Landlord refusing to return full deposit (not protected)

akira181

Comms69 wrote: »

Dear [LL Name],

Letter before action: Failure to protect my tenancy deposit in accordance with The Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011

I am the former assured shorthold tenant of [address of property] which you rented to me on [insert date].

I am writing concerning the deposit of [add amount] I paid to you on [add date] as a security against my obligations under the terms of my tenancy agreement.

I feel that the property was left in good order however, you disputed the latter and have deducted what you saw fit from my deposit.

I wished for this matter to be mediated by the dispute resolution process provided by the tenancy deposit schemes, however, repeated requests for you to provide the information of the scheme were ignored. Upon checking myself, I discovered that you failed to protect my deposit for the entirety of my rental period.

I wrote to you on [add date] to request that you provide information to the contrary of this or return my deposit in full as you were in direct violation of the law; to which you did neither and returned [add amount] of my original [add amount] on [add date] from your personal bank account.

Regulation 3 of The Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 require that you, as a landlord, protect my deposit with a government-backed scheme within 30 days of the start of the tenancy. You were also required to provide me with details of the scheme you’ve used along with certain other information within 30 days of payment into the scheme as per Regulation 42.

Regulation 10 of The Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 provides that if the court is satisfied that the landlord did not comply with any duty in Regulation 3 of the law relating to tenancy deposit protection, it must order the landlord to pay the tenant a penalty of up to but not exceeding three times the amount of the original tenancy deposit.

Your continued avoidance in addressing my questions regarding the deposit protection scheme, and the proof provided by the schemes themselves, confirm that my deposit was unprotected in your personal bank account for over 2,400 days. Therefore you, as a landlord, undisputedly failed in your duty to protect my deposit as per Regulation 3.


To settle this matter, I expect the remainder of my deposit, [add amount], be returned to me as well as three times the original deposit [add amount] as penalty, for a total of [add amount].

If I do not hear from you or have received payment in full to the account below, by [add date allowing at least 14 days from receipt of your letter], I will issue court proceedings in the First Tier Tribunal for Scotland without further notice.

This will include my right to claim for interest on the unprotected deposit and an order to cover any and all court fees incurred. I will be relying on court rules for pre-action conduct that say you may have to pay more in costs if you ignore this letter.

Yours sincerely


[Add your name]

Contact telephone number: [Add your phone number]

Account details: [Add account details]

Thanks for the suggestions, I've amended the letter.

I'm guessing the LL is expecting me to roll over and just accept the deductions as I've never challenged her on anything in the past.

Hopefully that means she won't expect it and accept the recorded delivery letter. If it is rejected, I'll send it again and PDF it and e-mail it too for good measure. Since all correspondence up until now has been via email, hopefully the courts will accept it as a valid means of communication.

Pixie5740

I am fairly certain that you don't need to send a letter before action prior to applying to the FTT. Have you already sent the two template letters in the Shelter Scotland link I gave in your previous thread. I seem to remember you sending one or both as emails rather than letter but you did send them..didn't you?

baldelectrician

akira181 wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions, I've amended the letter.

I'm guessing the LL is expecting me to roll over and just accept the deductions as I've never challenged her on anything in the past.

Hopefully that means she won't expect it and accept the recorded delivery letter. If it is rejected, I'll send it again and PDF it and e-mail it too for good measure. Since all correspondence up until now has been via email, hopefully the courts will accept it as a valid means of communication.

The odd occasion I have to deal with a landlord like this (in my case it is usually them not paying) I send a letter recorded (signed for) as well as a copy of the same letter with 'proof of postage'

If you send it at a post office you can ask for proof of postage at no cost.

This means if the LL rejects the recorded delivery you can prove you sent them a letter.

akira181

Pixie5740 wrote: »

I am fairly certain that you don't need to send a letter before action prior to applying to the FTT. Have you already sent the two template letters in the Shelter Scotland link I gave in your previous thread. I seem to remember you sending one or both as emails rather than letter but you did send them..didn't you?

I didn't send the Shelter templates as to me, the first letter is about getting the information at the start of the tenancy, not at the end of the tenancy 6 years down the line.

The second letter is out of date and refers to the old Sheriff County Court process so I didn't send that either.

I sent 2 emails asking which tenancy deposit protection scheme she used, as I would like to have this dispute mediated.

This was completely ignored on both occasions and she replied with an itemised bill the first time, and a list of what she felt was also damaged but didn't charge for the second time.

I then sent a third email, a version of the letter someone posted in my other thread. Basically stating that I know she hasn't protected the deposit which is against the law, provide information to prove otherwise or return my deposit in full.

She replied saying she was entitled to deduct more than she actually did and returned around half my deposit, which brings me to here.

The fact that she refuses to address the protection scheme even after I repeatedly asked her and informed her it's against the law tells me she's either being negligent and not even researching it or thinks I am bluffing.

G_M

I'd shorten it further myself. You don't need to justify everything. But no harm either way:

Dear [LL Name],

Letter before action: Failure to protect my tenancy deposit in accordance with The Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011

I am the former assured shorthold tenant of [address of property] which you rented to me on [insert date].
I'm no expert on Scottish law, but isn't it a SAT, not an AST?

I am writing concerning the deposit of [add amount] I paid to you on [add date] as a security against my obligations under the terms of my tenancy agreement.

[STRIKE]I feel that the property was left in good order however, you disputed the latter and have deducted what you saw fit from my deposit. [/STRIKE]You have made deductions from my deposit which I dispute.

