the tenancy.

Sorted.

Now read

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

anselld

mattpaint wrote: »

. MyDeposits say I should have received a letter telling me the deposit had been taken from the scheme and it is no longer protected.

I say again... the Landlord cannot take the deposit from the scheme without the Tenant's agreement or at least the Tenant failing to respond to a single claim request.

Ask them what authorisation they had (from the Tenant side) to release your deposit. The L telling them you have left is not sufficient grounds.

mattpaint

Thank you all. Sorry for being dense - what form would the approval request take? They've supplied me a copy of the letter they say was sent to the house and it just says the deposit was returned to the landlord because they had been told I moved out. Now they're saying that because three months has gone by there's nothing they can do.

anselld

It is perhaps the case that the L is using the Insurance Backed scheme where in the rules ...
https://www.mydeposits.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Scheme-Rules-for-Insurance-Business-Members.pdf
... it states
C4.1 Prior to the end date of the fixed term AST, as
provided to the scheme at protection, you must
inform us whether the AST is due to terminate,
continue on an SPT or be renewed with a new
fixed term. If the member does not update the
protection by 30 calendar days after the end date
of the tenancy, then the scheme will automatically
un-protect the deposit and inform the tenant.

This seems to drive a coach and horses through the whole point of protection, but there we are!

On the plus side it would indicate that the L has failed to protect your deposit and you would be correct to sue for return plus 1-3x penalty.

G_M

anselld wrote: »

On the plus side it would indicate that the L has failed to protect your deposit and you would be correct to sue for return plus 1-3x penalty.

Indeed. As per post 5 above.

mattpaint

Thank you. so much for all your help. Sorry to ask another question but is there a calculator that says how much between 1-3 times you should sue for dependent on circumstances?

Slithery

No.

The amount awarded is decided by the judge on the day.