Category Archives: Deposits

Distinguishing Tiensia

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Gemma Shepley v Majid Yassen, Tameside County Court, Thursday 13th January 2011 (Unreported)

The above case on the, increasingly litigated, tenancy deposit protection provisions was brought to our attention and is of particular interest as it specifically distinguishes itself from the Court of Appeal decision in Tiensia (reported on here).

In this case the tenant was granted a 12 month assured shorthold tenancy in late November 2007. This was renewed for a further 12 months on expiry and then continued on a periodic basis until February 2010 when the tenant vacated the premises and the tenancy came to an end. The tenant was informed that most of their … Read the full post

Tenancy Deposit Protection Eviscerated

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Tiensia v Vision Enterprises Ltd (t/a Universal Estates) [2010] EWCA Civ 1224 (11 November 2010)

This is the long awaited Court of Appeal decision on tenancy deposit protection. It is a conjoined appeal of Universal Estates v Tiensia and Honeysuckle Properties v Fletcher.

The facts of the two cases are very similar. In both cases the landlord had issued proceedings for possession for arrears of rent. The tenants had in both cases counterclaimed on the basis that the deposit was unprotected and the landlords had then put the deposits into the scheme operated by Tenancy Deposit Solutions Ltd (trading as MyDeposits) prior to the hearing of the tenant’s claim … Read the full post

Mr Pickles is unlawful and other bits

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Eric Pickles hearing the judgmentCala Homes (South) Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government & Anor [2010] EWHC 2866 (Admin) found Eric Pickles, SoS at DCLG, acted unlawfully in scrapping the Regional Strategies for housing development, which also, lest we forget, included requirements for local authorities to identify and develop sites for travellers and gypsys. Mr Pickles had announced the decision to scrap the strategies under s79(6) of the Local Democracy Economic Development and Construction Act 2009.

Alas for Mr Pickles, this has turned out to be unlawful because:
a) the decision involved using that power for an improper purpose by “undermining the policy of the LDEDCA 2009 that there should … Read the full post

When more means less

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Green v Sinclair Investments Limited Clerkenwell and Shoreditch County Court. 11 June 2010

This is a County Court and non-binding tenancy deposit case reported in September 2010 Legal Action ‘Recent Developments’. But it is interesting and harks back to a problem we discussed a while ago, the meaning of ‘must also’ in s.214(4) Housing Act 2004.

In this case, there was a one year assured shorthold tenancy, with a deposit of £2100. The deposit was not protected. The tenancy ended after 7 months by surrender, in July 2009. The former tenant send a letter of claim in September for the return of the deposit and the 3x deposit penalty. … Read the full post

New Tenancy Deposit Cases in Legal Action

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Our new copy of Legal Action flopped onto the mat here at Nearly Legal Towers this morning. Looking at the reported cases a pair of tenancy deposit matters caught my eye. One of these we have already written about here.

In Baafi v Mapp, Central London County Court, 24 June 2010 a landlord had sought a possession order on the basis of a section 21 notice. The tenant defended the claim on the basis that the landlord had not properly complied with the requirements of the Housing (Tenancy Deposits) (Prescribed Information) Order 2007, he also counter-claimed for the now-customary penalties. The landlord had registered the deposit with the … Read the full post

All mimsy were the borogoves

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The Jabberwock of the tenancy deposit scheme came whiffling again, in the tulgey wood of Northampton County Court. This time it was the clause that catch to beware of. And there’s a disrepair claim in there too.

Paula O’Brien v Jacqueline Jones & Andrew Alexander (T/A Belvoir Huntingdon). Claim No 9KG00335 12/02/2010 [On Lawtel for some reason]

Ms O’B (hereafter B) was the assured shorthold tenant of Ms J (hereafter J), whose managing agent was Mr A (T/A BH) (hereafter ‘the agent’). The tenancy was ended by agreement on 19 December 2008. B had withheld the last two months rent due to her concerns about the condition of the … Read the full post

Waiting For Tiensia

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Qurat-Ul-Ain Zia v Mourtada Central London County Court 09/02/2010

This case in Central London County Court has been reported briefly in Legal Action [but we have had the transcript - NL]. While this post makes reference to the Tiensia case this matter actually concerns an issue which will probably not be dealt with by the Court of Appeal. Specifically, it deals with the question of whether a tenancy deposit taken prior to the introduction of the tenancy deposit protection schema should be placed into protection on the renewal of a tenancy.

Facts
The facts are simple. A number of consecutive tenancies had been entered into between Q and M, the … Read the full post

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