UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi, I hope someone can help.
My friend rented a house with his wife. He has now moved out, he has paid his utility bill and is up to date.
His landlady is with holding his deposit £500
On his contract there are no details for a deposit scheme.
I have been digging around and trying to find out information for him.
His landlady does not have permission to rent the house out from the building society.
She does not have landlord insurance.
She has not got a licence to let from Liverpool council.

She will not give him her address and it was not on the contract.
Any help would be great.
Many thanks in advance

There are numerous issues here.

Some of which affect your friend, some of which (to be fair) do not.

Refund of the deposit is the main issue, I'm guessing?

Firstly, confirm that the deposit was not protected by any of the schemes... start here:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/tenancy_deposits/tenancy_deposit_protection_schemes/deposit_protection_and_tenancy_deposit_schemes

If it's possible to confirm that it wasn't protected... well, come back and let us know for sure and we'll offer further input. No point doing that until we know for sure (but we suspect, right?).

She has just confirmed it is not in a deposit scheme.
Thanks for your help.

If the Landlord's physical address is not known, how is communication currently being effected?

Hi, communication is through mobile phone texting.

Thanks

OK, succinctly then, advise the Landlord that it was a legal requirement for them to protect the deposit. As they have not done so the Tenant can claim for 1x to 3x the amount of the deposit from the Court, plus the amount of the deposit as well, possibly via a no-win-no-fee Solicitor, and the chances of the Tenant winning are 100%. There is zero chance of the Landlord winning the case if it is brought. It is irrelevant if the Landlord was ignorant of the law. It is irrelevant if they think part or all of the deposit should be withheld. If no communication is forthcoming then your friend will need to follow this through. I'm assuming that if they received their original deposit back they might be satisfied?

In simplest terms - the minimum the Tenant could be awarded is £1,000, the maximum is £2,000. Costs would be paid by the Landlord, as they would lose the case.

many thanks for your help, I will let you know how it turns out.

 Hi everyone, just to let you know that through texting, my friend managed to get all his deposit back.
However the landlady wanted initially to keep £250 of it, at 9 am in the morning, but by 9 pm in the evening he had it all back
Just by stating she was breaking the law by not putting his deposit into a deposit scheme and his solicitor had advised him to take
her to court for 3 x the deposit etc.
The funny thing is was what she said, 'I've  been a landlady for years and I know my rights' but my friend is very happy and grateful for all your
help. 
Also many thanks from me as well 

Nice.

Now time to put a claim in for 3X the unprotected deposit....................................

Tut-tut.