Landlord withholding deposit

nightofjoy

G_M wrote: »

The utilities are your responsibility. When you left, I assume you read the meters, gave the readings to the various utility companies, and requested a final bill sent to your new address?


The law is very clear nowadays on deposits. See
* Deposits: payment, protection and return

You can claim the deposit back via the courts as explainedabove. Start with a 'Letter Before Action' giving her 10 days before going to court. As long as you get proof of posting, and send it to the correct address 'for serving notices' (usually on your tenancy agreement) the courts will assume she received it. See

Money Claim Online (apply online to start legal action against a landlord or tenant who owes money)

You can also claim the penalty for non-protection. This is a different process but you should be able to use it for both claims if you are claiming both. See

Claiming Compensation (Shelter: how to claim if your deposit was not protected). There are sample letters to copy.

No, we never dealt with the utility companies ourselves. The landlady covered all gas, water and electricity for the entire building and then billed us every three or four months.

Ha.. I'm getting a bit muddled here. So I'd be entitled to 3x the deposit, due to it not being placed in a scheme.

Then what's the 'penalty for non-protection' ?

Thanks for all this help.

Comms69

nightofjoy wrote: »

So is this either / or? Do we go straight to the second letter, confident that she never placed the deposit in a scheme? We never received any paperwork for this (like we did at our new property under our new tenancy) we were only given a paper stub receipt...

Two separate claims.

1 for the deposit itself

1 for the penalty, which is in addition to the deposit.

nightofjoy

Comms69 wrote: »

Two separate claims.

1 for the deposit itself

1 for the penalty, which is in addition to the deposit.

Ah, so two letters to be sent (at the same time?). One for the initial deposit amount, and a second for the penalty (2x the deposit amount)

So in theory, I'd get back the original deposit minus whatever bills were owed, but then twice the full deposit on top?

G_M

nightofjoy wrote: »

So is this either / or? Do we go straight to the second letter, confident that she never placed the deposit in a scheme? We never received any paperwork for this (like we did at our new property under our new tenancy) we were only given a paper stub receipt...

Two claims. But if claiming both, use the process for claiming the penalty and add in the deposit itself.

See the sample letter and full advice in the Shelter advice in the link I gave you.

Please read all the links before coming back and asking endless questions that are all answered in the links!

What did your tenancy agreement say about utilities? Please quote in full.

nightofjoy

G_M wrote: »

Two claims. But if claiming both, use the process for claiming the penalty and add in the deposit itself.

See the sample letter and full advice in the Shelter advice in the link I gave you.

Please read all the links before coming back and asking endless questions that are all answered in the links!

What did your tenancy agreement say about utilities? Please quote in full.

Sorry, I hadn't noticed all the links, I'm on it now. I have the sample letters to work from.

I don't think anything was laid out in the contract, only that utilities were not covered by the rent. The rest was just verbal... thanks.

G_M

nightofjoy wrote: »

I don't think anything was laid out in the contract, only that utilities were not covered by the rent. The rest was just verbal... thanks.

I suggest you get out your tenancy agreement and read it!


It should state whether utility costs ar included in the rent, or excluded.


For the landlord to remain the account holder and then bill the tenant, is unusual. Common in an HMO, or in a set-up where, for example, the tenant is in an annexe to the landlord's home (all supplied off the same utility accounts).


When the LL bills you, does he show you original billshe gets from the utility suppliers?


ps- what about Council Tax? Have you been paying this or has the landlord? Again, what does the tenancy agreement say?