to ask if anyone has ever taken their LL to court over deposit?

[pixiie]

I have just moved out of the most problematic tenancy - an interfering landlord who would call around unannounced at all hours to check things or wash dishes and on one occasion entered my room when my boyfriend was asleep in there (she thought I was at work) for no known reason.

Anyway, I have since moved out and realized that the deposit has not been protected in any schemes. When I asked about this to LL two months after my tenancy began, she said she hadn't had time to do it, and she never protects her tenants deposits, but she would do it in due course for me. This was 10 months ago, and no action was/has been taken.

She has now returned 2/3 of my deposit. I am furious.

My friend is a solicitor and says that she owes 1-3 times the original deposit simply for not protecting the deposit! Has anyone had any experience of this? Friend says LLs always settle out of court, but I have just started a high pressure job and do not want the hassle of court appearances.

Any experiences would help!

I have done it for a few clients and they all settled out of court
If I was you I would certainly get a letter off from a solicitor

there are example letters on the Shelter website - should I send this as a letter before action before I involve solicitors?

It is illegal not to secure the deposit for starters and it can result in a hefty fine.
Do you have inventories for when you moved in and back out again?
How is she justifying keeping part of the deposit and what evidence does she have to back up her claim?

Yes - or at least I went as far as opening a County Court case against her, and then she miraculously paid the outstanding deposit (plus my minimal 'court costs' for registering the case).

It's worth doing OP. It's really easy to open a case - I did it all online - and often the realisation you're serious and prepared to take it all the way is enough to shock them into paying what you're owed.

not to protect the deposit has been illegal since 2007 and there is no defence. 'no time' is nonsense anyway, it is a five minute exercise. The woman is a crook and a liar.

Use the Shelter template letters and start the process, nothing to lose.

if you have a serious crook you may need to work at this, but most of these types bottle it when they realise they have been caught.

I hope any new tenancy is better - please make sure your new landlord is complying with all the rules. Start by reading your how to rent guide. If you weren't given that, already a bad sign.

Oh dear! pixile You can ake her life quite miserable.

She has no excuse for not having properly protected your deposit, that law is over a decade old. You WILL receive 100% of your deposit back plus 1 -3 times the amount as a penalty payment , depends how the judge feels.

Your friend is correct as a) the money is yours and she has nor right to deduct ANY amount without your permission and b) as above

If you have that "never protects any deposit" in writing/ email/text you can have a field day, contacting her other tenants!!!

I think Shelter has a sample letter too. Go for it!

england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/tenancy_deposits/court_action_for_a_tenancy_deposit_refund

I presume you didn't rent through a letting agency? If you had this problem would have been avoided.

When you vacated the property did you leave it in as good a condition as it was when you moved in? If not then the landlord would be entitled to use some of your deposit to put things right.

@SusannahL going via a lettings agent is no protection against shoddy practices like this.

You don't have to leave the property in the exact state you found it as wear and tear is to be expected from normal life!

In this case the landlord is entitled to f**k all as they didn't protect the deposit. Hopefully OP will be awarded more than the original deposit back from this joke of a landlord.

SusannahL, letting agencies are no guarantee, as they are variable in their service and knowledge of tenancy law. We did rent through an agency, but still ended up taking my LL to court.

As for the last bit - they're entitled to withhold part of a deposit in certain circumstances, not for fair wear and tear which is what many of the dodgier LLs seem to forget. In our case the LL claimed he was keeping some of our deposit because he needed to redecorate before he could re-let. Indeed, the decor was quite 'tired' by the time we moved out - but there was a 'no decorating' in our tenancy agreement and we'd lived there for 5 years, of course it was getting tired. We hadn't been scribbling on the walls or knocking lumps off the plaster, so I was buggered if I was paying for him freshening it up for the next tenant when that should have been budgeted for from some of the rent we'd payed over the previous five years.

'No decorating' clause

We took a past LL to court for our deposit back. We won, but were unable to enforce the judgement. The judge told us not to throw good money at trying to enforce the judgement.... We never saw the deposit retuned...

My friend had a similar issue with her landlord recently, advice from CAB was to send the template letters from their website with a timescale to have full deposit returned. It worked within 48 hours when her landlord realised she was serious so try that for free first. Definitely don't need to pay a solicitor

I agree that you should be able to get the deposit back without a solicitor but IME if you want the payment of 3x the deposit a solicitor will help
I know I would say that!
But it is genuinely my experience

We had this. We got the full 3 times the deposit back. We had no solicitor. But it did take about 2 years and we had to get bailiffs in to actually get the money in the end.
Susannah your trust in lettings agents is heartening but unfounded - it is no guarantee.

Sorry also to add we went through the small claims court. We tried everything else first.

Well all I can say is that we have been lucky.

We own property which we rent out through agents. The tenants' deposit is kept by the agent and returned to them in full when they leave, provided the property is left in good order. Of course there has got to be an allowance for wear and tear, but we've never had any problems because we chose the letting agent carefully.

Of course we have only heard the OP's version of events - the landlord may have a very different tale to tell. Ok to do the washing up was really weird, but I'm wondering if it is some clue as to the state the house was in when the landlord visited.

Yes, I have - our landlord tried to withhold basically our entire deposit when we moved out. After several weeks of trying to resolve it we started a claim with the small claims court; he issued a counter-claim stating that we owed him even more than he'd originally stated. It went all the way to court, he'd fabricated receipts that didn't stand up. The magistrate awarded in our favour the full value of the claim, although we basically had to threaten him with bailiffs before he paid it. He was self-employed and I really hope that a CCJ against him made his life difficult. He thought because we were young that he could rip us off!

TL;DR - start proceedings with the small claims court. It's not difficult, and it is worth doing.

If you don't feel able to do this yourself there are companies that will deal with it for you on a no-win no-fee basis. The landlord has broken the law and you could be awarded thousands of pounds, so why wouldn't you claim?

Also report her (anonymously) to HMRC as she is probably not declaring or paying tax on her rental income;

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/reporting-tax-evasion

Of course we have only heard the OP's version of events - the landlord may have a very different tale to tell. Ok to do the washing up was really weird, but I'm wondering if it is some clue as to the state the house was in when the landlord visited.

It doesn't really matter if a tenant lives like a slattern throughout their entire tenancy, so long as the property is left clean and in good order (with allowance for reasonable wear and tear) at the end of it. Every tenancy agreement has an implied term that is the "right to quiet enjoyment" for the tenant i.e. to live your life in privacy and without unnecessary interference, and to have fair warning of any property inspections or visits. So it doesn't matter even if the OP had dirty dishes piled up to the ceiling on a regular basis, the LL should not have been letting herself in or calling round without warning and certainly should have been keeping her hands out of the kitchen sink!

@SusannahL

I think you have missed the part of the post where she entered my room by using her own key when she thought i was out.

I don't wash my breakfast plates before I go to work, but that is my choice. They are always washed by the end of the day. I would question why she was in the house in the first place to be honest, when she had not informed us of her visit.

I have gone to a solicitor who has taken the case on. I will get the full deposit back and around 1200 on top of that (the deposit amount) as compensation if the case wins. It's no win no fee and he said he's pretty much certain they will win.

Thanks for all replies