Hi I am trying to recover our deposit after leaving our short-hold tenancy property. The landlord held the deposit as it was paid in 2006 before the Deposit Scheme came into operation. Our landlord lives in New Zealand so the address on the contract was his parents address in Devon. I also have a copy of the final rent statement, sent by the lettings agent to the landlord, to this Devon address. I first of all sent the N1 Online Claim Form to the rented property, which was passed to the lettings agent and passed to the landlords solicitor, who returned it to the court saying the landlord did not live in the UK. I then re-issued the N1 addressed to the landlord at the Devon address. This was sent to the solicitors who sent it back to the court, saying 'This is not an address for service for our client - the Claim form has not been validly served on the Defendant.' Please help! Can I re-issue the N1 using the Devon address but post it to the New Zealand home address (which I also have) ? I actually phoned the landlords solicitor this morning, and said the claim form had been correctly served, otherwise how could a tenant issue proceedings against a landlord outside the UK? And he said 'with difficulty'. Of course, I didn't expect to get much joy from him, but now I am seething! What is my next move please? Thanks Michelle

Hi I have posted previously about our landlord retaining our deposit, with the help of a terrible rental agency. He lives in New Zealand. Our tenancy started before the TDS. Somehow, we mislaid the original rental contract with the Landlords UK address. On excellent advice from helpful people on this forum, we started a money claim online, using the address of the house we rented - in Hertfordshire. This is the landlords own house, where he resided with his family before a job move to NZ. I called in on the new tenants, and asked them to make sure that any post to the landlord was passed to the agent as there were legal documents being sent to him. They did this, and last week we received the claim form back from the courts. It was attached with a letter from the landlords solicitors in our local town, addressed to the court, stating: 'As requested, we return the entire claim pack since the defendant no longer lives at the address set out in the claim form (i.e 18, xxxxx rd, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire). The defendant now resides in New Zealand. We trust you will advise the Claimant of this position.' What they have also enclosed (we think by mistake) is a copy of a letter sent by the rental agency to the landlord. It is a monthly statement, listing repairs and renovations carried out at the start of the new tenancy in December 08. It is addressed to the Landlord at an address in Devon - which I recognised straight away as the address on the contract. I have amended the landlords address in red on the claim form N1, as the court letter suggests. Shall I attach a letter explaining that this is the address on our contract and therefore the legal address of the landlord? The courts, and the landlords solicitor should surely realise that the landlord cannot escape legal proceedings just by living abroad? If he can collect rent from that address then can't he be sued from that address? Please can you suggest anything else I should be doing? The deposit he has withheld is £3400 - there's no way I can let this one pass. Any suggestions or guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks Michelle

Thanks Caro, I've checked out the weblink - thanks for that. At first glance, it doesn't really give any indication that we can call on th TSA for help with getting our deposit back. It seems our landlord has a history of taking deposits for all sorts of things- cleaning, redecorating, gardening, admin costs for sorting out these things(?) and it's then left to the tenant to try and get it back. I am now talking with the previous tenants and it happened to them too, but they gave up and lost their deposit. I'm determined to get ours back - we were great tenants and the landlord benefited from our tenanacy. We improved the house and left it immaculate. It seems a real uphill struggle though, as we were pre April 2006 and we have to take him to court and he lives in NZ! Ho hum.....

Hi So, I know I need a UK address to sue the LL for return of deposit! We (frustratingly) have mislaid the original contract in our recent house move, which had the LL's parents address as an address. We have now left the property and so I can't force the LA to give me the LL UK address... and they are not willing to supply it. My query is this... if I use the rental property address (which is the LL's only owned property in the UK), how will the LL get his mail? The current tenants have told me they will forward mail to the LA, but what if it is not passed on? Can the courts make a judgement without contact or communication from the LL? I have an email address for the LL and a New Zealand address - and I have emailed him the LBA. The parents address was on the contract and they have power of attourney for the LL and they live in Somerset. We rent in Hertfordshire. Any advice would be very welcome. Thanks

I'm sure I read on another thread that you can only demand the address of the landlord from the LA if you are still a tenant of the property. Once you have left you can't make the demand?? (Correct me if I'm wrong.....) The name and address of the LL should have been on the contract (at least a postcode) and if it wasn't then it may be invalid. Not sure that helps you now....

