Unprotected Deposit Tribunal Help

theartfullodger

There's an interesting article on enforcement of deposit regulations in a recent landlord association magazine.. but it's copyright -



Briefly publicly reported nearly 150 cases on deposits..
https://www.housingandpropertychamber.scot/apply-tribunal/other-private-tenancy-applications/other-private-tenancy-applications-decisions


- if persistent, deliberate, long-term and ongoing failure to comply penalty of 3x deposit.


- Genuine human error usually around 1x deposit.

Slàinte mhath!


..

baldelectrician

The tribunal can order up to 3 times the deposit

It will be at least one but could be more- the one I was at had the landlord ordered 2 x deposit to pay to the tenant and only made the deposit when the tenant complained to the agency about the deposit not being protected.

This is in addition to the actual deposit which can be returned from safe deposit Scotland (or who holds the deposit)


To get on to the LL points:
(1) its up to her to know the laws regarding the deposit and the landlord stuff- did she provide electrical certificates and adequate smoke detector provision?
You cannot get away with speeding by stating you didn't know the speed limit.... same applies here

(2) Damages- can she rely on an inventory ? Did you sign one?
She may be on a hiding to nothing, the fact that she added stuff on after you complained won't go in her favour.
How often did she do inspections?

(3) irrelevent

akira181

nyermen wrote: »

As I understand in England/Wales at least, the landlord will need a signed independent check-in report (not just one sent to you afterwards) as well as a proven checkout that indicates subsequent damage etc.
They can't claim for betterment (eg. new for old) and they can't claim for expected aging (eg. standard carpet wear over time - its up to them to factor that into the rental costs).
I'd maybe write formally (or email) to restate intention to negotiate - try and get a written response back along the lines of the above. Then you'll have proof for the tribunal.

We signed an inventory upon moving in, witnessed the handover, and received a list of deductions that they wouldn't negotiate on. Their response to the tribunal had new damages that were never mentioned before.

baldelectrician wrote: »

To get on to the LL points:
(1) its up to her to know the laws regarding the deposit and the landlord stuff- did she provide electrical certificates and adequate smoke detector provision?
You cannot get away with speeding by stating you didn't know the speed limit.... same applies here

(2) Damages- can she rely on an inventory ? Did you sign one?
She may be on a hiding to nothing, the fact that she added stuff on after you complained won't go in her favour.
How often did she do inspections?

(1) A gas certificate was issued but nothing else. The flat had hardwired fire alarms (they malfunctioned once and went off randomly at all hours for 6 weeks before they repaired it and we never made a big deal out of it)

(2) as above

G_M wrote: »

OK.

* So you are claiming the penalty. Clearly you will win - it's just a matter of how much the tribunal awards you. I suspect the LL's attitude (blaming you!) will increase your award.


* you are not claiming back your deposit (for whatever reason!) so you do not need to respond to the LL's reasons for deductions. The deposit it seems is not in dispute.


unless
* the LL is counter-claiming against you for the difference in value between your deposit, and the value of the damage/dirt etc that she claims you are responsible for. Has she entered a counter-claim? If so, for how much?

There is no counter claim, the LL deducted a little over a third of the deposit and returned the rest. My GF clearly said at the tribunal that we had been denied access to mediation services regarding this and that the application now was regarding failure to protect the deposit and not continuing to dispute deductions over the deposit.

The tribunal responded with Rule 22 (time-frame to submit all evidence for consideration) and set a new tribunal date whereby all submitted evidence will be considered unless both parties can agree to settle the matter before this time.

They then set a new date 6 weeks from now where they will consider all the evidence and requested the LL bring in invoices, receipts, pictures of damages, and any other evidence they wish to be considered or both parties can try to settle this before and cancel the new tribunal.

I thought the tribunal was only going to focus on the unprotected deposit and not get caught up in the deposit deductions. The only thing I can think of is that the FTT may have been late notifying the LL of the tribunal as they only had 2ish weeks notice.

So what is going on and what should my next steps be?