UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi All
I have been renting a house to a couple for nearly 4 years, they were on a periodic tenancy going from month to month, the rent was due on the 19th of each month but never paid until the end of the month(this was because the girl received her wages at the end of the month) the last rent I received was due on the 19th of Jan and paid on the 30th of Jan no rent was paid in Feb and  on 11th March I received the keys through the post, they had moved out the previous weekend.when I visited the house it was in quite a bad state. There is a deposit protected by DPS and I think my best line of attack is to concentrate on the unpaid rent and lack of notice.the last tenancy agreement they signed states they must give at least 1 months notice.
My question is how many days rent would it be acceptable to claim from the deposit? the very least would be from the 19th of Feb till they moved out on the 9th of March but would it be too much to expect a months rent in leu of a months notice?
Thanks in advance for your help.

Hey, for whats its worth, and i'm only a newbie myself.

I would keep the full deposit, for bad state it was left in, no warning, and unpaid rent, that's three good reasons, as i see it.

Good luck,

Rent should be due from the last date effectively paid to one month after they gave you back the keys.

IMO.

Hi
Thanks for the replies, thats what I had hoped.


Now one more question  as I have  said the deposit  is protected by DPS and I have been reading quite a lot about their  dispute   

resolution service they make it very clear that the deposit is the property of the tenant and that they will only hand it over to the landlord once he proves he

is owed the money by the tenants and that the onus of proof is on the landlord, not on the tenant

but how on earth do I prove I haven't received  any notice from these tenants? to prove you have received something seems quite

straight foreword but to prove you haven't seems near impossible.

what kind of proof would the ajudicator be looking for in this case?

Thanks again.

Proof from you I would say is a sworn statement.

Its then up to them to prove they did give you notice as they are required.

Be careful... the onus of proof / evidence with the DPS ADR usually lies entirely with the Landlord, the claiming party. As you say, it's the Tenant's money, the Landlord now wants some (or all) of it.

Quote from: JUSTME777 on April 14, 2014, 06:27:17 AMI would keep the full deposit, for bad state it was left in, no warning, and unpaid rent, that's three good reasons, as i see it.

Please be careful. The Landlord simply cannot keep the full deposit based on their own decision, no matter how many good reasons you might have. The default position is that the deposit is returned in full, unless there is proof that things like damage has been caused or rent has not been paid and the deposit can be used in place. But if there's a dispute then you can't simply take it, you have to follow a process that most usually favours the Tenants. You may well know all this, but I thought it worth writing just in case not.