Hi, the relevant history is as follows:-
2004 tenant moves into property
2014 former landlord buys the property and creates a new tenancy agreement. The tenancy agreement refers to a deposit of £750 but nothing beyond that (no scheme details or payment details)
2023 we buy the property at auction. We have an email from the ex landlord saying there was no deposit.
(Our impression is that the ex landlord was quite sloppy generally and probably used a proforma AST)
Now - we issued s21 proceedings and in the defence the tenant says she paid a deposit of £750 in 2004. This was the first we knew of it.
We doubt she did pay that as a deposit as she claims her rent was much lower when she moved in and she has also told a number of untruths about the tenancy prior to us taking over.
We really want her out of the property. We want the matter to be dealt with on the papers.
I know that if we now pay £750 then it would be like an admission that there was a deposit which, as it was not protected at the time of the s21 would render the s21 void so please don't suggest I do that.
Re: evidence gathering.... this would take too long and would mean that we need to go to a hearing which we don't want. We want the judge to order an eviction on the papers.
I am wondering whether the judge has powers to order things beyond the eviction. The suggestion I was going to submit to the court is:-
1. LL to pay the tenant £750 on or by the move out date
2. tenant to indemnify the LL for the £750 and reasonable costs of recovery if it is found that no deposit was paid
3. Tenant is specifically NOT barred from seeking punitary damages from the former landlord for failing to protect the deposit. If such damages are awarded then the tenant to have the full benefit of them.
Thos of you who have gone through the s21 procedure.... have the judges had any leeway to make an order beyond just s21 invalid / evict when dealing on the papers without a hearing. Basically my objective is to get the tenant out as soon as possible. If I have to pay the £750 then I won't be chuffed about it but I would rather that than it go to a hearing.
Can anyone help?
