UK Landlord Forum / Life

Any advice please . I protected by ex-tenants deposit late . They have now vacated and have left damage. I want to make some deductions from the deposit which they are disputing and they are now threatening legal action for compensation and return of deposit if I don't return deposit in full. Should I take my chances in the Courts as have photographic evidence of damage or return deposit in full and final settlement to prevent any further claims for penalty re; later protection later. WIll any letter they sign prevent any further action. I am a first time landlord and have learnt from my mistakes. I have also been very lenient regarding ongoing late payment of rent when they were tenants.  Jane

You will lose.

Pay them off or face a bill for 1-3 x the deposit, PLUS the deposit.

I would settle. Don't go and take your chances in Court on an incorrectly protected deposit case.

Please be careful of any advice received from a blog (including my own)
Do your own research

Interesting post but need to be a little bit clearer on one point..

"they are now threatening legal action for compensation and return of deposit if I don't return deposit in full"
What's the compensation part for? Have they twigged you are foul of the Deposit Protection laws? Or compensation is just the usual tenant throwing toys out of the pram type threats without any real basis?

If they haven't figured out the above then
Step one is to return the deposit in full asap through the tenancy deposit scheme the money is in now.
Step two is to hope like hell they don't figure anything else out

Your problem is the Localism Act 2011 allows a claim to be made after the tenancy has ended but it did not stipulate any period within in which a claim needs to be made (I certainly cannot find one) which means likely the period within which they can claim is based on the statute of limitations - 6 years from the time of the breach.... Yikes. .  And it will only need a mate in the pub to tell them what they could have done and they might be back....even if you returned the deposit in full.

If they have figured it out (or are likely to figure it out) I'm afraid they have you by the short and curlies.  The best you could do is return the deposit in full and get them to sign a waiver to not claim...but that would have to be cleverly worded not raise with them the impression that you know how screwed you are ...and why would they sign such a document anyway? They might do if you are willing to throw them some cash on top of the deposit.

So tread carefully now.....if they know their rights, and if it looks like they won't settle but will screw you anyway then you need to make a claim from the deposit.  What will happen is the court will allow a netting off to happen (their claim minus your claim) and so your loss will be less than if they just screwed you and you had not claimed

As usual communication with the tenant is key to your closure of this situation. Get them to agree that you will reluctantly return the full deposit and they will walk away forever.  Tactically you could start from a position that you will return 80% of deposit and then make it look like a huge concession to give it all back...etc. but you might end up paying the deposit and some cash on top.
I would suggest if they are willing to sign something then try and record on that what damages you are not claiming for so if it ever does go back to court (it shouldn't if you agree not to) you can produce something that MIGHT give the judge some cause to be lenient.

To raise some optimism - it's not that easy to pursue this as a tenant and some may decide that the hassle is not worth it or they won't know how to do it - let's hope Citizens Advice doesn't help out.

Talk to the tenant, talk some more and then talk again, finally talk some more.

You have not stated any amounts... If the deposit or damage is small then just eat the costs and go with the least hassle path....

Best of luck.