TENANCY DEPOSIT CASE (Section 213 HA 2004)

[Coastfodder]

I would be interested on how this ruling would effect my case.

 

We entered an out of court agreement with Ex LL.

 

The agreement was that we would not take LL to court for breach of tenancy,disrepair,Illegal eviction,failure to adhere to safety regs and it would also mean we would not take any action for LL non Compliance with the TDS regs. Basically we could not take action to claim anything.

 

We received a Payment that was basically = to 1 months rent and the deposit on a new let,Plus our deposit back once the final inventory had been completed.

 

This was the agreement.BUT on receipt of our last rental payment(this was a part payment due to the leaving date that had been negotiated) EX LL put the Money that was = to our deposit into a TDS scheme!!

 

We have been trying for the last year to get it released. LL has used every trick in the book.

 

We have now taken LL to Court to reclaim the money again and to confirm it was part of the agreement and therefore LL put it into scheme to complicate matters.We can prove we have upheld our agreement to the letter.

 

The case is due to be heard by the end of the month.How do you all think the Law/Judge will view this??

 

Many Thanks CF

[MrShed]

Two things.

 

a) this has no REAL relevance to your claim as it is not a precendent set in court higher than county.

b) is has no ACTUAL relevance to your claim, as your claim is not for TDS non compliance.

[Coastfodder]

Two things.

 

a) this has no REAL relevance to your claim as it is not a precendent set in court higher than county.

b) is has no ACTUAL relevance to your claim, as your claim is not for TDS non compliance.

 

Thankyou very much fo your reply Mr Shed.

 

This is just what I thought.We are bringing the action purely for the outstanding amount.Although we can clearly prove our EX LL has infact breached the agreement (long story) ,We only ask for the outstanding amount.

 

I have been browsing forums and have viewed a couple of post similer to our story and have seen the general opinion is that our LL abused the TDS scheme (to put it out of our reach and make it very difficult to obtain).

 

The argument has been that he had opportunity to do this in the previous 3 months but waited untill our last apyment and the agreement was supposed to be finalised to put the Deposit in the Scheme.

 

It was felt that the Judge would take a dim view of this and would award us the 3x amount to set an example to other LL.

 

To be Honest,Iam not very knowlegable in this area.I just want our agreed amont.

 

Many Thanks CF

[MrShed]

The judge has no remit to award the 3 x amount in this case, and will NOT do so.

[Coastfodder]

I don't know if this would be any help to anyone...

 

We moved into our old property June 05 and paid the Deposit then.

 

I asked the DPS this question....

 

Dear XXXXX

 

I can now confirm that the case is going to a Full hearing.

 

Whilst going though evidence it was noted that the DPS requested a Signed copy Of the Tenancy agreement.

 

The only copy we signed was the original agreement.The Tenancy agreement for June 2007 was only Signed by LL.

 

LL had wrongly drawn up the Tenancy by not including a section for the Tenants to sign.Therefore some questions were raised over the authenticity/Legality of the Document.

 

Please can you confirm whether the DPS accept Deposits where there is not a Valid Tenancy.

 

Kind Regards

 

XXXXXXX

 

 

 

This was the response from a Manager at the DPS...

 

Dear XXX,

Thank you for your email.

The DPS is a scheme administrator authorised to act under Part 6 of the Housing Act 2004. The legislation relates to all deposits taken in relation to Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreements after 6th April 2007 and the scheme is primarily for those deposits. The DPS can, however, protect deposits taken under other types of tenancy at the choice of the parties to that tenancy. The responsibility for ensuring that the tenancy is signed and is fit for purpose is that of the parties to the agreement. The DPS do not require sight of the tenancy agreement before protecting the deposit and therefore would not exclude the protection of a deposit on the basis that the tenancy agreement was not signed. The intention of the parties must have been to protect that deposit with The DPS.

The correspondence you will be referring to is a letter sent in relation to the deposit dispute? The Dispute Resolution team will always request a copy of the tenancy agreement for the purposes of the evidence -base adjudication service. This is in order to allow the adjudicator to base their decision upon the contract's terms.

I hope this clarifies your question, but if you have any further queries please do let me know.

Kind regards.

Our LL had stated on the form that our Deposit was paid June 07.This is false.

My post may be of no help but I thought i may be able to show the opion from Somebody who works at the DPS..

Many Thanks CF