[STRIKE]I wished for this matter to be mediated by the dispute resolution process provided by the tenancy deposit schemes, however, repeated requests for you to provide the information of the scheme were ignored. Upon checking myself, I discovered that[/STRIKE] you also failed to protect my deposit for the entirety of my rental period, in contravention of

[STRIKE]I wrote to you on [add date] to request that you provide information to the contrary of this or return my deposit in full as you were in direct violation of the law; to which you did neither and returned [add amount] of my original [add amount] on [add date] from your personal bank account.[/STRIKE]

Regulation 3 of The Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 which requires that you, as a landlord, protect my deposit with a government-backed scheme within 30 days of the start of the tenancy. You were also required to provide me with details of the scheme you[STRIKE]’ve[/STRIKE] used along with certain other information within 30 days of payment into the scheme as per Regulation 42.

Regulation 10 of The Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 provides that if the court is satisfied that the landlord did not comply with any duty in Regulation 3 of the law relating to tenancy deposit protection, it must order the landlord to pay the tenant a penalty of up to but not exceeding three times the amount of the original tenancy deposit.

[STRIKE]Your continued avoidance in addressing my questions regarding the deposit protection scheme, and the proof provided by the schemes themselves, confirm that my deposit was unprotected in your personal bank account for over 2,400 days. Therefore you, as a landlord, undisputedly failed in your duty to protect my deposit as per Regulation 3.
[/STRIKE]

To settle this matter, I expect the remainder of my deposit, [add amount], be returned to me as well as three times the original deposit [add amount] as penalty, for a total of [add amount].
Are you sure you wish to demand both? Remember the court might award less than 3 times, so the LL might decide to take his chances in court, with the possibility of a lesser penalty, rather than pay you the maximum penanlty.

Personally I'd request the deposit itself, plus the minimum penalty (1 times the deposit), in order to maximise the possibility of the matter being settled out of court.

But up to you!

If I [STRIKE]do not hear from you or [/STRIKE]have not received payment in full to the account below, by [add date allowing at least 14 days from receipt of your letter], I will issue court proceedings in the First Tier Tribunal for Scotland without further notice.

This will include my right to claim for interest on the unprotected deposit and an order to cover any and all court fees incurred. I will be relying on court rules for pre-action conduct that say you may have to pay more in costs if you ignore this letter.

Yours sincerely

[Add your name]

Contact telephone number: [Add your phone number]

Account details: [Add account details]

Pixie5740

akira181 wrote: »

I didn't send the Shelter templates as to me, the first letter is about getting the information at the start of the tenancy, not at the end of the tenancy 6 years down the line.

The second letter is out of date and refers to the old Sheriff County Court process so I didn't send that either.

I sent 2 emails asking which tenancy deposit protection scheme she used, as I would like to have this dispute mediated.

This was completely ignored on both occasions and she replied with an itemised bill the first time, and a list of what she felt was also damaged but didn't charge for the second time.

I then sent a third email, a version of the letter someone posted in my other thread. Basically stating that I know she hasn't protected the deposit which is against the law, provide information to prove otherwise or return my deposit in full.

She replied saying she was entitled to deduct more than she actually did and returned around half my deposit, which brings me to here.

The fact that she refuses to address the protection scheme even after I repeatedly asked her and informed her it's against the law tells me she's either being negligent and not even researching it or thinks I am bluffing.

You could just have changed "Sheriff Court" to "First Tier Tribunal" in the second Shelter letter. As it stands though you've already contacted your landlord about the lack of deposit protection then so just apply to the FTT. If you are insistent dragging this out longer by sending the Letter Before Action then G_M is correct, it should refer to a Short Assured Tenancy, assuming you received an AT5 form prior to signing the tenancy agreement, rather than an Assured Shorthold Tenancy which is only relevant to England and Wales.

akira181

Thanks for editing, it does read better now that it's shorter.

Unless I'm mistaken, if this does go to court, the LL is 100% going to lose. She didn't register the deposit and had 6 years to do so, which I think shows negligence of her responsibilities and duties as a LL.

In my opinion, her avoidance of answering my questions and still deducting money despite the fact I told her she has failed in her duties as a LL and is in breach of the law shows a “wilful refusal” on the part of the LL to acknowledge the regulations.

I think all this will work significantly in my favour and any court fees will be payable by her too but you're probably right. Requesting she pay the maximum possible fine without going to court is unrealistic. I'll speak to my girlfriend and come to a lower figure.

If she refuses, then I'll go to the FTT for the maximum amount.

*edit

Pixie5740 wrote: »

You could just have changed "Sheriff Court" to "First Tier Tribunal" in the second Shelter letter. As it stands though you've already contacted your landlord about the lack of deposit protection then so just apply to the FTT. If you are insistent dragging this out longer by sending the Letter Before Action then G_M is correct, it should refer to a Short Assured Tenancy, assuming you received an AT5 form prior to signing the tenancy agreement, rather than an Assured Shorthold Tenancy which is only relevant to England and Wales.

Yeah, it should be SaT, I got that wrong. I need to find my paperwork, some stuff from the move is still packed in boxes.

I thought it would be good to give her a final chance to pay up or I will take her to court. But if you don't think that's necessary, then I'll just apply to the FTT.

akira181

Just a quick update, spoke with my GF and decided that since the letter before action isn't actually required, we'll just go straight to the FTT and let them deal with it.

Thanks for all the advice, been very helpful during this stressful time. Never buying a house or moving again!