UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi Forum, I have my first Accelerated Possession Hearing coming up after serving a S21 notice. Tenants have filed a defence stating that tenancy deposit prescribed information was not provided prior to sending S21 notice.

My agent prepared the AST which has the DPS Prescribed Information contained within it which both tenants signed to confirm receipt of. What the AST didn't include was the Terms and Conditions that we have to give along with the prescribed information.

I then provided the Deposit Protection Certificate, Prescribed Info (with T & C's) within 30 days of receiving the deposit which have all been signed and dated by tenants.

Their defence is that even though they have signed the documents, they claim they weren't given them. 

I'm not sure how to 'prove' to the Judge that the documents were given to the tenants as I didn't have a witness with me. I normally print two copies of the documents/notices and give one copy to the tenant and ask them to sign my copy.

Would welcome any advice/thoughts on this as deliberating on whether to appoint a solicitor or not.

Thanks

Rick

I am not a fan of the PI within the Tenancy agreement as it is prone to errors and because it can't attest to the protection being done if at the time of signature the protection was not in place at that moment in time. 

However, if it has been included as an addendum of the Tenancy that they signed and ideally includes the reference number (which is not part of the PI) then it is solid at showing it was in place at the time.

Even then you have a belt n braces approach, you included the PI in the Tenancy Agreement and also served them with the certificate, scheme rules and PI within 30 days.

The information it should include is shown at the link below

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/797/article/2/made


I am not clear whether you mean they are saying you did not give them a copy of the Tenancy Agreement to keep after they signed it, but I am sure that someone as organised as you seem to be would have either had them sign two copies, one for them and one for you?

If you had emailed them a copy days before to allow them time to consider the terms therein then so much the better.

Denying PI is very common but they have to prove a negative while you allege two occurrences of service and have paper to prove it vs their word.

In the absence of evidence you seem to have, a  Judge has to first decide who they believe based on all other factors and then decide that in the balance of probability who is right or telling the truth.

There are tricks that both sides try and I have ways to show them up when I see the bundle.

Unless your Tenant is in an HMO and has Witness Statements from say 2 other Tenants in the same building who all say you never gave them a copy of Tenancy Agreement to keep or sent their PI to them either, then I can't see your Tenant winning this argument.

We used to get a lot of Tenants arguing that the Landlord had signed the PI but Tenant had not, such defences fell flat because the legislation only says you have to give them an opportunity to sign not force them to sign.

In your evidence you need to be explicit about the day you sent it, ideally look in your messages to see if they confirmed receipt of it.  Also don't use the word "normally", say something like "I am a stickler for detail and I always print two copies of everything.

Check your WhatsApp or iMessaging for the period in time, they may have incriminated themselves, referred to a term in the Tenancy for a repair, alternatively if the Tenancy Fixed term ended and they remained in the property they may have said something about it expiring on a given day. 

If you know for sure that they are on benefits, one can also fire off an email to the Job Centre Plus DWP asking "Do they have a copy of the Tenancy Agreement or do they need you to send them one", saying nothing else.  This would probably confuse them and they might reply that they have one on file and were given it by the Tenant. 

Obviously it only works if you know for sure that they are on benefits and claiming housing benefit, it is more fruitful explaining why.

Although in theory you could do a subject access request and ask for any data they have relating to you and the address that includes your personal information, including your signature, but that can take 30 days.

Personally I like to have them sign a document saying they received each document as well as signing the document itself.  I am a fan of taking the deposit early, protecting it immediately and giving them PI and documents which they must sign before you give them the key to the property.  It is also a good time to do the property inspection and work through the Inventory Checklist.

As I said, you appear to have a belt n braces approach, so I am confident you will get your possession order.

Quote from: dj0745 on November 04, 2024, 11:51:01 AMHi Forum, I have my first Accelerated Possession Hearing coming up after serving a S21 notice. Tenants have filed a defence stating that tenancy deposit prescribed information was not provided prior to sending S21 notice.

My agent prepared the AST which has the DPS Prescribed Information contained within it which both tenants signed to confirm receipt of. What the AST didn't include was the Terms and Conditions that we have to give along with the prescribed information.

I then provided the Deposit Protection Certificate, Prescribed Info (with T & C's) within 30 days of receiving the deposit which have all been signed and dated by tenants.

Their defence is that even though they have signed the documents, they claim they weren't given them. 

I'm not sure how to 'prove' to the Judge that the documents were given to the tenants as I didn't have a witness with me. I normally print two copies of the documents/notices and give one copy to the tenant and ask them to sign my copy.

Would welcome any advice/thoughts on this as deliberating on whether to appoint a solicitor or not.

Thanks

Rick