Deposit protected 13MONTHS late...what can I do?

[LucieH]

Hi all

My boyfriend and I moved in to our flat on 8th June 2007.

We did NOT recieved notification of which scheme our deposit (£900) was paid in to.

We since renewed the contract for a further year (running from 8th January 2008-7th Jan 2009). And stillrecieved no notification of the deposit scheme.

On 15th July 2008, I wrote to the agents, detailing a list of maintenance works we have been chasing to have done for several months, and also requesting details of the deposit scheme. The response letter from the agents replied saying they would let us know when the work will be done, and nothing more, no response to our question about the deposit.

21st July 2008, I sent an email to the agents again asking for the scheme info. A response email on 22nd July stated they would be in touch with the info.

Yesterday - I recieved a letter from them addressed to me only, with a certificate from TDS showing the deposit protected on 22nd July 2008....OVER THIRTEEN MONTHS AFTER MOVING IN AND GIVING THE DEPOSIT!

Am I right in thinking we can now claim for 3 x our deposit as they did not protect it and notify us within the required 14 day period?

If so...How do I go about this? And can they issue notice for us to evict the property if we do so? (Really worried about that part as due to give birth in 4 weeks!).

Any info would be welcomed

[Planner]

The general feeling is, no you cant claim for the 14 day rule being missed, if the deposit is subsequently protected.

Its so early in the day in terms of TDS claims that very few have been through the court system yet. The best advice would be to continue monitoring this site to see if any court victories change the general concensus of the 14 day 'rule' claims.

[MrShed]

Originally Posted by Planner

The general feeling is, no you cant claim for the 14 day rule being missed, if the deposit is subsequently protected.

Its so early in the day in terms of TDS claims that very few have been through the court system yet. The best advice would be to continue monitoring this site to see if any court victories change the general concensus of the 14 day 'rule' claims.

I would like to tweak that Planner if I may

I think the general feeling is that such claims SHOULD be successful according to the law, but as of yet there is no case law to show how courts are/should be interpreting it. This law as a whole sets something of a precedent as it enforces financial penalties that are wholly out of line with the financial loss to the other party, hence why we suspect that judges MAY not enforce it.

My opinion is that unless there are deposit dispute items to claim ALSO, it is not worth putting in a claim solely on broken TDS terms at this point.

[Planner]

Tweak Away!

Of course the o/p could volunteer to be a guinea pig for the forum?

We could easily whip up a LBA and N1/N208 claim wording (again!)

[LucieH]

It is all so new, it's hard to get any answers or case samples, but they seem to be popping up more regularly now!

The certificate sent yesterday, also states in bold letters, that a copy should be sent to all tenants listed. It has only bee sent addressed to me - though myself and my boyfriend have a contract each and are both on the certificate.

Promising part is that the TDS have got back to us and said we do have a case to pursue, even if it was paid on the 15th day, let alone 13 months!

Will have to do some more digging round to get the right forms and info to do this though.

[MrShed]

Well yes all that is true, but doesnt make what we have said less true.

That said, I would love you to go ahead - but as Planner said, only because we need a guinea pig to be a test case!!! Good for all of us and future applicants, not so good for you...

[rothers]

Lucie, my hubby and i about to get a court date hearing for LL putting our dep in DPS (Free service) 3 months after us leaving the prop in april this year - then making out it was there all along. They even charged us £90 to cover their costs at the beginning of tennancy in nov 2007 for not bothering to do it!!! To be honest the DPS are dragging their heel aswell, giving the LLs chance after chance to keep ignoring our pleas for our Dep, because 'its fair to do so' and 'would we like it if the shoe was on the other foot??' - be warned they are not as helpful as they like to make out

We issued court order for dep back and 3x the deposit (it has cost in total £237.00) as they tried to insist there was damage to the house (there wasnt) they declined an iventory (they must be mad) and told us they were going to keep a few hundred pounds from the £1200 dep to cover their costs!! They said the dep would be back with us within 7 days and went on for nearly two months...if they hadnt been so greedy it wouldnt have come to this, but they have brought this on themselves. You cant help but take this personally? why havent put a foot wrong? Rent on time - we made it easy for them, no probs at all... The bottom line is a LL should comply with legislation put in place in april 2007, its there for a reason, so both parties have an unbiased party to help resolve any disputes that may arise after tennancy ends... A bit like driving without insurance, if you crash your car you need the insurance in place to protect you and the injured party (or vice versa) Subsequently if you dont adhere to the law you will be fined accordingly! There is no excuse for LL's to play dumb and not do it, although there are some decent LL's out there too!!!

We will keep you all updated when we get the court hearing and when we recieve the outcome - we are 99.9% sure we are going to win, there is nowhere for them to hide... if we lose I'm bloody emigrating from this country!!!!