Do I Have A Case - 3 x Deposit

[Sy86]

Hi,

Any help or advice would be appreciated:-

Background

I started a new tenancy on 01/08/2008 with a £500 deposit. I received a certificate back from the LA showing the TDS have my deposit a UID code and that £500 had been protected.

Skip 18 months to 31/01/2010 and time to move out, on the check out inspection a cleaning substance had left a smear in the oven and discoloured grout to bathroom tiles. LA and LL to take £50 from deposit for cleaning. As I was not happy about this the LA advised that the dispute had to go through TDS.

I logged on to the TDS website to lodge a dispute to my surprise there was only £125 protected. I called the TDS to enquire about this and they stated only £125 had ever been deposited by the LA and advised to lodge the dispute.

Later that day I called the LA to enquire about this and they denied any discrepancy in the deposited amount and threatened legal action against me for stating they had misappropriated £375 out of my deposit. I logged back on to the TDS website to find that my deposit certificate had been deleted by the LA after I my phone call to them. (strange I thought)

I received the £450 deposit back into my account 2 weeks after the end of the tenancy.

Yesterday I heard back from the TDS stating they had awarded the £50 dispute to the landlord for cleaning, but no mention of the difference in deposit.

Going Forward

I was under the impression that due to the deposit not being fully protected they LA/LL were unable to claim any amount from this? I am unable to find were I had seen this and I am now unsure if it is right.

If this was the case the TDS should have awarded the £50 dispute back to me? If I can find this information I plan to lodge a complaint with the TDS.

As I had screen shots before the certificate was deleted showing the £125 deposit and the copy the LA sent to showing £500 deposit, I always planned to take the case to the Small Claims Court but was hoping the Dispute going my way would add evidence to my case.

The TDS have stated they will send a copy of the Certificate showing only £125 protected as this would be better than a screen shot.

Since I have received £450 of my deposit back and lost the dispute with the TDS would I still have a claim for 3 x deposit return and a chance of winning via Small Claims Court?

Thank you in advance.

[Bry2020]

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?

[Sy86]

9.3 The ICE may at his discretion award the disputed deposit to the tenant without

formal adjudication where:

9.3.2The full disputed amount has not been submitted within the time

specified in paragraph 7.7

Above is what I was referring to but this only regarding the disputed amount and no mention of having to pay the full deposit into the TDS to be able to claim any back.

Regarding who was holding the the deposit, Iam not sure. We dealt with the landlord for everything and cut LA out after 6 months as they wanted to charge to continue to tenancy.

Would this affect my case?