Deposit Protection Boo Boo – Landlord SOS – HELP!

Josie

Sorry I forget sometime not everyone is an old f*** like me and been in the business 20+ years!!

But this Prescribed Information business is CRUCIAL must know if you served it originally as well as protecting the deposit. You should have a copy on your file sitting alongside the other Mydeposits deposit related stuff.

Once the kids are tucking into their fish fingers and you have your first G&T of the week-end in your hand have a look and let me know because that is really crucial. If there is no Prescribed information at all served on the tenant opriginally, then you definitely have a problem and anything that happened afterwards doesn't matter.

Some of the above has just scared the living daylights out of me but sorry to chuck a spanner in but i think you are misunderstanding the rules, the legislation is as follows and i got this from the DPS website, insurance backed can not be any different

"As part of the Housing Act 2004 the Government introduced tenancy deposit protection for all assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) in England and Wales where a deposit is taken. From April 6th 2007, all deposits paid under an AST should have been protected within 14 calendar days of receipt by the landlord. From 6th April 2012, deposits for all assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) in England and Wales must now be protected within 30 calendar days of receipt by the landlord, this change is as a result of the Localism Bill 2011.

The legislation aims to ensure that tenants who have paid a deposit to a landlord or letting agent and are entitled to receive all or part of it back at the end of that tenancy, actually get it."

So in a nutshell, so long as it is lodged within the timescales it doesnt mater that a tenancy has been renewed or how many times, its whether or not the money has been lodged within the timescale given. The only difference to this is a deposit taken before 06/04/2007 does not need to be protected UNLESS a new tenancy is created after this date thus you have to comply with the above.

The tenancy does not end until possession, return of keys or surrender has occured it is only the contract that has been altered the deposit is still protected, i think you need to look into this in more detail, ring MyDeposits and if someone has told you different escalate it until you get a senior decission or you might find you have free legal advice under an insurance policy.

Good luck and if anyone can prove different please do so coz i will be in a whole lot of cr*p if its true!!

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Reading the above it's fairly clear your tenancy simply became Periodic at end of fixed term (why doesn't everyone just let this happen instead of time-wasting nonsense issuing new AST's etc. ? - and having to Unprotect and Reprotect a deposit at extra cost)

It also seems to me the fact you un-necessarily Unprotected and then re Protected the deposit is irrelevant. So long as you initially Protected within the 14 days then you are fine.

Don't get yourself in trouble asking for lots of advice, which may be entirely wrong. Just do nothing, and be glad the tenant has gone, or return her full deposit so she has no claim (probably best option)...

It is easy to sympathise but .....
a landlord should not be operating without understanding the law. If you don't understand the law then use someone (e.g. an agent) who does.
My leases contain an automatic extension clause in the event that notice is not given.
Original leases are not signed until required notices have been served and acknowledged. Original leases are held by me and copies are issued.
I keep a database of key dates....

ignorance of the law is never an excuse .... pain though the law is at times

it is also better to learn about these things from a book or stories or experts rather than making the mistake....

All the paper work was done as per the my deposits web site so I'm not worried about that.
The original deposits are always insured on the day I receive them, and this case is no different.
Hmmm, Martin....how wonderful to be able to read a book and know everything about a subject! You lucky thing! Most people have to study a subject at school, college etc and then work in that specialist department, say, like a managing agent might, and, to really understand a job, to actually work it in practice, not just theory from books. I think you will find that one mistake is really quite good in over 7 years (over 40 in the family)for an untrained landlord. We are always learning as things happen and although ignorance is no defence, I'd appreciate constructive advice. I've made a mistake, I'm trying to get it sorted with the best advice I can find. Now, if you will excuse me, I have had a very stressful day.

Minor point but you certainly can secure the "same" deposit twice for the same property, with MyDeposits. i regularly do this if one tenant on a joint tenancy leaves, I receive the new deposit from the new incoming tenant, and therefore secure the whole, joint deposit again as soon as the new tenancy has started. Then once I am in a position to repay the departing tenant (usually a few days after)I make the payment and then unsecure the previous deposit from the scheme.

Josie,

Apologies if this is useless but I'm not going to try and give any legal or landlord process advice here as most have done this, I'm simply going to put the possible 'worse case' out comes to you in terms of cash.

Option 1 - Repay deposit (£1000), don't claim damages (£500), potential fine (up to £3000). Potential Loss up to £4500.

Option 2 - Claim damages and repay deposit (£500), potential fine (£3000). Total loss up to £3500.

Obviously there are other outcomes where the fine ranges anywhere from nothing to £3000. But these are the worst case on 2 options, claim damages or don't.

Personally I would do as advised by others and get paperwork in order and go for option 2, claim for damages, you're going to be at least £1000 better off, the stress factor probably won't change so like you say learn and move on but at least to try to limit your potential cash loss in the process.

Hi Mal, sorry to have to correct you but it doesn't work like that. The maximum award is the deposit plus 3 three times the deposit as a fine. Worst case scenario therefore can only be £4,000 plus the cost of any damages unclaimed or not awarded at adjudication whichever way you look at it in this case.

Arh yes, my bad.

Apologies all.

At least I was correct in stating that my post was useless.

All I can now offer is, still go for option 2 and 'Best of Luck'

I'm sure Andy @ 16.04 15/03/13 is absolutely right.

Where in the legislation is there a requirement to go through the process of re-protecting an existing deposit, be it at the time of a rollover onto a periodic tenancy or even if the tenant signs a new tenancy agreement, which merely constitutes a continuation of the original agreement?

The relevance is "...from the time when it (the deposit) is received....."

The Housing Act 2004 legislation states,
"S213 Requirements relating to tenancy deposits.
(1)Any tenancy deposit paid to a person in connection with a shorthold tenancy must, as from the time when it is received, be dealt with in accordance with an authorised scheme."

So a renewal of the tenancy agreement isn't mentioned in respect of protecting a deposit because that is not the time the deposit is being received.

As far as I can see there appears to be a lot of scare mongering going on and as long as Josie complied with Section 213 when she initially received the deposit or before 6th May 2012 she has got nothing to worry about.

If I am incorrect please point me to the proper legislation and not unqualified opinion on how the legislation may be construed in a Court and let's clear this up once and for all because this affects all of us.

In view of this Josie you should not return any deposit money before seeking proper legal advice.