Hi quick query. been looking at the unfair terms in consumer contracts regulations 1999 to see if it will help me. my daughter cancelled her wedding, there are still over 8 months till the date, its peak wedding season so i have no doubt the venue can get a new booking. her total cost was £3200 she had to pay a deposit when booking of £1000 which is non refundable. true the terms do state it is not refundable however the Act says the contract may be unfair if irrevocably binding the consumer to terms with which he had no real opportunity of becoming acquainted before the conclusion of the contract; unfair if requiring any consumer who fails to fulfil his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation; also i think there is a 1977 law that states it is unfair to retain a large sum if the losses incurred by a company are not proportionate to what they keep? I've written briefly to the company and their response is sorry, you signed, tough luck (not quite so blunt) I wonder should I just cut my losses or write a sterner letter? I appreciate they may have incurred some costs, but no food bought etc, plenty of time to rent out the venue again etc... thoughts anyone? thank you x

Deposits taken before the 2007 date for deposit protection legislation need to be protected even if the tenancy was a periodic tenancy at the time the legislation came into force, and has remained so. Charalambous & Anor v Maureen Rosairie Ng & Anor [2014] EWCA Civ 1604 http://nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/2014/12/p ... ossession/ It seems that while the financial penalty doesn't apply, a legal Section 21 cannot be served. My OH got caught out by this (Section 21 was issued before the above judgement). Luckily, the tenant didn't find out that the notice was unlawful and left! We might have to sue him for failing to give adequate notice (joke).

Hi all, A little advice please - I recently listed an ad with Shiply for a wardrobe to be moved, accepted a quote & paid a £20 deposit. The transport provider never replied (may of even been fake) so they credited the money onto shiply account so I could relist again. Relisted a further 2 times and still received no suitable quotes... Upon emailing them, they've said that as it's gone past 28 days they cannot refund me - I can only use the account credit for future deliveries within 2 years How can I get my money back?!

We have two deposit refund queries. The first relates to a £200 deposit placed for an order for a new caravan. This transaction was done over the phone about a month ago using a credit card. At the very last moment we had to cancel the order due to an unexpected change of circumstances although the dealer had taken delivery of the new caravan which was not built specifically for us. Can we claim back the deposit? Regarding the same caravan, we also placed an order for £279 over the telephone about a week ago for a Phantom tracker to be installed tomorrow. We phoned this morning to cancel the installation and were told that there would be a £25 call out charge as the time was already booked by the fitter who is an individual acting on behalf of the tracking company and not employed by them. Can they impose this £25 charge as they will not be attending the caravan? Thanks

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/26326033 I'm involved in a similar ongoing story. The local Trading Standards will soon be getting another report. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?408378-Agent-wants-significant-rent-without-contract

OK Background. I rented a house off Gumtree from a private agent on 01.05.12 The rent is £450 pm and I paid £450 deposit. The house is fully furnished. Ive had problems with the landlord from day 1. I dont know how to deal with her, she is very nice but very passive agressive and I dont want to anger her but Ive got a feeling im going to get reamed when I leave (1 yr tenancy). So I am preparing myself now. Upon moving in, I was never shown safety certificates. But managed to get her to pay for some electrical repairs. (the copper pipes have not been earthed which was advised when I last had an electrician in) I also was not given an inventory which I was worried about. She came round one day and asked if she could have her pyrex, I told her there was no pyrex when I moved in, and she found mine and insisted it was hers. I told her where to stuff it because It was given to me by my grandmother and eventually she left pyrex-less. But she has done this numerous times. (1). If there is no inventory there is no way for her to try and claim my stuff? the majority of things i have reciepts for but some heirlooms i dont and im worried. (2). A few things (lamps) were broken when I moved in, she cant charge my deposit if there is no inventory? The major thing for me is the deposit. I dont think she has protected my deposit in an approved scheme. (3). When I have rented previously I have had letters from the scheme telling me they have recieved my deposit. I havent this time, is there anyway I can check? This woman really is a nuisance, she used to let herself into the house whenever she felt like it, until my partner argued with her. Even now she still lets herself in if she thinks no ones home (I have hidden upstairs once when I suspected this). And she has let herself in when my partner has been sleeping off nights. I know she doesnt have a front door key (her son does but wont let her have it), so I started leaving the back door key in the lock at an angle so she couldnt open it and she even had the cheek to bollock me for doing that! She comes round my house at 5am on bin days and puts my bin on the kerb because she is convinced I wont do it. Because one week i didnt put the bin out - it was empty. Advice please?

I'm trying to get a sense of what deductions are reasonable against a tenants deposit. I have an unfurnished flat that I let out and the tenancy just ended. The tenants created a 2cm diameter burn hole in the carpet, luckily it is covered by where the sofa typically sits. The tenants also did a poor job cleaning the flat both during their tenancy and as they moved out. Rent was in the order of £1000 in Reading and the property is billed as "executive flats". A deposit of 1.5 months is held in a TDS via the letting agency. Most of the walls were freshly painted, I had cleaned the carpets with a rental carpet cleaner and wiped down woodwork and doors before the tenants moved in. A fairly comprehensive inventory was part of the lease contract. Last week I cleaned the flat myself after the tenants moved out, spending about 15 hours doing so. I hired a rental carpet cleaner again and touched up the paint on the walls were it had been heavily marked and where blue tack had been used. If all light-bulbs were in service before the let, is it reasonable to expect tenants to replaced dead bulbs? I'm trying to figure out how to put a cost on what it has taken me to restore the flat to the condition the flat was in before the tenants moved in. I know wear and tear is to be expected but if it can be cleaned in a few hours then I don't see it as wear and tear. Is it reasonable to value my time at £10/hour and to assess a carpet burn at £75-£100? This is my first time as a landlord. I know most of these forums seem to be targeted more at getting the best for the tenant rather than the landlord but I'm hoping I can get some understanding of what is considered usual and reasonable. Thanks, Ryan

When I moved in to my apartment in March 2009, it was on a Common Law Tenancy basis for 12 months, the rent at the time being greater than the £25k threshold. I was then asked to renew by the Landlord as they said their bank required them to have a signed agreement as a condition of their mortgage, whereas I had suggested just rolling the contract on on a periodic basis. I also informed the landlord that from October 2010, our tenancy would revert to an Assured Shorthold and they would be required to protect the deposit. We signed a 6 month extension to the end of September 2010 as a result. When it came to this the landlord did not ask for a renewal of the agreement, conflicting with the previous statement that they needed to have a signed agreement as a condition of the mortgage. As I understand it, whilst the tenancy as a legal contract therefore changed to an Assured Shorthold from October 2010, it was I suspect on a periodic basis. Whilst the advice from the Department for Communities and Local Government recommends that all deposits under AST's are protected, I'm not sure there is any case law yet that would suggest, given our contractual history, that we are eligible for the 3x deposit penalty after May the 5th, because our landlord has not notified us of it being protected, nor under which scheme? I would be delighted if you could inform me otherwise? I think I read somewhere that as a result of the Localism Act that there are changes which imply that all AST's now have to have protected deposits? Thanks in advance for any help.