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Submitted N208 Claim For Deposit Non-Protection


kaladorm

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HOLA441
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1
HOLA442

BTW I've already left the property. I want my deposit back - all of it. I was a good tenant. Should I write him a letter offering a peaceful life if he pays up or take him straight to court.

Does anyone know where to submit the N208 and how much will it cost me?

Here is a copy of the letter I'm submitting with N208, the format I knicked from here but I have altered it.

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HOLA443

BTW I've already left the property. I want my deposit back - all of it. I was a good tenant. Should I write him a letter offering a peaceful life if he pays up or take him straight to court.

Does anyone know where to submit the N208 and how much will it cost me?

Here is a copy of the letter I'm submitting with N208, the format I knicked from here but I have altered it.

This is it.

I wish to make a claim under the Housing Act 2004 section 214(1)(a) that the deposit of £525 as required under law for the Assured Shorthold Tenancy for 'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxJ' was not paid in to an appropriate tenancy deposit scheme (in accordance with section 213 (1) of the Housing Act 2004) or that ‘I’ the applicant did not received the prescribed information concerning which Tenancy Deposit Scheme was to hold the deposit, within 30 days of the defendants receipt of the deposit (in accordance with section 213 (3) of the Housing Act 2004).

Although the tenancy has ended as of the 25th of January 2013 under the localism act 2011 a tenant can still pursue his landlord for the return of the deposit in full, this is a revision of the Housing Act 2004 and came into force in April 2011.

1) The applicant asks that the court makes an order in accordance with the Housing Act 2004 section 214 (3) which states the following;

(a) "order the person who appears to the court to be holding the deposit to repay it to the applicant in full"

A total of (£525 not £450 as was paid)

And I understand that the Court Must also do the following;

2) The applicant asks that the court makes an order in accordance with the Housing Act 2004. Section 214 (4) which states the following;

"The court must also order the landlord (by way of penalty) to pay to the applicant a sum of money equal to one to three times the amount of the deposit within the period of 14 days beginning with the date of the making of the order ‘the amount being subject to the judge’s discretion’ but no less than one month’s deposit as prescribed under law.”

A total of (£525 x 1 to 3 original deposit amount)

I am therefore seeking payment of (£525-£450 = £75 + X1-3 Deposit), court fee and [interest at 8% per annum if the situation is not resolved inside 3 months of this claim]. A minimum therefore of £600 and a maximum of £1650 + applicable court costs.

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HOLA444
4
HOLA445

I've filled out my N208 because landlord is an idiot. I'm a bit worried because my Agreed Shorthold Tenancy ran out over a year ago, my assumption is that I went onto a periodic but have no paperwork that says this. Will this make any difference in court?

There is no paperwork with a statutory periodic tenancy. That's the whole point of it.

Doesn't make a difference to your claim.

BTW I've already left the property. I want my deposit back - all of it. I was a good tenant. Should I write him a letter offering a peaceful life if he pays up or take him straight to court.

I'd send a "letter before action" to the landlord. Give him say 7 or 14 days to return the deposit or say you'll be forced to make a claim.

The size of the fine is now at the discretion of the judge and they like attempts at reasonable settlement before bothering them...

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HOLA446
  • 2 weeks later...
6
HOLA447

This is it.

I wish to make a claim under the Housing Act 2004 section 214(1)(a) that the deposit of £525 as required under law for the Assured Shorthold Tenancy for '8 Lumsden Mansions, Shirley Road, Shirley, Southampton, Hant, SO15 5BJ' was not paid in to an appropriate tenancy deposit scheme (in accordance with section 213 (1) of the Housing Act 2004) or that ‘I’ the applicant did not received the prescribed information concerning which Tenancy Deposit Scheme was to hold the deposit, within 30 days of the defendants receipt of the deposit (in accordance with section 213 (3) of the Housing Act 2004).

