Court order
Tenancy Deposits

SueSmith
SueSmith
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17 Posts
11 years ago
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Make sure that the deposit is in a scheme and get a copy of the certificate confirming that the deposit is protected by the scheme from the scheme itself. Send copies of the protection to the court together with your written defense.

Also send copies for the judge of your agreement with the agent and copies of your communications with the agent to show your efforts to rectify the matter of the deposit not being protected.

It is up to the judge, but you should show all the mitigating factors in your case.

Also quote the case upon which the law is based: Christelle Tiensia v Vision Enterprises Limited (T/A Universal Estates). The intention of law was confirmed in the Court of Appeal Lord Justice Rimer on 11th November 2010: "44. ... the objective of the legislation is not the punishment of landlords but the achieving of proper protection of tenants' deposits."

If your tenants dont leave, you will have to go through all the steps as outlined in the RLA guides to get the tenants evicted, up to and including a bailiff. If the tenants don't allow entry despite written notification, there's nothing you can do. Be prepared for a lengthy battle of several months.

If there are damages and losses, take the tenants to the small claims.
If a judge orders you to pay monies to the tenants, do so, and sue the agent for those costs for breach of contract in the small claims court. If you can't handle all this yourself, you'll have to pay a lawyer. Good luck.

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