Getting back a deposit on a house

[snakeswitht1ts]

Having some trouble getting back the deposit on a house myself and two mates rented.
We were in the house for 13 months, left 3 weeks ago. House was in good condition when we left it so expecting at least some of the deposit back.
However, contacting the landlady is proving to be quite a pickle. She won't answer any calls or return any messages.
We have been told that she needed to inform us of how much, if any, we would be getting back within 10 days of leaving the property. Is this correct?

The letting agents are about as useful as boobs on a fish and say it's nothing to do with them.They won't help us to contact the landlady or advise us on how to go about getting back the money.

So, good folk of PH, any advice?

[BarnatosGhost]

enquire with the central deposit service thingy. If she didn't lodge your deposit with them in the first place she's in major bother.

[snakeswitht1ts]

I see. One of the lads said earlier he had a look on there and couldn't find us.
Would this mean she just put it in her bank and spent it on coke and hookers?

[snakeswitht1ts]

Very handy to know. Thanks!

[andy400]

I Love Lamp said:

If it didn't do into the Tenancy deposit protection (TDP) then she owes you 3x the deposit.

As long as it's referred to as a deposit in the agreement, or in other correspondence, otherwise it could be considered an advance of rent.

[maser_spyder]

I Love Lamp said:

snakeswitht1ts said:

I see. One of the lads said earlier he had a look on there and couldn't find us.
Would this mean she just put it in her bank and spent it on coke and hookers?

If it didn't do into the Tenancy deposit protection (TDP) then she owes you 3x the deposit.

It took me 3 months to get my deposit back from my landlord.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Priva...

Edited by I Love Lamp on Tuesday 30th November 14:49

Not actually true.

A magistrate 'can order a penalty of up to three times the deposit'. You do not automatically get three times your deposit back if the landlord didn't register it.

There's also a gap in the legislation a mile wide for the canny landlord to sneak through.

You will get your deposit back though, one way or the other.

Give them 7 days to return it in full, or threaten court proceedings. Also ask the landlord to confirm which deposit scheme they registered your deposit with, this might make them panic and just give it back.

Also, they might be on holiday, so best give them the benefit of the doubt before you go legal.

[snakeswitht1ts]

Thanks. All been quite helpful.

[Wings]

maser_spyder said:

I Love Lamp said:

snakeswitht1ts said:

I see. One of the lads said earlier he had a look on there and couldn't find us.
Would this mean she just put it in her bank and spent it on coke and hookers?

If it didn't do into the Tenancy deposit protection (TDP) then she owes you 3x the deposit.

It took me 3 months to get my deposit back from my landlord.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Priva...

Edited by I Love Lamp on Tuesday 30th November 14:49

Not actually true.

A magistrate 'can order a penalty of up to three times the deposit'. You do not automatically get three times your deposit back if the landlord didn't register it.

There's also a gap in the legislation a mile wide for the canny landlord to sneak through.

You will get your deposit back though, one way or the other.

Give them 7 days to return it in full, or threaten court proceedings. Also ask the landlord to confirm which deposit scheme they registered your deposit with, this might make them panic and just give it back.

Also, they might be on holiday, so best give them the benefit of the doubt before you go legal.

Agree, the legislation has been so badly drafted, that a landlord who has not registered/protected a Deposit, can avoid doing so right up to any Court hearing. So a tenant could threaten legal action, and then start legal action, but so long as the landlord registers/protects the Deposit before the Court sits to hear the case against the landlord, then the landlord has no case to answer.

In the case of the OP, if the Deposit has been registered, then take the matter up with the scheme the Deposit is registered with, if not registered then threaten the landlord with the small claims court unless Deposit is returned in full within 7 days.

[maser_spyder]

Wings said:

maser_spyder said:

I Love Lamp said:

snakeswitht1ts said:

I see. One of the lads said earlier he had a look on there and couldn't find us.
Would this mean she just put it in her bank and spent it on coke and hookers?

If it didn't do into the Tenancy deposit protection (TDP) then she owes you 3x the deposit.

It took me 3 months to get my deposit back from my landlord.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Priva...

Edited by I Love Lamp on Tuesday 30th November 14:49

Not actually true.

A magistrate 'can order a penalty of up to three times the deposit'. You do not automatically get three times your deposit back if the landlord didn't register it.

There's also a gap in the legislation a mile wide for the canny landlord to sneak through.

You will get your deposit back though, one way or the other.