Although the tenancy has ended as of the 25th of January 2013 under the localism act 2011 a tenant can still pursue his landlord for the return of the deposit in full, this is a revision of the Housing Act 2004 and came into force in April 2011.

1) The applicant asks that the court makes an order in accordance with the Housing Act 2004 section 214 (3) which states the following;

(a) "order the person who appears to the court to be holding the deposit to repay it to the applicant in full"

A total of (£525 not £450 as was paid)

And I understand that the Court Must also do the following;

2) The applicant asks that the court makes an order in accordance with the Housing Act 2004. Section 214 (4) which states the following;

"The court must also order the landlord (by way of penalty) to pay to the applicant a sum of money equal to one to three times the amount of the deposit within the period of 14 days beginning with the date of the making of the order ‘the amount being subject to the judge’s discretion’ but no less than one month’s deposit as prescribed under law.”

A total of (£525 x 1 to 3 original deposit amount)

I am therefore seeking payment of (£525-£450 = £75 + X1-3 Deposit), court fee and [interest at 8% per annum if the situation is not resolved inside 3 months of this claim]. A minimum therefore of £600 and a maximum of £1650 + applicable court costs.

Delivered last Saturday, waiting to hear.

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HOLA448
8
HOLA449

He's produced a deposit protection certificate, I'm toast!

Not necessarily, he had to provide you proof within 30 days and failed to, wil also be interesting to see the deposit protection date as possibly that could impact things. The rules were changed recently so I wouldn't say it's game over, although it might be

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  • 2 months later...
9
HOLA4410

Hello there

We moved into our house on 30th March last year, and had agreed we would pay our deposit incrementally, with the last payment being 11th August last year. The total amount was £1900 deposit.

This year, the landlord wanted to increase our rent from £950 to £1250, so I told him to forget it, and handed in my notice to terminate my tenancy. I have asked him several times to secure the deposit, via the estate agent. I was constantly fobbed off saying it would be done soon.

So yesterday, I contacted the estate agent saying that I had been in touch with all 3 deposit agencies (I know there are 4 now, but there were only 3 when he should have secured it) and had been advised it wasn't secure.

He finally told me that in the end, the landlord held the money, and that I would get it back within 10-14 days of leaving the property.

I requested he return it immediately, reminding him of the legal consequences, including the fine of 1-3 times the deposit. He point blank refused and said I would have to wait until after we move out.

I was advised by shelter that the best course of action would be to fill in an N208 and start proceedings that way. I was also advised that even if he did return the deposit, I could still take him to court for non compliance.

So I have a couple of questions really.

1) Does the fact that the deposit was paid over half a year affect this?

2) Can I still claim for non-compliance if he returns the deposit after I leave?

3) If I do start proceedings with an N208, what are the real costs for the hearing? I've read a lot of conflicting information regarding this on this internet.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

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  • 1 month later...
10
HOLA4411

Hello there

We moved into our house on 30th March last year, and had agreed we would pay our deposit incrementally, with the last payment being 11th August last year. The total amount was £1900 deposit.

This year, the landlord wanted to increase our rent from £950 to £1250, so I told him to forget it, and handed in my notice to terminate my tenancy. I have asked him several times to secure the deposit, via the estate agent. I was constantly fobbed off saying it would be done soon.

So yesterday, I contacted the estate agent saying that I had been in touch with all 3 deposit agencies (I know there are 4 now, but there were only 3 when he should have secured it) and had been advised it wasn't secure.

He finally told me that in the end, the landlord held the money, and that I would get it back within 10-14 days of leaving the property.

I requested he return it immediately, reminding him of the legal consequences, including the fine of 1-3 times the deposit. He point blank refused and said I would have to wait until after we move out.

I was advised by shelter that the best course of action would be to fill in an N208 and start proceedings that way. I was also advised that even if he did return the deposit, I could still take him to court for non compliance.

So I have a couple of questions really.

1) Does the fact that the deposit was paid over half a year affect this?

