Its tricky now because you have had the deposit returned and banked the cheque. The law says that if you take your landlord to court on the grounds that the deposit has not been protected, then if the the court is satisfied the deposit has not been protected they MUST order 'whoever appears to be holding the deposit ' to return it to you and MUST ALSO order the 3x fine. The fact that your deposit has been returned in full means that the court could take the view that they cannot order the return of the deposit because it's already been returned. Therefore they cannot ALSO order the 3x fine. The other tricky one with your case is the fact that the amount of the claim is over £5000. This means it doesnt fall under small claims and that if you go to court and lose your case, then you may have to pay the legal costs of your landlord. It would come down to the paticular judges view on the case. I woudnt take the risk and stress if I were you - it is stressful suing someone. The only thing you could rely on is if the deposit returned to you is less an amount for check out fees i.e.you havent had the whole original amount returned. If this is the case, and you do continue the claim on the basis your deposit has not been fully returned, then you are in a grey area. The grey area is 'have you had your deposit returned'. The defence are likley to argue that you have had it all returned because you asked for the deposit minus any charges for check out. Hope this helps, congrats on getting your deposit back...

Tricky one. I doubt the deposit is classed as ever being protected if the incorrect amount was stated to TDS. Heres a link to TDS guidlines: http://www.thedisputeservice.co.uk/r...-Edition-4.pdf The fact the LA threatened legal action against you for stating they had misappropriated £375, sounds very defensive of them and a bit suspicious. Who was holding your deposit during the tenancy? Was it the agency (in their bank account) or did they transfer it to the LL?

There was an inventory check at the start and end of tenancy. The check out highlighted very minor points - quick wipe clean over this and that, but nothing major. The amount of outstanding deposit is smaller now (after negotiations), and I'm concerned that a judge may decide that the deposit had effectively been returned, therefore not able to award the return of the deposit and the 3x fine. The point is that I never agreed on the final deductions amount, the LL just made deductions based on what he thought was right. I guess the fundamental question is: If a case was brought for protection non-compliance and the deposit hadn't been returned in full, could a judge look at the deductions and decide they were actually fair and the deposit had effecively been returned? therefore not able to award the 3x fine.

I assume you dont have a solicitor helping you with this. Sometimes its more complicated than it may seem with tenancy deposit non protection. Are you sure you have a strong case?

Sorry to hear your having headaches with your deposit. Its the person who is holding the deposit that is the one who needs to protect it. Often the deposit is transfered from the tenant to the agency and then from the agency to the landlord. If the agent holds the deposit in their account for the duration of the tenancy then it is the agent that needs to protect the deposit with TDS. If the agency intends on transferring the deposit to the landlord then they should have it in their terms of business (between agent and landlord) that the landlord is respondible for the protecting of the deposit in either TDS or one of the other two schemes. Once the landlord receives the deposit, they have 14 days to protect it. the landlord should also ensure that you are sent 'prescribed information' about where your deposit is protected. In your contract with the agency should be the terms about the TDS scheme - who is holding the deposit, what is to be done with the deposit at the end of tenancy. The reason why it is written here is because with TDS (in comparison to the other two schemes) their 'prescribed information' can be integrated into the tenancy agreement itself. the other two schemes Mydeposits and DPS have different rules. TDS give guidance to agencies as to what info should be entered into tenancy agreements. TDS also give guidance on what should be in the contract between the agency and landlord (terms of business). Here is the link to the PDF info from TDS: http://www.thedisputeservice.co.uk/resources/files/TDSA-Rules-of-Membership-Edition-4.pdf It sounds like in your tenancy agreement the TDS scheme prescribed information is there. The agreement also suggests that the landlord is the one that is responsible for protection. Therefore it is the landlord that is the one who should respond to you with the details of the scheme they have chosen. They may have chosen any of the three schemes. The agency may have protected your deposit as a matter of course as soon as they received it, before transferring to the landlord (to protect themselves). Even so, the landlord must protect the deposit within 14 days of receiving it. If the landlord has not protected it, and you have moved out of the property they will not be able to protect it as the 3 schemes would not allow this once the tenancy has ended. If the landlord is still holding all or part of your deposit, then you have a strong case to sue for the return of the deposit plus 3x the deposit as a fine for non-compliance. If the landlord has returned all of your deposit then there is a chance that a judge may not award the 3x fine - this could go either way, some win, some lose. You should find out in writing (email or other) from the agency whether it is them or the landlord who is holding the deposit. You should seek legal advice if unsure. If the court awards in your favour (deposit + 3x deposit) then the landlord has 2 weeks to pay up. If he doesnt pay then you can use various methods to enforce the judgement (get the money). One method is to put a charging order on his property. This means that if the property is sold, then you get your money. The address of the landlord should be on tenancy agreement. This is your 'last known address' of the landlord. Its this address that you should use for the defendant when filling in the claim form to send to the court. If you have no other addresses, the use the agencys address as this is your last known address of correspondance. Failing that there is an argument to say you can use the address of the actual flat you rented. You'd need to look into that to be sure. I'd choose the address of the agency. You can also go to the land registry website, pay £2 and find out who is legal owner of your flat. This would give more info about the landlord. Some people put the agency and the landlord on the claim form and let the judge figure it out. Hope this helps you. cheers

I'm in a similar situation and need a point clarifying if anyone knows the answer. My deposit was never protected, and no prescribed information was sent to me. LL made deductions at end of tenancy and returned only part of the deposit. I disagreed with deductions. LL is still holding part of my deposit. I understand if the deposit has been returned in full, then the court may or may not award a 3x fine. If I sued LL for non-compliance, could the court decide the LL deductions were fair, therefore the deposit has infact been returned already? thanks for your help!