UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi Guys & Gals

Can you help me,  I am in a pickle!
My tenant has provided me with 1 day notice she is leaving and then she said she wants her deposit back as well. 
I am pretty annoyed to say the least about the 1 day notice.  She has been good tenant stayed in the house for 5 years.
I am not keen to give her, her deposit back but here is (she had a rent agreement when she moved not been renewed but I thought you never needed to do that anyway, the terms just continue as they are...am I wrong)
Her money is not in a deposit protection scheme.
OH and I have still to see the house (in terms of what order it is in)

Your thought, thanks Sue

Normally, a Tenant must give at least 1 months notice in a Statutory Periodic Tenancy - which I will assume you have.

I think you know this, but... any deposit you took should have been protected in a scheme. If you have not done this you have broken the law. You can be sued for 1x to 3x the deposit amount. If sued, you would not win the case brought against you. Let's just hope if you allow the Tenant to go, unmolested (as it were), that they still don't bring a case against you... which they would still win.

Best to cut your losses... let the Tenant go and focus your efforts on finding a new Tenant, and protect any deposit received this time!

The alternative is not very palatable... you could say to the Tenant that they are liable for rent up until a certain date and they could kick-off, they could do a bit of research into the deposit angle and uncover the fact that you have not done things correctly, then they could use that information to offset the issue about them leaving 'early'... or they could think "ker-ching! it's my payday" and take you all the way to Court - if you had a fixed term AST at some point which then became a SPT, that is effectively two separate tenancies and the penalty could be twice.

Just be careful... let this one go as easily as possible and hope things don't come back to bite you. Consider that you must have had many thousands of Pounds from this Tenant over the 5 years - thank her genuinely, tell her she can always have a reference from you, and wish her well for the future.

On the other hand, if you're up for a scrap...

On the deposit angle, you actually have no right to it - it's the Tenant's money. It seems you have kept hold of it for 5 years - filling your coffers  - which you should not have been doing, really.

Of course, you could inspect the house and hopefully come to an agreement both of you are happy with. However, if you just unilaterally decide to keep all of it or some of it and the Tenant disagrees then, again, they'd win getting it all back from you... and more! It's up to you if you decide to bluff your way through this... only you know how savvy or argumentative the Tenant in question is.

Quote from: sue123 on November 11, 2014, 10:30:43 AM

Her money is not in a deposit protection scheme.

I love the way you say this like it was optional and an option that you decided not to take.

Either way your not going to loose anything.

Go and do the inspection, if its all okay, then give her her money back. If its a mess, then give her the chance to clean it up, offering to take money out ofthe additional months rent she paid up front to cover it. You cant of taken a deposit you see as you didn't protect it.

Dont worry about it, but dont get arsey with her, as the law is on her side regarding the deposit.

If you can get her to sign for the return of the additional months rent taken when she took the lease then great, it might cover your arse ( it wont, but its worth a try!)

Good luck, be nice, it will be better in the long term. Type up a nice reference, and give it to her, imply if she plays nice you might see fit to send out more like it!

Agree with Hippogriff. Unfortunately, as the saying goes, you don't have a leg to stand on as the deposit was unregistered. I personally would just give her her deposit back and move on. Just don't give a reference! Lol! Think about it this way... at least she didn't stay forever, have to be evicted, and trash the place in the meantime! Obviously she is either incredibly arrogant and self-serving to do this or very screwed up so you are lucky to be free of this!