Return of rent deposit - post divorce advice required

[Lou141]

Hi,

I have been divorced for about a year now and I am finally moving on from the former marital home. Me and my ex husband lived in the house for 5 years together, he left and I have carried on living there for another 2yrs (7 in total). My ex moved out 2 years ago, a short while after we had separated. We never sorted out finances, e.g. rent and division of deposit. After my ex-husband left, I became lead tenant, I took over paying the rent and deposit remained untouched.

In our divorce correspondence between the lawyers my ex husband confirmed that I was to keep the £1800 deposit. My intention was always to give half back. Still is.

So now after giving notice and confirming my move date, it seems my ex husband and his father (together) have written a strong "robust" worded letter to my landlord asking for the return of the deposit to his father.

They are saying that my ex husband had the initial rental money and deposit gifted to him by his father and under the new regulations his dad is the "relevant person" ([I]even tho there was no mention of his father's name in the first tenancy agreement 7 years ago[/I]).

I am wondering the following:

a) My ex walked away from the house inc monies tied up in - is he still entitled to it even tho we are divorced?

b) Does the fact that my ex husband confirmed in legal correspondence that I could have the deposit still apply?

c) We moved into our home in 2012 together, does the updated regulations to the tenancy deposit scheme which came into force ([I]namely the the Deregulation Act 2015[/I]) make it applicable that my ex father in law has the deposit even though he was not mentioned within the initial tenancy agreement? I don't remember him gifting the initial monies at the time as it was 7yrs ago.

The only thing I have found of use is to be from here: custodial.tenancydepositscheme.com/news/blog/asktds-what-happens-if-someone-else-pays-my-tenancy-deposit/

[I]"A relevant person may not be able to participate in any tenancy deposit dispute unless requested and authorised by the tenant, but remember, the deposit is paid for the tenants’ obligations and unless there is due authority to release any tenant monies elsewhere, that payment would be sent correctly to the tenants."[/I]

Would this mean as the lead tenant that I am to recoup all of the deposit monies back to me?

I'd be grateful for advice.

If there is no paperwork saying who paid the deposit it should go back to whoever has been paying the rent.

If the deposit has been protected in a scheme, it will protected under one person's name. It will lbe returned to that person only, the scheme won't be interested in who loaned what to whom.

The landlord is only responsible for returning the deposit to the person who paid it in the first place and your ex & father in law would need to prove that he (father in law) initially paid it to the landlord in the first place.

What is the landlord saying?

My parents paid the deposit for a flat I rented with my ex. They transferred it to us and we paid the letting agent directly. The letting agent would not release it back to them directly without both of us giving written permission.

Key word in what you said as well - his father GIFTED the money - a gift doesn't become a loan years down the line because you feel like it.

It sounds like a big hairy pile of bullshit tbh. Without your express permission, the landlord has no basis to give your ex FIL the money in lieu of you having it. If they do, then they still owe you the money too - try telling them that!

So many times I dealt with bankruptcies where people (usually families) would pop up with some bullshit reason why certain money (usually cash in a bank account or a valuable property) shouldn't be part of the bankruptcy estate because they gave the bankrupt some money xxx years ago and now they want it back. Doesn't make it so!