Hi Mr Shed, I'm not trying to impose in this thread, but can I ask why cases for disrepair pursued after a tenancy has ended have a tendency to fail? Good to see you back btw Amy

Although I cannot comment on the procedures in place for the deposit protection service (perhaps the name may assist others with commenting), I can say that if the deposit is now unprotected then your section 21 notice is invalid. Therefore if your LL were to go to court to try and get this enforced he would not be able to, and it is only when a court grants a possession order that you are under any obligation to leave the property. So until the deposit is protected correctly AND a new, correctly served, notice is given to you...AND the court grants a possession order, you do not have to leave. This whole process will take months, and although I'm sure you'd be glad to be rid of this LL, do not let him bully you. Amy

Quite simply, if he has nothing to hide and has done nothing wrong then he will have no problem with giving you the registration ID number for you deposit, as you have to contact the DPS to allow its release. If he is not forthcoming with this, it is just another indication that your deposit is not protected. If possible, you should ask the DPS, and the other schemes to confirm either via email or in writing that they have no record of a deposit registered for the address, this will help should you have to go to court. The next step is to write a letter to him, which should be served to the address on your tenancy agreement (unless you know this to no longer be correct, in which case you serve it to the address you do have and the one on the agreement). This letter should contain details of his legal obligations in reagrds to the deposit and ask that he return it within a reasonable time period e.g. 7 or 14 days, or he maybe liable for the penalty set in place by the law. Always make sure the letter is sent signed for post (recorded or special delivery) so that you can confirm its receipt with the post office and request a copy of the signature if needs be. I believe there are some good template letters in other threads on here if you have a search.

I think you are being very generous if the decoration is indeed 4 years old. It does also seem unfair that there was lack of communication to you about this, as personally I would have liked the opportunity to rectify such problems myself, without the LL assuming it would be ok to deduct from the deposit. This very much sounds like an attempt at betterment from your LL, and I would even consider lowering your offer as far as say £100.

I'd be a little wary of the agreement that you had, if it was only a 3 month tenancy, then this wouldnt seem to be an AST, therefore not subject to the TDS rules. However, if it is an AST then the minimum term is 6 months, and the LL could try to demand that you pay the rent for the full fixed term of 6 months. I have to say that the comments given before are wise advice, the legislation is there to protect tenants, but it is very difficult, stressful and time consuming to enforce this, and by all means it is not a guaranteed result!

It is always ultimately up to the LL to make sure the deposit is protected, occasionally it will be written into the contract with the letting agent, that the agent protects it on their behalf.The company who does the inspections wouldn't normally have anything to do with this. If you know which scheme your deposit is with then be sure to raise up a dispute, but before doing so ask for certain details from the agent. You are entitled to a list of all the deductions due to be made from your deposit, this should be a full breakdown of exactly where each penny is going. This will help you form your dispute, however you have mentioned that there was some damp from blocked gutters. Be sure to check your tenancy agreement regarding this, as most say that its up to the tenant to keep all drains and gutters clear. The LL doesn't have to get quotes, they can accept the first quote that is given to them, however that doesn't mean the cost can be unreasonable. If you were to get quotes for the same job, and they differed by an unreasonable amount then you can definitely challenge the charge.

In regards to your deposit, can you confirm when your tenancy started, and when it ended please? Tenancy agreements that started, or were renewed, after April 07, are subject to deposit protection laws. This means it should be protected in one of 3 government schemes. These schemes have a dispute service so that a LL/agent cant take unfair deductions from a tenants deposit. Your DD for the rent, so long as it is a DD, and not a standing order, can be recalled by your bank. Ask them to raise and indemnity claim stating that it should have been cancelled and that it is an overpayment. It may take a couple of days but they should then return the money back to your account without you having to argue with the agents.

In order to be exactly sure of where you stand, can you please let us know what it says exactly in your tenancy agreement in regards to this break clause? Some break clauses allow a minimum of 2 months notice to be given at any point after the 6 month point in the tenancy, however some allow notice to be given at 6 months only, and if that is missed the tenancy must run to the full 12 months. It's less likely but there are some other more unusual break clauses, so to advise I would need the exact wording please. Amy

I'm have to disagree Webranger, we are discussing the point after the fact here. Hindsight is always a wonderful thing, but in this case we need to focus on help going forward. Also, it is not always unwise to start proceedings before the tenancy ends. I have a solicitor here in Coventry (with 26 years experience in housing law) who has said the judges locally are of the opinion that the legislation refers throughout to the 'tenant'. They take this to mean that an 'ex-tenant' therefore cannot apply for the penalty. However misguided this may seem, it is unfortunately their opinion and that counts for everything when getting a judgement.