I'm no expert, but as far as I'm aware, they can only hold back the disputed amount - ie £100. Ask for the return of the remainder of the deposit in the meantime and tell them you are disputing the £100. Check your contract - it is quite common for the tenant to be liable for the cost of the checkout. Good luck!

Hmm.... this sounds like a standard contract with a blank space where you can fill in details of a break clause for either you or the landlord. However, the blank space has been filled in with the words 'there is no break clause' so it sounds like you have 12 month agreement without a break. You are bound to pay the rent for 12 months, but if you tell the landlord that you want to leave sooner he may be able to re-let the property. You may be liable for the fees for doing this. Once he re-lets you are no longer liable for the rent, but if he doesn't find another tenant you are contractually bound to pay. (Sorry!) This is just my opinion - I am not legally qualified to give advice but I think I'm correct here and hope it helps.

I have to agree with the last point - Shelter are fantastic. They give excellent free advice to anybody renting, not just the homeless. Call early in the morning (8.30am) when they open as the phonelines get really busy and you just can't get through during the day. Good luck!

If you discover that your LL has not placed your deposit with a scheme, there may be a long road and uneventful road ahead of you if you want to sue. The first step is to contact the LL to formally request details of the scheme ( a reference number etc) the second step is to write to advise him of his obligations and warn him you may take action against him the final step is to take action. The point I am slowly coming to, is that at any stage along the way it appears that the LL can belatedly pop your money into a scheme and he is off the hook. (Even if you have got as far as the courts). So don't get too excited about the possibility of compensation - but do make sure your deposit is protected as it will give you a great deal of help and support if you do have a difficult landlord. Good luck! (Oh, and just for the record, I do agree, Just4Let's replies seem quite agressive and not very helpful!)

It sounds like there are some things for which the landlandy is at falut (entering without notice, asking for payment without presenting you with an invoice etc) and some for which she is entitled. Most contracts state that you are responsible for blockages caused in drains, baths etc. If you complained about a blockage, the LL has done her duty by sending round a plumber. If the blockage is cleared and subsequently found to be caused by you then you are liable for the cost of the call out. However, the most expensive plumbers charge around £60 - £80 per hour so £450 for clearing some wipes sound steep. Did you get an invoice from the plumber? (The flushability of the wipes is a mute point - I wouldn't persue that line of arguement if I were you.) The landlady does sound like a character - just keep to the law and keep everything in writing. You say you have communicatins via e-mail...that's good ... keep it in writing. Don't phone her or talk to her. Keep a level head and state things as they are. Don't get personal and keep it brief or you could say something wrong. Good luck!

Ask her round for a cup of coffee and a chat - I really recommend that you forge a relationship with the landlady. She surly wouldn't contemplate living in a house with disgusting carpets, and may agree that they need replacing. As the previous reply says, a good tenant is hard to find - plus if she has to re-let the property she will possibly have to recarpet anyway to make it marketable. But please take my advice and keep it friendly and amicable - as soon as you start being aggressive there is no way back. Maybe you could save the landlady time and get a couple of quotes from good local tradesmen to finish the kitchen and to replace some carpets, and to repair the central heating. Some landlords just can't give the time to sort out problems so if you offer to carry out the work in lieu of rent she may agree. Remind her that you are simply improving her property investment and saving her time and effort...... but please take my advice and do not mention the £50 million that you think she has.....it would not help forge your relationship at all!! Good luck!

We paid for a credit check when we rented our property. We failed on the fact that although my husband currently earns over £9000 a month, it is not a fixed salary as he is self employed. The fact that we have our house savings in the bank (£500,000) was also not featured in the credit check. The landlord makes the decidion at the end of the day - and they decided that after meeting us they would like us as tenants. We paid a security deposit etc, and we hae been super tenants! The agent needed to go throught the credit checking process and we accepted that - the landlord can then look at the information presented to him/her to make a decision on the risk of the applicant. Good luck!