2) Can I still claim for non-compliance if he returns the deposit after I leave?

3) If I do start proceedings with an N208, what are the real costs for the hearing? I've read a lot of conflicting information regarding this on this internet.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

My understanding:

1. No it shouldn't matter, though you'll need records to show it has been paid (when and how much)

2. Some time ago you could, there was a case where it was ruled that you couldn't however. If you get your deposit back I wouldn't risk it and try to claim anyway.

3. The submission fee a few years ago was around £220 or so. It may have gone up since then but it's around that number and that's about it. If unsuccessful you could be responsible for legal fees of the landlord - these are expected to be reasonable for a small claims court but could still be costly. If successful the judgement will include your costs as well as basic interest from the time the deposit was due back.

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  • 1 year later...
11
HOLA4412

Hi,

I'm new to these forums, but since having trouble with our ex-landlords I've decided to register and update on my claim.

We moved in to a place through a lettings agency but they specifically said that all deposit handling and other issues were to go through the landlords. The difficulty was that the landlords lived out of the country, however thankfully the contract said notice could be served to them at the letting agents address.

The place was fine, though not perfect by any means, and a number of issues we had to fix ourselves (such as a leaking tap and broken bed) because the landlord was unresponsive. Upon moving out the landlord told us they would be charging £700 of the deposit for damages, a ridiculous amount, and refused to provide evidence or an itemised list with costs. Especially as one of them was for an overgrown garden, despite the fact that the landlord didn't check out the house for 3 weeks after we moved (and this June has been pretty hot!).

It then turns out that the deposit was not protected at all. Despite the contract (signed by them) stating it would be protected and a letter from the letting agent saying they had agreed to protect it in such a scheme, it turns out its been held in their bank account.

Because there was no option of going through the TDS dispute service, and as it seemed like the quickest and safest option of getting our deposit back, we decided to fle a claim.

Using the wording from: http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=65430, I submitted a claim against them citing the Housing Act 2004 (sec 214). I also submitted:

Copies of emails from all 3 TDS stating that no deposit was held.

Copies of emails from landlord confirming deposit was in their bank account

Copy of tenancy agreement stating deposit would be held in a TDS

Copy of tenancy agreement stating notices could be served at the letting agents address

Copy of confirmation form letting agent saying that landlord had informed them they would be putting it into a TDS

I've just received notice this morning that the hearing at county court will be on the 9th August. I'll update with what happens, can anyone provide any advice on how these things go, what I need to prepare etc?

How did the claim go? I'm in the same situation...

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  • 1 year later...
12
HOLA4413
13
HOLA4414

So we had our hearing today and were successful in claiming our full deposit + 3xdeposit + court fees + costs.

Our landlady had issued a cheque for the deposit which arrived shortly before the hearing. There wasn't time for the cheque to clear (given the trustworthiness of our landlady!) and so we went through with the hearing. I was concerned the judge may find that the deposit had already been returned but he made the order to state that the full deposit must be returned, with credit offered by the claimants for moneys already received. That way if the cheque goes through it has been upheld, if it bounces then we still have a judgment to be enforced

Awesome news! and you were absolutely spot on to go through with the hearing. Of course - it is possible to call a hearing off, but this must always be done through the court such that if the payment doesn't arrive in a timely and complete fashion the court can throw the big heavy book at the defendant while the plaintiff tries hard not to laugh too much.

Nice to see a tiny bit of justice done - such a rarity in the UK rental market every instance should be savored.

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  • 1 year later...
14
HOLA4415

Just doing some research on this - found a post from someone else who did this successfully - posted on a landlord forum of all places, some of them were *not* happy!

https://forums.landlordzone.co.uk/forum/residential-letting-questions/73907-deposit-protection-court-case-won-against-landlord

A casual glance suggests they're not quite as bad as the 118 crowd and indeed some of them were happy for this cautionary tale to be left alone..

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