LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

[bluezulu]

Re: LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

Hi Tigs, I don't think that you need to amend your particulars. In view of the landlord's conduct, I would bet that you would be awarded the maximum penalty anyway.

If the landlord foolishly defends the claim, you will have 14 days to reply to her defence and submit any additional evidence.

[Tigs]

Re: LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

Because you paid your deposit before the Localism Act amendments came into force on 6 April 2012, your landlord should have protected your deposit and provided the PI within 14 days, not the extended 30 days, post-Localism. If she did neither, you are entitled to an award of 3 times the deposit, rather than the discretionary 1-3 times post-Localism, in addition to your full deposit being returned.

You may find this guide helpful, which was produced to assist students in claiming the penalty:

http://www.unipol.org.uk/getmedia/1e...k-Web.pdf.aspx

Her 'Without Prejudice' correspondence is not afforded privileged status (unless it was in direct response to a letter from you marked 'Without Prejudice), as it makes no offer to settle, so you could use this as evidence of her failure to comply with CPR PD pre-action conduct, which could increase her costs.

Thank you very much Bluezulu, firstly for reading my post and secondly, those of fellow contributors. I have taken all your comments on board. It seems I have to make an 'Application' to amend the Particulars of Claim. I have already made an Application for inadvertently missing out the second defendant - that Application was granted by the Judge, and papers have been served on the arrogant and aggressive LL. I would be grateful for any further steer from you please.

Thank you also for the link - I wish I had seen this earlier. I am now doing a comparative read across with my PoC which has already been served.

[bluezulu]

Re: LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

Because you paid your deposit before the Localism Act amendments came into force on 6 April 2012, your landlord should have protected your deposit and provided the PI within 14 days, not the extended 30 days, post-Localism. The Act also gave landlords an additional period of grace to protect within 30 days of 6 April 2012 and not get hit by their failures up to that date.

You may find this guide helpful, which was produced to assist students in claiming the penalty:

http://www.unipol.org.uk/getmedia/1e...k-Web.pdf.aspx

Her 'Without Prejudice' correspondence is not afforded privileged status (unless it was in direct response to a letter from you marked 'Without Prejudice), as it makes no offer to settle, so you could use this as evidence of her failure to comply with CPR PD pre-action conduct, which could increase her costs.

[CLL1]

Re: LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

Part 56 CPR specifically covers claims made under section 214 Housing Act 2004 (which yours will be). Landlord and tenant claims are defined in that rule to include claims made under section 214 HA 2004.

Practice Direction 56.2 provides that the claimant in a landlord and tenant claim must use the Part 8 procedure as modified by Part 56 and this practice direction.

You can include your disrepair claim in this, and if the judge sees fit, has the power to move the claim to the Part 7 route if necessary.

Do you still want me to draft the claim form and particulars? I'm happy to share a general template for the benefit of forums users in the same or similar situation.

[Tigs]

Re: LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

Thank you all for your willingness to help me. To answer CLL1's question, I paid the deposit into stages - on the date of the viewing (but I cannot remember this date, I have an undated receipt) I paid the LL £100, following which I paid the balance of £1250 on 26/05/11 which was inclusive of £625 rent for July 2011 (Summary breakdown: deposit - £725; July rent - £625). I have receipts for both payments. I need to include the disrepair within the claim, perhaps under performance?

Here is the content of the letter before action sent on Saturday 2 April 2016 by first class recorded post. This letter is modified from template which I found on the shelter website). I know that the letter was received and I have a copy of the signature.

NB: There is a clause in the Tenancy Agreement which requires the LL to protect the deposit etc, but clearly the LL breached her own Tenancy Agreement.

I would be most grateful for any help you can offerwith regards to framing the particulars of claim please.

LETTER BEFORE ACTION: FAILURE TO PROTECT MY TENANCY DEPOSIT IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 213 OF THE HOUSING ACT 2004.

As you are aware, I am under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement (hereafter referred to as the Agreement) at your property located at the above mentioned address. I confirm we signed the Agreement on 26 May 2011 and I took occupancy of your property from 01 July 2011 to date.

On 26 May 2011, I paid you £1250 and prior to this I paid you £100 - bringing the total amount paid to you to £1350, of which £625 was advance payment for July 2011 rent. This left the sum of £725 which you held back as deposit. I confirm that I took up the tenancy from 26 June 2011, but physically moved into the property on 1 July 2011.

Section 213 of the Housing Act 2004 requires that you protect my deposit with a government-backed scheme within 30 days of the payment of my deposit. You are also required to provide me with details of the scheme you have used along with certain prescribed information.

It appears to me that you have failed to:
(a) protect my deposit with a government-backed scheme.
(b) protect my deposit within the requisite 30 days of the payment of my deposit.
(c) provide me with the prescribed information about the tenancy deposit scheme you used, within the required 30 days of the payment of my deposit.

Section 214 of the Housing Act 2004 provides that, where the court is satisfied that you failed to comply with your obligations under the law relating to tenancy deposit protection, it must order that you pay me up to three times the amount of the deposit paid.
I will also be asking the court to order that you pay my deposit into a custodial tenancy deposit protection scheme.

I hope it is not unreasonable to let you know that I am open to reasonable offers in order to settle this matter.

If I do not receive payment of an agreed amount being the penalty for failing to comply with your legal obligations or a substantial response from you by 21 April 2016, I will issue Court proceedings in the County Court without further notice or delay.

