so, what do the experts think?

[MissMisstreater]

hey,

just found the site, wish id found it two month ago! its fantastic

anyway, heres my predicament

my partner had rented a property in Greenwich with NB real estate.
Now shes left the property and there are new tenants she wants her deposit back, heres the problem

her half of the deposit was about £750 which i understood was required by law to be returned within ten days, after the agreed sum of course.

well even though my partner keeps an immaculate house the landlord still decided that she could only have £320 of her deposit back (which he did manage to justify - even though each charge was a bit steep)

youd think that after a monumental win on their part theyd send the money and be over with it right?

well 2 months down the line and finaly with the threat of small claims theyre offering to send a cheque, but as far as im aware its too little FAR too late right?

like i said, within 10 days we should have had that money (we needed it as part of our deposit on our first place)

we got all sorts of excuses, ranging from well im going on holiday tomorrow for 2 weeks to theres a problem with the bank details (although they could quite hapily withdraw money from the account)

and when i got involved and bought up the deposit protection act demanding a settlement i was ignored further and told that the guy dealing with me would talk to his boss, there was talk of meetings and decisions but they were just ways to keep me off their backs

2 weeks later (of constant pushing) his boss finally contacted me asking me what was th problem (he hadnt even been told!) anyway another few days of explaining and asking for a settlement sum eventually he just stoped talking to me so small claims it is i guess

the other problem was she was never informed of of what scheme was protecting her deposit, letalone within 14 days...and when the boss was presented with this point he told me my partner had been sent a lettewr which he sent me a scan of she is adamant shes never seen such a letter, can they just print off letters to cover their asses and get away with it?

do they have a leg to stand on? i mean 10 days and 2 months are quite different....and unacceptable

landlords....a dodgey breed!

[Planner]

Not sure where youve got the 10 days "by law" from. I know the various TDS schemes have various time scales which they aim to return your deposit in, I know one is 10 days the others are 14 days I believe, but these time scales arent law.

As theres obviously been some kind of dispute involving the return of the deposit (which has been dealt with through scheme mediation?) the 10 days time scale is obviously not going to apply. I was also under the impression that with shared deposit for joint ASTs only a "lead tenant" will be registered with the deposit scheme (was this your partner?), that could account for the problems in speaking with them.

I would aim my small claim at the 14 day rule and actually getting the deposit back. Whats the situation with the other tenants half of the deposit? as any small claim should include all interested parties.

[MrShed]

My personal opinion is to take the cheque. TDS is not yet tested enough in this respect(i.e. where you are in fact getting the deposit returned) to bother wasting time and money over suing PURELY for the compensation level.

Agree with Planner, that unsure where you have got your timescales from. There is certainly no legal requirement in this respect, and personally I class reasonable(albeit an "outside edge" of reasonable) as 28 days.

[MissMisstreater]

direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/DG_066373

an that cant be right there has to be rules and regulations to stop landlords just deciding to keep your money for an extra year

ok a reasonable wait could be 28 days but like i say i was told 10, and that what i read on the government site above its now 65 days....

am i being told they can actually do this? i was sure that it was made 10 days because when you leave one place its wise to assume that you will move into somewhere else....which youll need a deposit for (like now)

and what about her deposit being protected? like i say they never told her, and now there just printing off some letter which noone has ever seen!

the deposit was given in 2 parts split down the middle by each tenant, the other tenant is on the case too

so you think we should just back out now?

[MrShed]

OK my question would be as follows. What do you WANT as the outcome of this? OK the return of the deposit has been slightly delayed, but they are in fact returning it, therefore you are receiving the money to which you are entitled. What would you like in addition to this?

[Planner]

Im still confused..... have you negotiated this settlement through the TDS scheme the deposit was held in? or have you just been discussion the issues with the landlords/agents?

Now you know which deposit scheme its held in, you should contact them and register a dispute (I would be tempted to dispute the full amount you are owed). If you submit a small claims, the jusge will ask why you havent used the schemes in house mediation service before submitting a claim.

[MissMisstreater]

i cant work out for the life of me how to make a complaint via TDS, my partner has no login details etc, and you cant register

the letter "sent" contains a reference for the account but (not surprisingly) when i enter this code into the site, there is no record of the account

[MrShed]

Call them...?

[Planner]

Call them (and the other two schemes) and verify if the deposit was ever registered (it still should be I believe). I think the agents may be pulling your plonker on this one and it was never protected.

[MissMisstreater]

laughs the numbers not in service!

ok, i emailed them (knowing them wont reply) and im chasing up the agent, but what are my options?

i cant compliment how fast you guys are at helping thanks

[MrShed]

Your options are as follows IMO:

- Turns out deposit was not protected by TDS - sue for full deposit amount and 3 x deposit as compensation
- Deposit was protected by TDS - no options IMO, or at least none I would recommend

[MissMisstreater]

thanks MrSHED

if it is protected i have to follow it, i cant let people just take the P**s like that like i said 10 days, cool, 14, fair enough, 28 pushing it a bit but 63 days before they offer to send a cheque which they could have done on day one and for such a reduced amount, weve had to dip into my overdraft to pay the new deposit

[Planner]

DPS is 0870 707 1707

My Deposits (formally TDSL) is 0871 703 0552

TDS is 0845 226 7837

They are all working.

[MissMisstreater]

yeah, i got through..... i called the fax number

they have no record, an said maybe the agent mixed up the upper and lower case letters, or maybe they got the company mixed up

so the agent either lied or is completely ignorant

like i said, my partner never rcieved this letter, the blaitently just wrote it up, hoping id go via small claims as the judge would ignore the claim as i didnt go to TDS first right?

im starting to think like you guys

[Planner]

You need something "official" from the TDS services to show if its ever been held or not. They should be able to search on just the address. You need it in writing, email or letter saying yes it has or no it hasnt.

If its yes it has, then ypou should log a dispute and go through their mediation.

If its no its not then you should register a county court claim for TDS non-compliance.

[MissMisstreater]

my partner is now requesting it, how exciting

[MissMisstreater]

ok, agents sent wrong ref no. got it now.... so the general consensus is to leave it now as it was protected?

they were incompetent enough to get the reference number right
incompetent enough to send proof of protection within 14 days
too incompetent to return the money with 2 months forcing me to overdraw my bank.....

should i bail out?

[MrShed]

Certainly my opinion is to leave it - it is now a point of principle, which will gain you little or nothing.

[MissMisstreater]

right, ill talk to my partner, thanks for ur lightning quick resposes