From what I see here, the judge has made a rather large error, as I'm sure you know the legislation says that if the judge orders the return of the deposit they must ALSO impose the 3 x penalty. It seems very strange that this did not happen, so I would thoroughly recommend an appeal. For the best advice on doing this contact either shelter, or the court themselves. Do bear in mind that it is a common belief that if the deposit is repaid that the the 'ALSO' part of the legislation cannot apply, so accepting your deposit back at this point could be risky.

So can you clarify is your rent still being paid 7 weeks in advance, or did you originally pay 7 weeks in advance, then nothing for 7 weeks, then your normal monthly in advance?

When you say you paid 7 weeks rent in advance, was that 7 weeks ago? If it was less than 7 weeks ago, this counts as a deposit no matter what they choose to call it, therefore should be registered under a TDS scheme. If you do withold rent, you are at risk of eviction. The LL cant evict you purely on the basis of the rent being the couple of weeks late that it will be, but under the section 21 route, they need no reason at all to ask you to leave, even if the process does take months to complete. It all depends on how much it means to you to keep on good terms with the LL in order to avoid this potentially happening.

You could have economy 7 storage heaters, but iirc they do have a large installation cost. Oil heaters are different and run specifically from heating oil that you pour in the side of the heater and it uses it as fuel, i've looked and the approximate cost of one of these is £60 - £100.

The only suggestion I can think to make, is an oil fuelled heater. My dad has an office in our converted garage, which doesn't have any central heating either. The oil heater doesn't heat up particularly quickly but releases a small amount of heat constantly throughout the day. I'm not sure how much cheaper this option is, but definitely cheaper than electric.

I think this new turn may in fact give you some leverage over the landlord. IIRC you can complain against/appeal any application for planning permission and the council must take this into consideration when deciding if it is to be approved. If your LL thinks you may complain, he may be very keen to let you go early!

Its just a shame you cant measure the stress, worry, impact on health, loss of dignity and a whole host of other problems that LL's cause tenants, i'd take odds on that. I'm not saying that the majority of LL's are like this, but the minority sure do make up for it!

Apologies that this thread is long, and thanks to all those that read/reply to it. I have ongoing problems with my now ex-landlord, I believe the issues that I had amount to illegal eviction and I'm pursuing this with my local private sector housing enforcement team. They have said that they will pass my statements to their solicitor to see if a case can be brought, but I'd like any advice or experience that may be relevant to my case please. A brief(ish) summary of the problem is: * 6 month AST agreement was started on the 1st September 2009 * Subsequently disrepair issues arose which I informed the landlord of each time an issue came up and he did not repair them, so I wrote him a letter that was hand delivered at the property on the 24th Nov 09 giving him 4 weeks to rectify the problems before I reported them to the council * No further repairs were undertaken and in Jan 10 a council inspector came to see the property to assess the disrepair. After the assessment they served the LL with a notice to rectify the problems, including for him to obtain a gas safety certificate. * He ignored this notice and then started threatening us on and off either at the property or in the street. * In Feb 10 I withheld rent on this basis, and in April a second inspection was done to find that the work had not been completed, a second order of works was issued by the council * The threats continued by the LL and my car was damaged on 4 separate occasions, despite there being cameras on the front of the property covering the driveway we did not get good images of the offenders and there was therefore nothing to link this directly to the LL. Each of these incidents was reported to the police, including the threats. * I sold my car to prevent further damage, and a 3rd inspection of the property was done by the council in May 10. This showed that there was a category 1 hazard in addition to the previous problems. This was that the boiler would not produce hot water. We were without hot water from mid April until we moved out at the end of June. * On 3rd of June my partner was again threatened by the LL and another male. This male and 2nd male assaulted myself and my partner in our home on the evening of the 3rd of June, assisted by the fact the LL had given them a key to enter. Again this was reported to the police, and we did obtain good CCTV footage of them entering the property and the threat during the day. The offenders are pending arrest, but the police do have address details. Do you think that I have a good case against my LL here? In addition he did not protect the deposit until 2 days before the end of the AST, I hope that the recent Universal estates vs Tiensia case may clear this up for us as the scheme used was mydeposits.co.uk. Is there anything else that I can do to make this a good case, and is going through the council to obtain a conviction the best way to go about this? Many thanks to those that have read this far, I'm eager to hear any opinons. Amy