I will also be asking for an order to cover my costs, in accordance with Court rules and regulations.

I will be relying on the Court’s Civil Procedure Rules Practice Direction: Pre-action Conduct. I therefore draw your attention to paragraph 13 concerning the Court's powers to impose sanctions for failure to comply with the Practice Directions, and inform you that ignoring this letter before action may increase your liability for costs.

Disrepair and non-compliance with gas safety requirements
I have previously raised the issue of boiler maintenance, noting that the boiler has not been subject to any annual maintenance and certification as required by law. As you are clearly showing no interest in remedying the situation to which I have previously drawn your attention on several occasions, I have no choice but to seek advice from the Council.

Please note:
(a) Since the boiler broke down, we have endured cold conditions in the house which caused a physical interference with our enjoyment of the property or with our ordinary and lawful enjoyment of the premises.
(b) I have previously made you aware that the boiler was ‘condemned’ on 24 March 2016 due to the danger of carbon monoxide emission which is potentially a lethal situation. We have been without heating for just over a week to date.
(c) The boiler was operating without a gas safety certificate for a number of years when it was your obligation to ensure that a safety check was under taken annually.
(d) No annual gas safety checks were carried out to make sure gas installations in the property were operating safely and that we were living in a safe environment.
(e) No landlord gas safety certificates have been provided to me as the tenant, contrary to the legal requirements.
(f) The boiler, which was an obsolete model, broke down on numerous occasions.
(g) You seemed unconcerned and instead, you focused your attention on how much the previous repair cost you.
(h) The boiler operated poorly which affected the heat distribution in the house, causing areas around the windows to be affected by severe mould.
(i) I did not receive any records for electrical safety in the house.
(j) I was not provided with an energy performance certificate at the commencement of the tenancy.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely

[Tigs]

Re: LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

Thank you all for your willingness to help me. To answer CLL1's question, I paid the deposit into stages - on the date of the viewing (but I cannot remember this date, I have an undated receipt) I paid the LL £100, following which I paid the balance of £1250 on 26/05/11 which was inclusive of £625 rent for July 2011 (Summary breakdown: deposit - £725; July rent - £625). I have receipts for both payments. I need to include the disrepair within the claim, perhaps under performance?

Please see the post below:

[wales01man]

Re: LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

Nice LL go for the court case needs taking to task

[Tigs]

Re: LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

Thank you CLL1. I will be looking up all the details you refer to and post them up in the next couple of days.

In the meanwhile, here is the response I have received from the LL today with reference to the 'Letter before Action'
The response arrived by e-mail as follows (copy and pasted below). Is this an appropriate use of the 'Without Prejudice' rules?

WITHOUT PREDIJUCE

I am not prepared to enter into your pettiness…clearly you have a lot of time on your hands hence the longpointless letter. Iwill not be replying to your letter unless there is something else wrong with the house youlive in.

Yours faithfully

[CLL1]

Re: LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

I'm happy to take failing to protect & no PI (prescribed info).

Just need date deposit paid, amount, and to whom (i.e. your landlord or his agent).

[Tigs]

Re: LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

Thank you Crazy council, so very much.

[Crazy council]

Re: LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

Hi

Give your LL this week to respond, and if not, , just start the claim, will help you through the application when u do it

[Kati]

Re: LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

tagging [MENTION=80091]CLL1[/MENTION] and [MENTION=15129]Crazy council[/MENTION] xx

[Tigs]

Re: LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

CLL1, Crazy council and other Forum members - I am seeking for help please with setting out a 'particulars of claim' in relation to 'deposit not protected; deposit not protected within the specified time frame; no prescribed information served on me; disrepair' - I wanted to ask if any Forum members might provide me with some steer or a working framework please.

With many thanks.

[Tigs]

Re: LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

Massive thanks to both CLL1 and Crazy council. I appreciate your views, steer and your time. I sent the LL a recorded letter last Saturday 3 April 2016, a letter (signed for) requesting that the LL deposits my 'deposit' into a scheme within 14-days.

To answer Crazy council's query, yes - the LL can well afford the repairs easily, which are essential in nature, namely, an obsolete boiler which needs replacing, and has since been condemned for potential carbon monoxide (CO) emission. I have been without heating for several weeks since.

I am sorry I forgot to add that I sought advice at the council's housing department and one of their inspectors came over and found other issues that need to be put right by the LL. The council officer then sent an e-mail to the LL (copied to me) giving the LL until 12/04/2016 to resolve the boiler and heating issues.

[CLL1]

Re: LL did not protect deposit for just under 4-years: What is my way forward please?

Hi

The posters before me an here ( [MENTION=80091]CLL1[/MENTION] ) have advised you the right way to act at this stage ( write a letter, detailing all required repairs and requesting the deposit receipt ) . Also, do you think your LL can not afford the required repairs, or just not doing them ( we all have finances to juggle in some way ). Am asking that only to see if there is a way forward, usually in this type of situation, your better off starting to look for a new property.

There are 2 options i think for the LL, immediately pay the deposit back to the tenant, or pay it into a scheme. Its only if these are not done upon notification, that you can take further action.

T can still sue even if deposit returned or protected. The point is, it was never protected within the required timeframe. Deposit must be returned to serve s21 properly, though.