Deposit Protection - Misleading info [Page 2]

Superstrike merely confirms what were clear to housing lawyers at the time, that a statutory peirodic tenancy pursuant to s5 of the Housing Act 1988 is a new tenancy from that of the fixed term tenancy. More importantly is the consequence of that that were decided amongst other things.

• Does the protection requirements applies to deposit taken before the law changed - because of wordings from amendments bought in by the Localism Act 2011, yes it does in so far as no valid section 21 notice if not protected, but the 1x-3x penalty wouldn't apply
• What happens when a new tenancy come into existence between the same landlord and tenant - the requirements applies afresh as if the deposit was paid over again even if no actual money changes hand

What the Deregulation Act did

• For a deposit that was originally received before 6 April 2007 when deposit protection came in, if an associated statutory periodic tenancy arose after that date - if the tenancy had ended, tenant can't sue for a penalty; for ongoing tenancy, landlord had 90 days to protect deposit in which case they would be treated as having complied with the requirements all along
• To save the burden on landlord to give PI again when nothing changes, allows the landlord to be deemed in law to have complied with the requirements to give PI if indeed nothing have changed - same landlord, same tenant, same property, deposit continued to be protected by the same scheme

That second part does nothing for a landlord when the deposit was not continuingly being protected under the same scheme, or the landlord had not given PI to the tenant in the preceding tenancy.

Is your hearing even in person, or is it a virtual / phone hearing?

why how does it make a difference ?

Because you can't take copies of a printed document to the hearing with you if it's virtual? 

A witness statement is a statement of fact. Done correctly, it's not supposed to have any opinion, or arguments in it. "I was a tenant of XYZ at ABC ADDRESS. On X/Y/Z, me and XZY agreed on a tenancy from this date to that date, a copy of the tenancy agreement is annexed as Annex A. I paid over a deposit of £XXX via bank transfer. etc. etc. He provided with this document, but at no point did I receive that document. etc. etc."

Proper court procedure. A summary of your legal argument is written out in what's called a skeleton argument. Give the judge and the other side an idea of what you're going to say at the hearing. This is supposed to be exchanged with other side, and copy filed with the court, just ahead of the hearing. Similarly, all documents filed and served, including the claim form, witness statements, skeleton arguments, authorities to be relied on etc. goes into a court bundle. This one is supposed to be agreed between the two sides so everyone work off the same thing. Don't always happen. If your case is in small claims (since you mentioned it's a counterclaim to a money claim from your landlord), the procedure is probably more relaxed. Do some research to see what the procedure are, see if it helps.

Once again, a witness statement is a statement of fact not where you lay out your legal arguments. So you can say something along the line of "to my knowledge the deposit was not protected, which I confirmed with the 3 schemes (see attached letters for their responses)"

I have no idea what a "paginated catalogue" is supposed to be.

There's a difference between what you need to file (and serve to other side), and what you can file and serve. When judges give you directions to do something, you are required to do it, doesn't mean you can't do more (unless ordered not to). Looks like trial bundle falls under you can if you want but not required for cases under small claims track.

yes found out the claim is under 'small claims track' - I was not aware small claims are also heard in county courts..thought they had their own court.

what does 'file' and 'serve' mean - sending the document to court and the claimant....

should I just email the court or should I post to them the printed copies to be accepted for hearing...the directions from the court only says 'file and serve'..

thanks in advance for any insight into this

thanks, the letter from the court simple says 'file and serve' by a 4pm 25th Nov'  and does not specify email or post.

The court had asked previously for documents to be sent electronically for virtual hearing.

and claimant also emailed to say he wants the document via email as he is abroad.

so shall I email both parties ? or should I still print them and send by post - really confused....(pages are less than 50 pages and less than 25MB btw)

thanks again KTC.

the last time they asked for the virtual hearing, hope the same applies this time too..

also I am going to send a PDF version of https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2013/669.html in that email as atachment. Let me know if there is another way.

You need to keep trying to get in contact with the court. There's nothing anyone here can help you with.

Your counterclaim should still stand, but only the court can help you with when the hearing into that will be.

so the options I see are
1) ask court to set aside the order they had made in vacating the hearing - guess I will have to pay further £255
and what happens then - only the counterclaim is heard ?

2) do nothng now and may be issue a fresh claim later (but within 6 years) to get my deposit of 2k back?
if I do this, I believe claimant will counterclaim for the rent arrears ?

Get on the phone and point out there's a counterclaim. It's entirely possible for the court to not realise that. It's also possible for you to have misunderstood and that the claim have been struck out for non-payment, but the hearing into the counterclaim is still due to take place as originally scheduled.

Yes, as it stand, only the counterclaim will be heard. The claimant can apply to have the claim reinstated. Up to the court whether to grant it. The claimant can also possibly just try and make a new claim.

Hi @KTC,

What is the best way to remind court there is a counter-claim in these circumstance ? ( I have emailed courts, but no reply...called but no answer)

also since the claimant did not pay the small claims track trial fee - what happens to all the fees I had to incur so far ?

any advice would be helpful.

ok will do.

so as I understand it, the normal process if claimant does not pay the fee is for counterclaim is survivie as there is one and in this case the courts have failed to see it..correct ?

Mahira,

I am unable to follow your thread properly, but l get the impression you've been waiting for an eMail reply from the county court for about 1 week?

They don't confer with you on the case via eMail, they will write to your registered address instead - just make sure they have your address right.

If you're question is about procedure e.g. if claim hearing is voided, is counterclaim still valid, then l would have expected them to reply via eMail. All l can say is: at least your eMail is a clear record of your interactions. Just make sure your inbox is secure and keep screenshots too.



One thing l'm curious about. The claim hearing was voided because landlord wouldn't pay hearing fees. That is exactly what happened with me when my landlord came at me, wanting to devour my deposit. He let the first Money Claim go to waste, because l feel he just wanted to see my evidence. Your tale bolsters this view. It seems it's a common tactic used by crooked folk who would game the legal system to help them devour the wealth of those with less money and / or less time (e.g. a company swarming a solitary person).

What happened with me was, the landlord soon returned with Money Claim #2, and it was on the exact same matter again, but the text was honed down in line with some of my objections sent in regard to Money Claim #1. So, expect another Money Claim from your landlord?



By the way, Mahira, it's not unreasonable to ask for legal advice on a forum called "Tenant Advice & Help". I don't know why some people make out otherwise. I've only been on this forum for 2 days but l strongly feel there's a few upset landlords here with issues, and they have probably been punished by the legal system.
If the legal system enables you to punish a landlord, and you want to do so, then it's not for some armchair holier-than-thou moderator to chastise you.