However eminent he may be, does not make what he says gospel. Now please stop interfering with people simply looking for guidance and assistance with their problems. If you are looking for a debate of legality, legislation and precedent, then please turn elsewhere. The PainSmith Forums may be more appropriate, but at this moment in time all you are is a stubborn person, causing nuisance for those here requiring a little help. You've had these same arguments in the past, and clearly i'm not the only one here that believes you are more of a disruption than anything else.

Now now children. This site is meant to be constructive, either agree to disagree or work toward making your differences in opinion helpful to guide the OP. Personally I believe that whether the case involves notices, AST's or whatever, the Judges comments should be taken lightly as they are again only his opinion, and although they may set president, aren't the law as such and may change from court to court.

When I spoke to my local council's private sector housing enforcement team, they came and did an inspection. Included in that inspection was a 'quick glance' at the boiler, but when I demonstrated that would not produce hot water, I was told it amounted to a category one hazard, and that the landlord would be fined and have an order of works imposed on him. If your not having any luck with whoever is meant to be fixing it, speak to your local council, they have the powers to put orders in place, fine landlord, and also to carry out the works themselves and then bill the landlord for it.

Try not to converse with them via email, do everything in writing so that if you have any further trouble you have written evidence for court etc

Just because move in date was after the legislation came in doesnt mean it is, always check with the 3 schemes to be sure. Often just a polite chat with the LL will lead to them being happy to let you go early. Especially if the LL wants the property back anyway, and if you can get an amicable agreement then it often makes it easier with return of the deposit as well.

Thats correct blitz, however the scheme's arent to 'efficient' and doing that and it can take a while, and its also convincing them in the first place. Not to sound too negative it can and has been done, just keep ringing them to be sure you find out as soon as its registered if he does. And ultimately, even if the LL registers it, you can still win your case for the return of your deposit, which is the point of all this in the first place lol.

Yes, this additional month is regarded as a deposit, no matter what any LA or LL want to call it, so it must go into an approved scheme. My personal view for gas inspections (taking into account my LL issues) is that if they dont have a gas safe qualified card, they arent coming in. They can be called trainee or whatever but I dont know them from adam, and you wouldnt let a random stranger in off the street in any other situation. Maybe thats just me being paranoid, but this exact thing happened to me. Gas safety cert was issued in Jan, LL tried to get a gas bloke to come around a couple of weeks ago, and with a trainee (do we have the same LL without knowing?? lol) But in our case this 'trainee' was a guy built like a house, who happened to have a sideline teaching boxing classes...hmmmm. Suffice to say I kept him talking on the doorstep while my partner showed the gas guy the appliance. Luckily we'd bumped into the police officer earlier in the day that had dealt with our harassment issues, and he was polite enough to offer to 'pop his head round the door' while they were here. He did just that and the visit went very quickly, although the gas man was quick enough to ask for the policeman's ID number :S The very next week we were broken into by two thugs who were given a key by the landlord, and they assaulted us both, it ended with a few bruises and some cuts and scrapes. But it just shows that there a tiny minority of LL's out there that will go to disgusting measures with reasonable (although I probably am annoying) tenants. If anything, you can never be too careful

I know that there are so many people out there in the same situation as you, I was one of them only a couple of years ago. So therefore I also know its possible to get off your backside and change things for the better. I've gone from a single mum with no job in a council flat, to privately renting, and then to a working mum who's just bought her first house, and all in less than 2 years. And all because I insist on paying back for what the system gave me, its just a shame other people think they are owed or something. And its all well and good saying give you something constructive, but ultimately you gotta do it yourself, i've given you the shelter website, the important information from it, how to find landlords that do take HB, so the rest is up to you.