Give them 7 days to return it in full, or threaten court proceedings. Also ask the landlord to confirm which deposit scheme they registered your deposit with, this might make them panic and just give it back.

Also, they might be on holiday, so best give them the benefit of the doubt before you go legal.

Agree, the legislation has been so badly drafted, that a landlord who has not registered/protected a Deposit, can avoid doing so right up to any Court hearing. So a tenant could threaten legal action, and then start legal action, but so long as the landlord registers/protects the Deposit before the Court sits to hear the case against the landlord, then the landlord has no case to answer.

In the case of the OP, if the Deposit has been registered, then take the matter up with the scheme the Deposit is registered with, if not registered then threaten the landlord with the small claims court unless Deposit is returned in full within 7 days.

Again almost true, but that depended on the wording of the deposit scheme (the exact legislation left it to the individual scheme to give the rules - I know, crazy), and there was a couple of schemes that didn't actually stipulate the deposit had to be registered before a tenancy commenced (just that it had to be registered at all), etc. I would have thought they'd tightened up their paperwork by now though, this was all a couple of years ago.

Actually, the gap for a landlord is the wording of the legislation, rather than the wording of the tenancy deposit schemes. It states a magistrate must order 'three times the deposit plus the original deposit' as a penalty.

If the original deposit has already been returned, then the magistrate cannot enforce that happens again. The magistrate SHOULD (if they know their onions) only be able to order all, or none. Hence if the deposit is already repaid, they cannot order it happens again, hence the 'three times' cannot be awarded either.

Since it's magistrates court, there's no precedence, but landlords are thought to have been successful in a majority of cases where this defence has been used.

On the plus side, it's only the 'three times' that you might not get, you will at least get your full deposit back if you take the legal route, since any defence of the above nature would rely on the deposit having been repaid in full.

Don't use moneyclaimonline, you have to file through the court directly, using form N108 (from memory - look it up to be sure), since the procedure is slightly different.

Anyway, keep badgering the landlord, if no luck within 14 days, give them a 14 day warning by recorded post, and then (and only then) take the legal action.

Courts do not like vexatious litigants (people who make spurious claims, thus wasting their time), you should show that you have tried every other means to get your deposit back, then the magistrate will look upon your claim favourably.

Hope that helps.

[Wings]

I believe that a tenant should concentrate on the recovery/refund of their Deposit, and not on penalising a landlord for the failure of registering/protecting a Deposit.

There have been several landmark High Court Judgements,(Universal Estates v Tiensia and Honeysuckle Properties v Fletcher). where the Courts have ruled that provided protection has been done, and the correct information provided, before the Court comes to consider the matter at a hearing then that is acceptable, even after proceedings have been issued for non-protection. Therefore the landlord's deadline for compliance is the Court hearing itself and not the date by which proceedings have been issued.

I am certain that if a tenant was compelled to issue legal proceedings to either force the protection of a deposit, or to recover the refund of their Deposit, as in the case of the OP, then the Courts would award the tenant/claimant their full legal costs.

I agree totally with you, that the Courts will take full notice of pre-action conduct by the tenant/claimant and discouraged any attempt to 'ambush' landlords by issuing proceedings for an unprotected deposit without writing to them (landlords) first.

[anonymous-user]

snakeswitht1ts said:

Having some trouble getting back the deposit on a house myself and two mates rented.
We were in the house for 13 months, left 3 weeks ago. House was in good condition when we left it so expecting at least some of the deposit back.
However, contacting the landlady is proving to be quite a pickle. She won't answer any calls or return any messages.
We have been told that she needed to inform us of how much, if any, we would be getting back within 10 days of leaving the property. Is this correct?

The letting agents are about as useful as boobs on a fish and say it's nothing to do with them.They won't help us to contact the landlady or advise us on how to go about getting back the money.

So, good folk of PH, any advice?

Boobs on a fish, you say! Tell me more.

[BarnatosGhost]

BarnatosGhost said:

enquire with the central deposit service thingy. If she didn't lodge your deposit with them in the first place she's in major bother.

You see, my use of phrases like 'thingy' and 'major bother' fully encapsulate the crunchy detail my verbose colleagues above have outlined.

Good luck and God Speed.

[snakeswitht1ts]

Well, after a couple of voicemails threatening legal action and using some of the info kindly provided by yourselves, the landlord said the deposit will be refunded in full, within 24 hours.

