I guess you'd want to claim interest if the period was several years, but it's not worth doing for 88 days, so I'll drop it. If he brings up the rubbish about me causing damage to the walls etc, what should I say? I thought I understood the N208 but you've cast doubt into my mind... I'll re-read it.

Those are fair points. The only reason I ask is because the guidance on completing the N208 talks about calculating the interest which I assumed I should do, and I thought it would look strange if the LBA had a different amount on it than the N208. I'll just remove any reference to interest in the LBA & N208, that way they'll be the same (and I won't look greedy). Especially seeing as, as you point out, it isn't owed to me until the court order it to be and it just looks petty. Anyway, thanks again for helping me out with this Planner, I've been putting off dealing with this for weeks because of the stress it causes. It'll be good to finally get this weight off of my shoulders.

Thank you for the template Panner, it's extremely useful. I'm working on completing an N208 form and I have a quick question regarding it. On the thread you linked to, it has an excellent template for submitting on the form, however it talks about the interest on the amount owed. I was going to calcualate this from 14 days from the end of the tenancy (which is when the deposit should have been repaid by) until the end of his 14 day notice period, which would be 29/05/2008 until 26/08/2008. Following the instructions in their "how to complete the N208 form" form, I calculated the amount at 0.00022 x 2746.16 for the daily rate of £0.60, multiplied by the number of days at 88, giving an interest of £53.17 and then added this to the original 2747.16 giving £2799.33 as the total amount owed by the landlord. Is this a reasonable thing to do?

Firstly, thank you for the extremely quick response Planner , I really appreciate it. I can confirm that the deposit was paid after 06/04/07, so I am covered. With the wording of the claim, should I phrase it any differently than my original post (omitting the forum-related banter, of course)? I have never had to deal with anything like this before (this was the first property I have rented) and I'm keen not to make any silly mistakes, as it's a lot of money. With the letter before action, is it a simple case of "Dear Mr Landlord, please repay the deposit of £686.54 within 14 days or I will take the matter to court" or should I go for the 3 x deposit etc? Sorry to ask so many questions, but I really have no idea what I'm doing. Also, is it worth including the part about the 3 x deposit + costs in the LBA to the landlord?

As this is my first post on this forum, I will give some background information before I ask my question. I rented a 1 bedroom furnished flat in Croydon from 05/05/07 until 05/05/08 on an assured shorthold tennancy. The rent for the property was £595 a month. The deposit was calculated at £686.54, and was paid to the letting agency and passed on to the landlord. The tenancy agreement states that the landlord must pay the deposit into the Deposit Protection Scheme, which I assumed they would follow and thus did not ask for the details. It later transpired that the landlord had failed to enter the deposit into the scheme. I did not discover this until a few weeks after I moved out, when I requested that the deposit be returned to me. The landlord became uncooperative and refused to repay the money, claiming that I had caused marking to the paint on walls which cost him £350 to have redecorated, and £170 for miscellaneous cleaning costs, a total of £520. I denied that I made any such damage to the property, but the landlord insists that I did and so has retained the entire deposit. The landlord failed to perform an inventory when I moved it - I did take photographs of the property when I moved in, however, so that I had a reference point for the state of the furniture. The landlord declined to meet me at the end of the tenancy to perform an inventory, and to check the state of the flat. Unfortunately I was not able to take photographs of the property when I moved out . All of the bills/council tax etc was fully paid when I left , however I had forgotten to disconnect my cable service, which I did immediately on discovering the error - I was informed by the landlord a few weeks after I moved out. I initially agreed to pay the cleaning costs of £170 as a gesture of goodwill, but reading the posts on this forum the amount seems excessive for a 1 bedroom flat. I have refuted the £350 for the painting on the grounds that I didn't cause any damage to the flat, and the landlord has no evidence either way. I have read a few threads on this forum relating to this kind of issue but cannot get any clear indication of the best course of action to take. From what I understand, I am entitled to claim three times the deposit as the landlord failed to enter it into the DPS as required, however there is another thread that says that because the tenancy has ended, I am no longer entitled to claim anything. I am confused by this - I don't understand the law as it is written and so need advice. What would be my best course of action? Should I write to the landlord and demand the full deposit be paid to me, or should I pursue this in another way? Also, does my offer to pay the £170 cleaning charges affect my chances of a successful claim? I'm worried I may have shot myself in the foot by trying to be diplomatic with the landlord. I apologise for the length and long-winded post but I felt it would be best to give all of the information in one go.