UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi
we have a tenant that was in serious arrears for the first 5 months of his tenancy due to not "bothering" to go and get his Housing Benefit sorted.  A deposit was taken at the start of the tenancy but never secured as the landlord wanted to pay it against the arrears.  It is now 12 months since the deposit was taken it has never been put through to a protected scheme and we haven't taken it against rent as there has always been a grey area as the deposit was taken against arrears

we want this tenant out due to the damage they have done at the property and also the fact that there are these massive arrears

any ideas?

Im not sure from who's name you speak - the letting agent / agency or the landlord, but it doesn't really matter. As for the answer:

In short - yes you can evict the tenant easily. No, you most likely can't recover too much of the money you're owed.

In long -

The landlord is liable before the court for 1x + 1-3x the deposit sum for failing to protect it in a government authorised scheme and / or failing to provide all relevant information to the tenant in a 30 day period from receiving the sum of the bond.

The above regulation is not disputable and not bendable by any factor or situation. That is that. If the tenant wants to sue in court you can bet he'll get 1x the deposit money. In theory he can get even more, but in your case the judge won't be very pleased by the tenant's behaviour.

Aside from that, you can still claim before the courts for damages to the property and rent arrears. I hope the landlord at least managed to make an inventory report at the beginning of the tenancy as to now prove that damages are in fact sustained. If not, then you will have a really hard time claiming anything, but the arrears from the tenant. They should be pretty easy to sue for and obtain.

As for getting rid of the tenant, you can't serve a Notice 21 eviction, because you failed to protect  the deposit. However, since it's 12 months after the tenancy began, it should be the end of the fixed tenancy agreement or even past it. In both cases you can inform the tenant of your decision and give them the proper "notice seeking possession" stating the reason for eviction - in your case rent arrears works perfectly.

Should they fail to move out in the proper deadline, you can claim possession though court and use bailiffs if it ever goes that far...
Hope that helps.

Best regards,
Bob Tenant @ Bob's Tenancy Cleaning London.

Quote from: pemcdonald24 on January 20, 2015, 12:47:44 PMA deposit was taken at the start of the tenancy but never secured as the landlord wanted to pay it against the arrears.  It is now 12 months since the deposit was taken it has never been put through to a protected scheme and we haven't taken it against rent as there has always been a grey area as the deposit was taken against arrears

These sentences do not make sense to me.

A deposit was taken at the start of the tenancy. It wasn't protected because the Landlord wanted to use it against arrears. What arrears would have existed at the start of the tenancy, surely none?

It's now 12 months on and the deposit wasn't actually used against rent (arrears or otherwise) it's just... well, where is it? Somewhere, right?

Wanting the Tenant out is all well and good, but it sounds like things will need to be corrected regarding the deposit before you can serve a valid Section 21, for example. Other means, Section 8, do not rely on this, but it seems like you (or the Landlord?) are open to being sued for not protecting the deposit, regardless, so you may want to tread carefully.

Your original text makes it seem like you or the Landlord (or maybe it was a previous Landlord you've bought a property from?) seemed to think deposit protection was optional, and you just decided not to go that route? I'm sure it only comes across like that. But you do know where you are right now, right?