It'll be interesting to see the CA's approach, I know it can often be rather interesting to see how a 'good' decision can suddenly be overturned. It's a terrible indictment on the drafting of the legislation though that it has prompted this much confusion. But then modern drafting has been pretty abysmal all round (probably due to sheer pressure to draft so much stuff with the rate of legislating in recent years).

It's legal precedent for a short while, so county courts are bound to follow it, unless you can distinguish your case from it. There are cases coming up to be heard by the Court of Appeal, and I would find it hard to believe that counsel appearing in those cases will not seek to rely on this case. So I imagine it may only have a limited 'shelf-life' so to speak. Suffice to say it'll be interesting to see what approach and view the CA take, and also whether this decision itself gets appealed.

In short a victory for late complying landlords: High Court decision on TDP Painsmith Landlord and Tenant Blog

Ideally you should have put this on the N208 claim form to start with. Part 8 of the Civil Procedure Rules makes it clear that you must state that it is applicable to the case. The argument one could make is that 'Part 8 of the Civil Procedure Rules (hereinafter, 'the CPR) applies to this claim as it is one that involves a 'decision on a question which is unlikely to involve a substanial dispute of fact', per Part 8.1(2)(a) CPR. Further, HMCS have issued guidance (http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/docs/infoabout/housing/section-214-application.pdf) state that claims of this nature are to be started under Part 8 of the CPR'. At least that's what I put on our form. However, if it's an N1 form it's likely your claim will be allocated to small or fast (as opposed to multi-track), which I believe means, even if you lose, you wouldn't be liable for costs. So I personally wouldn't be objecting too vociferously.

I take issue with the claim we're being 'greed[y]'. Our landlord appears to be mortgaged up to the hilt (13 properties all with mortgages) and 3 previous companies which ended up being wound up (there's also a bit more back-story which I'd rather not go into). I'm grateful for people's advice, but if anyone could address the specific questions I asked I'd be even more grateful!

Hi, yes sorry should have mentioned we sent a letter on 25th September, to which we haven't had a reply as yet. Mentioned wanting a reply within 7 days on the letter (which obviously aren't up yet), so just looking at what the next step is if we don't receive a reply.

Yes, the thing that is a bit of an issue is Jacklin v Fraser Property Management Ltd, T/a Martin and Co (Bedford), where the judge threw the case out due to only one tenant (of joint tenants) bringing a claim improperly. So I just wanted to clarify how exactly we need to bring a claim as joint tenants 'correctly' (so to speak!).

Hi, We moved into a property last week. Our deposit was paid on the 9th September, and thus far we've received nothing from our landlord regarding its protection. We visited our local county court yesterday who were, to put it mildly, a bit clueless. The questions I have are: 1) We are multiple claimants (i.e. there are 3 of us in the property). The N208 form doesn't seem to accommodate more than one claimant, so what is the procedure? Does each one of us have to fill in a separate N208, and pretty much copy the facts of the case, and submit the three at the same time. Presumably there's still only one fee for submitting the claim? 2) With regard to fees, is there anything else, other than the £150 we could have to pay? The court office couldn't seem to understand what I was asking (!). Is a s.214 case liable to an allocation fee and a hearing fee (the latter is £1000, it would seem!).