Tweet
We are currently dealing with my deceased mother-in-laws estate, before she died she was in rented accommodation, we have served notice, emptied and returned possession of the property. The landlord is trying to retain the entire deposit (£855). She has cause to withhold some of it as there is a months rent (£600) outstanding and she claims that a couple of things have not been cleaned to her satisfaction. The MIL also breached the tenancy by smoking n the property, so if I as being kind I say keep the full deposit as it'll take a reasonable amount of cleaning to fully rid the house of any remnants of odour. However she's not been entirely transparent in the proceedings and my partner and her sister are of the opinion that the landlady has exploited their grieving to engineer a situation where she could retain the full deposit.
It was whilst I was looking into our legal position that I learnt about TDP schemes, I've asked the landlady which scheme she used to manage the MILs deposit and it's all gone suspiciously quite. I read that the County court can order it be repaid if it's not been held in a scheme? Would this mean the deposit must be repaid in full in any circumstance? Further to this there is a statement that
"The court may also order you to repay your tenants up to 3 times their original deposit within 14 days of making the order."
What circumstances would lead to this outcome?
We've rung the three main schemes and none of them hold record of the MILs deposit.
It was whilst I was looking into our legal position that I learnt about TDP schemes, I've asked the landlady which scheme she used to manage the MILs deposit and it's all gone suspiciously quite. I read that the County court can order it be repaid if it's not been held in a scheme? Would this mean the deposit must be repaid in full in any circumstance? Further to this there is a statement that
"The court may also order you to repay your tenants up to 3 times their original deposit within 14 days of making the order."
What circumstances would lead to this outcome?
We've rung the three main schemes and none of them hold record of the MILs deposit.
Comment