After speaking to some friends it turns out they rented a house from the same landlord. They had the same problems and their deposit wasn't registered either. Fortunately for her we are all quite lazy and can't be doing with the hassle of taking it further.

No doubt one day it will bite her in the tooshie.

Thanks again everyone

[maser_spyder]

snakeswitht1ts said:

Well, after a couple of voicemails threatening legal action and using some of the info kindly provided by yourselves, the landlord said the deposit will be refunded in full, within 24 hours.

After speaking to some friends it turns out they rented a house from the same landlord. They had the same problems and their deposit wasn't registered either. Fortunately for her we are all quite lazy and can't be doing with the hassle of taking it further.

No doubt one day it will bite her in the tooshie.

Thanks again everyone

It will, no doubt about it.

Good effort all round then. I hate landlords like this, it gives us all a bad name, which is silly. I would never do that to a tenant, it pointless hard work for all involved, and it's really not that difficult to stick to the rules.

[Wings]

maser_spyder said:

snakeswitht1ts said:

Well, after a couple of voicemails threatening legal action and using some of the info kindly provided by yourselves, the landlord said the deposit will be refunded in full, within 24 hours.

After speaking to some friends it turns out they rented a house from the same landlord. They had the same problems and their deposit wasn't registered either. Fortunately for her we are all quite lazy and can't be doing with the hassle of taking it further.

No doubt one day it will bite her in the tooshie.

Thanks again everyone

It will, no doubt about it.

Good effort all round then. I hate landlords like this, it gives us all a bad name, which is silly. I would never do that to a tenant, it pointless hard work for all involved, and it's really not that difficult to stick to the rules.

Interested to know what there is to hate about the OP's ex landlord, since i can't see in the OP's posts any refusal by the landlord to refund the OP's Deposit.

[maser_spyder]

Wings said:

maser_spyder said:

snakeswitht1ts said:

Well, after a couple of voicemails threatening legal action and using some of the info kindly provided by yourselves, the landlord said the deposit will be refunded in full, within 24 hours.

After speaking to some friends it turns out they rented a house from the same landlord. They had the same problems and their deposit wasn't registered either. Fortunately for her we are all quite lazy and can't be doing with the hassle of taking it further.

No doubt one day it will bite her in the tooshie.

Thanks again everyone

It will, no doubt about it.

Good effort all round then. I hate landlords like this, it gives us all a bad name, which is silly. I would never do that to a tenant, it pointless hard work for all involved, and it's really not that difficult to stick to the rules.

Interested to know what there is to hate about the OP's ex landlord, since i can't see in the OP's posts any refusal by the landlord to refund the OP's Deposit.

No, just not getting back to them, which is just as bad really.

[andy400]

maser_spyder said:

Wings said:

maser_spyder said:

snakeswitht1ts said:

Well, after a couple of voicemails threatening legal action and using some of the info kindly provided by yourselves, the landlord said the deposit will be refunded in full, within 24 hours.

After speaking to some friends it turns out they rented a house from the same landlord. They had the same problems and their deposit wasn't registered either. Fortunately for her we are all quite lazy and can't be doing with the hassle of taking it further.

No doubt one day it will bite her in the tooshie.

Thanks again everyone

It will, no doubt about it.

Good effort all round then. I hate landlords like this, it gives us all a bad name, which is silly. I would never do that to a tenant, it pointless hard work for all involved, and it's really not that difficult to stick to the rules.

Interested to know what there is to hate about the OP's ex landlord, since i can't see in the OP's posts any refusal by the landlord to refund the OP's Deposit.

No, just not getting back to them, which is just as bad really.

There may be a good reason.....

Just playing Devil's Avocado

[snakeswitht1ts]

andy400 said:

maser_spyder said:

Wings said:

maser_spyder said:

snakeswitht1ts said:

Well, after a couple of voicemails threatening legal action and using some of the info kindly provided by yourselves, the landlord said the deposit will be refunded in full, within 24 hours.

After speaking to some friends it turns out they rented a house from the same landlord. They had the same problems and their deposit wasn't registered either. Fortunately for her we are all quite lazy and can't be doing with the hassle of taking it further.

No doubt one day it will bite her in the tooshie.

Thanks again everyone

It will, no doubt about it.

Good effort all round then. I hate landlords like this, it gives us all a bad name, which is silly. I would never do that to a tenant, it pointless hard work for all involved, and it's really not that difficult to stick to the rules.

