No deposit scheme

[KittenOnTheTable]

Have a bit of a situation. Relative has a few properties that he rents out. His Mother is the property manager. Relative went to sell one of them and found out after trying to evict a Tennant to sell that the deposit isn't in a scheme. Turns out non of the properties have deposits in schemes. He's obviously not happy at this.

What can he do now? He's obviously on the hook to pay out upto 3 times the amount of deposit for all the properties. Should he protected the deposits ASAP?

I don’t understand situations like this. Are the deposits just sitting in someone’s bank account then? Or has it been spent?

He could get advice from Landlord Action but he'd need to pay for it. Probably worth it though

What's happened to the deposits? Have they been spent?

He's not fit to be a landlord.

He only has a limited time to secure them and notify tenants. It is on him, not the manager to ensure it is done. Whether he will need to pay 3x depends if tenants contest and a court orders it. His notice will not be valid without it so he cannot evict. What other statutory obligations has he not fulfilled though

No clue he's trying to find out what his mother as done with deposits. He's was non the wiser really. The mother was supposed to be looking after the properties. Sorting repairs fire safety certificates. Mother gets paid 10% to do this like a letting agency. He's not denying that he obviously owes them the money. Just does he put deposits into a deposit scheme now? So at least it's done.
Massive falling out obviously between relative and his mother now.

No, he had a limited time to put them in and tell the tenants.

I hope he has enough to pay them all back plus the 3 times amount. Their deposits have clearly been spent.

Has he even bothered to do gas safety checks?!

the “manager” is his mother is irrelevant . Even a letting agent is only fulfilling the ll legal obligations, not taking on responsibility. I doubt there will be any Right to rent paperwork, gas safety certificate etc either

Yes all repairs have been done and certificates. Its legit just the deposits. His mother has more property and manages them herself so convinced him not to use a letting agency and she'd do it all. She claims she didn't know. Though it's been law since 2007

I agree. There is absolutely no way everything else is in order here if he's not even doing the basic of putting the deposits into a protected scheme.

I would imagine there's more bombshells to come.

As for the deposits he had a limited amount of time to put them into a scheme I believe it has to be done within 30 days so doing so now is not an option.

Well good luck to either of them evicting Tennants. They don't have a leg to stand on. It's going to be extremely expensive they'll be best waiting for them to move out on their own accord.

Exactly. Hopefully the tenants will report him and his mother to the local housing office,

Has his mother arranged electrical certificates too which are required by law even for existing tenancies because this came in far later than the deposit schemes!!

To be able to evict the tenant he will need to return the deposit to the tenant to be able to serve a valid notice.

Well as far as we know it's all been done. He's going to ring round the tenants and ask them if there's anything as obviously his mother can't be trusted. It's a shame as he really did think everything is OK. He has no issue (in that hes in the wrong not that he has piles of cash lying about) paying out the money that he owes. He's obviously going through an agency too from now on.