Just a quick note to say that Housed has a report on a County Court judgment on a claim for failure to put deposit in scheme and notify tenant within 14 days. (Stankova v. Glassonbury 10th March 2008, Gloucester County Court. Initial report apparently via Consumer Action, no reference or link)
Result – mandatory 3 x deposit award, with no set off against arrears (because mandatory). It didn’t matter that the landlord had very belatedly put the deposit in a scheme, or that the tenant had left after s.21 notice, or that that the landlord raised deductions from the deposit at Court. The court was apparently persuaded that deductions were irrelevant on the basis that a statutory scheme included arbitration for disputes about returning or retaining deposit monies. Apparently the DJ wasn’t happy making the award but found he could do no other.
There is an unaddressed issue about validity of an s.21 Notice, as the tenants had moved out.
Thanks Housed. Useful stuff for many tenants.
[For all tenancy deposit case posts click here]