UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello, would appreciate any advice.

I have 3 tenants on one AST: A, B, C.
The deposit is under A as the lead tenant with DPS.
All the money goes through A.
B&C were friends. C pays B, B pays A, A pays me.
When B&C moved in, B paid the deposit for B&C to A who paid it to me.
B is leaving and wants their share of the deposit back. B&C have had a dispute over an unrelated matter.
C claims to have paid B their share of the deposit already, B claims this isn't the case. They've both sent screenshots of bank statements and their own versions of the ledger, but at the centre of it is the unrelated matter. Their finances are intertwined and do not clearly differentiate between the unrelated matter and rent/deposit money.

I don't have any desire to be an arbitrer of this, but if A just pays B their initial deposit then C will also claim that money as theirs and the dispute will just transfer to A/me with C.

Thanks for any tips.

My brain's hurting just trying to make sense of it.Gut feeling is leave it to them,keep out of it?

Quote from: heavykarma on May 13, 2018, 07:47:33 AM
My brain's hurting just trying to make sense of it.Gut feeling is leave it to them,keep out of it?

I don't want A (who is ok) to be in a bad place or have C dispute that I owe them a deposit down the line.

This looks like a law exam question 

I suggest you tell them that as lead tenant under the deposit scheme you would need to return any deposit to party A and then A,B and C would be responsible apportioning the returned funds between themselves.

Suggest you get them all to understand/agree and that way extract yourself from this issue.

Best of luck

Dead simple. You don't give a hoot. Not one hoot. You have a Lead Tenant defined - it's A (therefore it's not B, or C). All other matters are between A, B and C. Very simple. Remove yourself from this pickle. Likewise, after B leaves, and B' (or D) enters... let A, B' and C sort it out, or A, D and C. The answer A - all the way.

Did I get it right?

Thanks for the advice. I was hoping they would resolve it between themselves and I wouldn't have to return and re-request the deposit thereafter but it sounds like I'll have to go that route.

You said "A paid you" the Deposit.
Therefore it is pretty simple who you return the Deposit to :-)