UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi, I am after some advice.....we have tenants who vacated one of our properties back in July leaving it in a bit of state - dirty walls and carpets, rubbish including furniture and clothes they didnt want left in roosm, nothing done to the garden in over 6 months, broken bottles on the patio etc etc.  My husband and I cleaned the property from top to bottom and had to pay to get the furniture and rubbish removed (it tool over the drive!).  The tenants had paid a 1200 deposit to the agent who neglected to put with a deposit protection scheme.  Once we discovered this we deposited the money and registered the tenants with the DPS.  We then followed the DPS process to claim around 50% of the deposit back, the tenants obviosuly want the full amount.  We have been going backwards and forward with the DPS and have recently started to involve the independent advisory board to provide an impartial view on this and make a decision once and for all.  In the meantime the tenants have written a letter threatening to start court proceedings if we dont respond to their demands of a full refund within 14 days.  Where do we stand.  We are following the proper process via the DPS in the meantime the tenants are refunsing to communicate with the DPS and are threatening court action.  Any help and thoughts from others in a similr situation would be appreciated

Where is the £1200 that was originally paid to the agents?
was the money you paid to the DPS the same money? and was it paid after they left or before?
did you take photos of all the rubbish and mess left at the property?

did they give correct period of notice when leaving the property?

what have the agents done about it?

there are lots of questions that we need answering before we give you help!!

what have the DPS said about it all?

if the tenant is refusing to talk to the DPS then they are very unlikely to get anywhere with court action!

Yes the 1200 paid to the dps was the same that was given to agent. It was logged at the end of the tenancy when the mistake was discovered. The tenants have notice and left of their own accord we did not ask them to leave.
The agent is a waste if time and no help at all (not many are)
Yes we have lots of photos copies of which are with the DPS as part of the adjudication process we are going through.
Dps advised I email tenants and explain the process, ie they need to accept part payment of deposit and dispute the remaining amount rather than continually requesting full amount (they said this would get us no where). Dps confirmed tenants had made no contact I asked if they could email them but they said it was up to me.
The tenants left in July, we kept going back and forth with emails and claims and counter claims on the dps site. On 14th oct I emailed tenants trying to get things resolved. I have heard nothing from them until now when they are threatening court action in 14 days.
Not only did they leave the property in a mess, they were still living in it 2 days after the end of their tenancy, they were shocked to find us cleaning the house when they returned from the shops!! They also wanted to retain keys until we refunded deposit (they said it was the law). They never signed the inventory but had it pinned on the notice board. And we have confirmation from the neighbors that there was up 2 6 people living in the house at some times even though it was only let to 3 named tenants. The additional people where believed to be their boyfriends.

OK so you have received £600 for the cleaning and mess? from the DPS.

obviously that would cover your cleaning etc.

just write to the tenants by recorded delivery and tell them the remainder of their deposit is with the dps and they need to contact them in order to get it back.

if they dont then leave it. its doubtful if they can afford £500 for a solicitor just to get £600 and a judge wont be very impressed if you have done everything you can and they still take action. ie call their bluff!

leave it for a couple of months and then if they still havent claimed it take it yourselves!

I have a similar problem to this...please help!
I am new to letting and overlooked placing deposit in DPS due to children being in hospital and one thing....anyway tenants have none stop complained and are moving out at some point however have not given me notice in writing only a text to say they think they're going. I received a letter this morning claimed there deposit back + x 3 - shock horror. I have placed deposit straight in scheme on realising error. I don't know formally when they intend on leaving and can they do this? They have already filled a court form for me to see. Makes me sick as I bent over backwards for them and only let them rent as they had a disabled child and they were desperate as neither tenants work!

Lord Landy - thanks for your replies, it is getting worse

No I have not received £600 for the cleaning and mess from the DPS.  I did write to the tenants via recorded delivery re-staing why we want to retain some of their deposit.

Tenants wont agree to it after we submitted a single claim.  They are refusing to partake in Alternative Dispute Resolution Service and insisting on court action. The status of the deposit with the DPS is now 'Suspended' and we have received an email from the DPS saying they will release the deposit based on the courts decision (their procedure apparently)

Tenants are taking us to court over the fact the deposit was not paid into the DPS on time, something we did not know, the Agent did not pay into the scheme.  They are ignoring any discussions regarding damage done the the property.  My biggest concern now is the fact I live in Australia and wont be able to return to the UK to defend myself in court over this mess.  I am not sure where we stand legally.  Do we have to attend a small claims court?  Can we send a solicitor on our behalf?  They whole process appears to be driven by responses by certain times which may pose a problem when sending mail half way across the world (even if it is express delivery).  Will we really be fined for this accidental mistake?  Does anyone have any experiences similar to this, what was the result?

Maybe this was already said and I didnt notice but if the deposit was paid to the agent not you then the agent is to blame. If the agent was responsible and did not act then they are the people to take to court. Surely the argument is more over the deposit being returned rather than where it was kept? The deposit would have been gladly returned if the house had been returned in a good re lettable state. Do have have a relative or friend over here who can print off and post a letter?

I know of a family who this happened to they used a managing agent they never put there deposit in, they gave all correct notices and when they left etc however the property was left in a mess garden overgrown etc cost £800 to get sorted!

They did the same kept the deposit to pay for clear up they came unstuck and was fined 3 x deposit over £2500 for not putting the deposit with DPS I would give them there £600 and hope that's the end of it stop fighting it and learn by it it would cost you more than £600 to get a solicitor etc