Court proceedings re Tenant deposit

[Pumpy001]

Hi
I'm wondering if you could at all help my elderly mother.

She received a letter from a solicitor seeking £10.8k to be deposited under their account to avoid court proceed under section 213 of the housing act.

On 20th March she started a new tenancy with a tenant , but in the mayhem of covid she was 2 days later than the 30 days allowed to register the deposit.

For which the solicitors are claiming 3x deposit plus some.

The tenant vacated December 2022.
He broke windows, caused a lot of damage in the property , broke furniture, and so forth. His children drew on every wall and he left loads of refuse behind.

The damages were for £3300.

Which fell heavily short of his deposit.

We went to claim this from the claims court and won.

He has been ordered to pay about £2000 by the courts .

Which he hasn't done so.

What im wondering is can these solicitors claim such a massive amount and take my mother to court for being 2 days delayed , given the tenant wrecked the place for which we have witness statement, receipts and evidence.

This has totally freaked my mother out. And you advice or previous experience would be appreciated

The law is pretty clear that the Landlord must register the deposit within 30 days - so yes your mother is undoubtedly at fault here. There is a clear warning that a court can order that the Tennant be paid up to 3 times this amount if she failed to protect the deposit correctly.
You need some proper legal advice, I don't think though that the condition of the property on vacation would be taken into consideration.

The situation with the deposit is completely separate from the situation with the tenant causing damage. Just as she expects tenants to take responsibility for their side of the contract, your mother has to, too. The courts won't care about what he did to the property (which you've taken to court anyway - it's resolved). They will only care whether your mother did something wrong. And yes, she should pay the amount because covid doesn't stop anyone from getting online and transferring their tenant's deposit (yes, it's the tenant's money, not your mother's) to an online deposit scheme. 30 days is plenty of time to get the deposit into a scheme. It is not her money. She did not fulfil her responsibility. The only thing that might be helpful to her is to speak to a solicitor who might be able to deduct the amount she owes from the amount he owes in court. Your mother will absolutely not get away with not putting the deposit in a scheme.

The court can tell a landlord to pay compensation of 1 to 3 times the amount of your deposit if it is not lodged in a scheme. A tenant is likely to get more compensation if the deposit wasn't protected than if it was just protected a few days late.

That is from the citizens advice information. So your mother should not simply cave - but she should take it seriously and she should seek legal advice.

Is 3x deposit = £10,800... if not, what else are they including in that amount? How much will it cost her to defend this in court? Is the court also likely to award costs to the tenant? How much is that likely to be? She needs to get legal advice.

Lots of rules were relaxed during Covid - was the 30 day deposit requirement one?

He might win his deposit back however I can't see it being three times the amount especially considering the deposit was in fact protected during his tenancy (albeit two days late) however you can ask that he pays the money owed first

Actually go to the first court ask for enforcement of the judgement

She did put it in the deposit scheme for the entirety of the tenancy, but the whole covid situation struck at that precise time, and we were all moving back home, safeguarding vunerables and then as a consequence , she was 2 days late.

Thank you for your advice

Thank you. The judge at the court for mum's case was disgusted with the tenant. He trespassed the property, there was a crime reference number with the police for it. I realise its a separate issue to the deposit being late by 2 days. But I thank you for the time taken out to respond.

The deposit was 1500
they are charging 3 times the amount for each year he stayed, 4500 for each year. But without prejudice theyre charging 3000 for each year.
Solicitor costs are 1500+vat=1800

Thank you for your advice. We will seek legal come Monday

They will not get far with that demand. However, tediously, any engagement with solicitors is expensive. Agree that you should seek to enforce the first court order against him - it may be that dropping that demand against him can form part of the 'agreement' your DM reaches over this claim but her solicitor is best placed to advise. Being two days late to protect is not great but the fact it is, it was protected and he then stayed for a lengthy time in the property.

The courts tend not to look kindly on this kind of claim, claimant and solicitor.

But due process must still be followed.

Thank you for taking the time out to respond.

The solicitor has made a leap from £4,500 to £10,800... I am not sure that will go down well in front of a judge.

Good luck to your mother.

Thank you.
I now believe its scaremongering. As this case was with another firm called X last year in February. They didn't follow through and now its with this new firm Y.

I believe X didn't follow through as the tenant hadn't been honest with them saying he had rent arrears and damages in a counterclaim.

I now also think that he hasn't told firm Y the whole truth either.

Time will tell

The 'up to 3 times the deposit' is total. You cannot treat it as 3 times the deposit x the number of years lived there. There is no provision for that in legislation or case law.

I know more about tenancy regulations in Scotland than England (where I understand this to be taking place, OP, though you don't specify). You mention the Housing Act 2004. Section 214(4) of this states: "The court must F9... order the landlord to pay to the applicant a sum of money F10 not less than the amount of the deposit and not more than ] three times the amount of the deposit within the period of 14 days beginning with the date of the making of the order."

I'm a trainee solicitor and I'm experienced in housing law. Those solicitors are taking the Michael. Absolutely do not let her pay it. At most she will owe 3 x deposit. They are cheeky asking for costs when it's a small claims matter.

there's also the solicitor's fee, both sides. The tenant will win this claim. I believe the mother should take it off the amount he owes for the damage and seek a solicitor to assist her in doing this. covid is not an excuse. doctors turned up to work

Thank you all for responding.
I called his solicitors today and told them of the counterclaim against him, rent arrears and the police crime reference number.
They will be dropping the proceedings, as its too risky for them given we could present the counterclaim to the judge. As suspected he was not honest with these solicitors either.

Well done!!

Did you point out that he had misinterpreted the law and that his letter amounted to extortion? (Tongue in cheek... I wouldn't either)

Nice one, well done! Celebrate with a good bottle of wine when this is all over!

Thank you all.

Especially @cupcupcakesarelife who told me that my mother would lose, that the two court cases are unrelated , that doctors turn up to work during covid, that my mother should net off the damages against 10.8k.

I'm glad I listened to you and that gave me the gusto to pursue this.

Excellent news. The only thing I would say is that cheeky fucker tenant may well come back again because there are many no-win, no-fee, solicitors out there who have template letters of this nature ready to go. They hit Ctrl P, sign the bottom and send them off without caring about the distress they cause the recipient.

I would still suggest that your mother pursues the money she still owes. She might then be able to get a legal agreement from the tenant in which she agrees to forego that money on the basis that he the has no further financial claim of any kind arising from his tenancy in that property.