You really have to ask yourself - Did you block the toilet? Can you make an attempt to clear the blockage yourself? It sounds like you could be charged by the landlord if he sends round a plumber and they pull out an object which you have dropped (or deposited) in the loo. You would be liable if you caused the blockage because of that clause in your contract. Did you use too much loo roll or overload the toilet? (Sorry - I'm trying to be polite here but we all know what I'm suggesting....) We had a blocked loo once, and the plumber pulled out one of those plastic things that holds a loo freshener inside the rim. He said that it was a very common cause of a blockage. My 16 year old son has a habit of using loads and loads of loo paper which the loo can't cope with and it often gets blocked. I yell at him and then deal with it..... I advise you to try and sort out the blockage yourself - it's easy to do with a plunger or your hand inside a plastic bag. It is likely that the landlord can pass the invoice to you - and you may even find another clause in the contract which allows the landlord (or agent) to charge an additional fee for arranging contractors to carry out work - £25 is an average fee. Good luck!!!!

Is the TSA available to everyone? To Private Shorthold Tenancies? Or just for tenants in housing association properties? We need some independant advice and support - and we signed before the Tenancy Deposit Scheme date so we are in the grip of our landlord. Thanks for your help.

Hi - I would really welcome some advice. We started out on a 6 month Short Term Tenancy, in Nov 2006. The property was in very poor decorative order but in a great spot, and as I am an interior designer and had some good ideas for the property and have many good contacts in the trade, I agreed with the landlord (via a management agency) that we would pay a rent of £1850 per month and I would carry out improvements. The landlord contributed £2000 and we paid to have the walls emulsioned, new carpets laid and light fittings replaced. The property was drastically improved (by me), and the agents took photos to send to the landlords in New Zealand and complimented us on the fine improvements. We paid a total of £10,000 approx and the landlord contributed £2000. We intended to stay in the property for several years, and actually asked to purchase the property. As the 6 month anniversary approached, the agent called and we said we wanted to stay on. They said that the property would command a much higher rent now, and asked us for a rent increase of £100 per month. I noted that the improvements were carried out by us - therefore it would be unfair of the landlord to claim a higher rent! We settled on £50 per month increase and the agents sent a letter confirming the new terms. We did not sign a new agreement. Our deposit was not moved to a Deposit Scheme ( Is this right? Can we claim that it should have??) We then decided to offer buy the property. The landlord accepted our offer in 2008 and we started with the conveyancing. When the slump in the property market happened, we went back to the landlord with a revised offer - inline with market movement. He refused our offer and immediately gave us notice to quit! His reason given (does he have to give one?) was to carry out essential repairs on the property which would involve lifting carpets and floorboards - making the property uninhabitable for several weeks. Quite unexpected, and a huge trauma and upheaval for us - a family of 6 with 3 children in a good local school etc. This is the question...... We suspect that the landlord was miffed that we were reducing our offer and thought he would give us a good dose of inconvenience and expense in return. We know the landlord was aware that he could charge a higher rent if he remarketed the property because of the improvements we had carried out. We believe that the property has been re-let without the 'essential' repairs being done. Is this right? It doesn't feel right to us. We have had to rent another property - quickly. Our rent is much higher as it was the only suitable property to rent in the area in the time given. Can we claim against a landlord who gave us notice to quit for reasons which were not acted upon? We suspect he used repairs as an excuse - but the real reason was to remarket the property for a higher rent. We have other issues going on which I will post seperately - we didn't get our £2700 deposit back (again, we feel we were victimised because the landlord lost the sale on his property) I'm sorry it has been a long post, but when I read the welcome messages it appears that a lot of info is required for you helpful people to respond effectively. I really appreciate your help - thank you for your responses which I await with hope and grateful anticipation! Michelle (Berkhamsted, Herts)