Interested to know what there is to hate about the OP's ex landlord, since i can't see in the OP's posts any refusal by the landlord to refund the OP's Deposit.

No, just not getting back to them, which is just as bad really.

There may be a good reason.....

Just playing Devil's Avocado

Well true, the landlord never refused to return it. She just wasn't answering/returning any of our calls. She did the same with the friends I previously mentioned.
She wasn't on holiday as she was in contact with the letting agent during this time.
Guessing she was trying to pull a fast one over us. If we hadn't chased it as much as we did, i'm pretty sure we would never have seen the money or heard from her again.
She is obviously a bit dodgy for not registering the deposits.

[Wings]

snakeswitht1ts said:

andy400 said:

maser_spyder said:

Wings said:

maser_spyder said:

snakeswitht1ts said:

Well, after a couple of voicemails threatening legal action and using some of the info kindly provided by yourselves, the landlord said the deposit will be refunded in full, within 24 hours.

After speaking to some friends it turns out they rented a house from the same landlord. They had the same problems and their deposit wasn't registered either. Fortunately for her we are all quite lazy and can't be doing with the hassle of taking it further.

No doubt one day it will bite her in the tooshie.

Thanks again everyone

It will, no doubt about it.

Good effort all round then. I hate landlords like this, it gives us all a bad name, which is silly. I would never do that to a tenant, it pointless hard work for all involved, and it's really not that difficult to stick to the rules.

Interested to know what there is to hate about the OP's ex landlord, since i can't see in the OP's posts any refusal by the landlord to refund the OP's Deposit.

No, just not getting back to them, which is just as bad really.

There may be a good reason.....

Just playing Devil's Avocado

Well true, the landlord never refused to return it. She just wasn't answering/returning any of our calls. She did the same with the friends I previously mentioned.
She wasn't on holiday as she was in contact with the letting agent during this time.
Guessing she was trying to pull a fast one over us. If we hadn't chased it as much as we did, i'm pretty sure we would never have seen the money or heard from her again.
She is obviously a bit dodgy for not registering the deposits.

Fourteen days is not a long time to wait for the return of one’s Deposit, as to both not returning your phone calls and registering, protecting your Deposit, neither indicates to me she is either “a bit dodgy” or to be “hated”, she may simply be inapt at both communicating and being a landlord.

Any way I am pleased you got your Deposit back.

[snakeswitht1ts]

Wings said:

snakeswitht1ts said:

andy400 said:

maser_spyder said:

Wings said:

maser_spyder said:

snakeswitht1ts said:

Well, after a couple of voicemails threatening legal action and using some of the info kindly provided by yourselves, the landlord said the deposit will be refunded in full, within 24 hours.

After speaking to some friends it turns out they rented a house from the same landlord. They had the same problems and their deposit wasn't registered either. Fortunately for her we are all quite lazy and can't be doing with the hassle of taking it further.

No doubt one day it will bite her in the tooshie.

Thanks again everyone

It will, no doubt about it.

Good effort all round then. I hate landlords like this, it gives us all a bad name, which is silly. I would never do that to a tenant, it pointless hard work for all involved, and it's really not that difficult to stick to the rules.

Interested to know what there is to hate about the OP's ex landlord, since i can't see in the OP's posts any refusal by the landlord to refund the OP's Deposit.

No, just not getting back to them, which is just as bad really.

There may be a good reason.....

Just playing Devil's Avocado

Well true, the landlord never refused to return it. She just wasn't answering/returning any of our calls. She did the same with the friends I previously mentioned.
She wasn't on holiday as she was in contact with the letting agent during this time.
Guessing she was trying to pull a fast one over us. If we hadn't chased it as much as we did, i'm pretty sure we would never have seen the money or heard from her again.
She is obviously a bit dodgy for not registering the deposits.

Fourteen days is not a long time to wait for the return of one’s Deposit, as to both not returning your phone calls and registering, protecting your Deposit, neither indicates to me she is either “a bit dodgy” or to be “hated”, she may simply be inapt at both communicating and being a landlord.

Any way I am pleased you got your Deposit back.

At no point did I say I "hated" her. And the contract stated she must inform us about the refunded of the deposit within 10 days of leaving the house. Also, its 3 and a half weeks, not 14 days.

Perhaps she is just a bit new the the whole landlord thing, but still, not really acceptbale to be breaking contracts.

But im happy your pleased for me!