bill
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Wondering if you can help. One of our landlords has recieved a letter from a Student Law Office following a complaint from a previous tenant who once occupied one of his properties, the letter states the previous tenant is seeking damages due to a defective fire at the property, the landlord confirmed there was a problem with the gas fire and it was capped off so was not hazardous but tenant had full use of gas central heating system so was never without heating and hot water, landlord also has copy CP12. The tenant occupied the landlords property back in March 2008 unfortunatley the landlord was not aware about the deposit protection scheme and held deposit in his own account. When the tenant left the property (he was evicted for non payment of rent) he was refunded his damage deposit minus £100.00 for damages within the 14 day period, the landlord asked him to sign form to confirm he had accepted the cheque for the damage deposit unfortunately it was not till later that it was noted the tenant had not signed his correct name he had signed as "M Mouse" !. The tenant after vacating the property held onto a spare key and was caught trespassing on the property and had to be removed by the police and landlord had quite a lot of hassle from him. Due to the landlord not putting the money in the scheme this letter states tenant is now seeking damages as landlord failed to protect his deposit and wants compensation of the damage deposit amount and three times the inital deposit. Can the tenant do this if a) he has already accepted payment for deposit back in August 2008 b) if he has been out the property for this length of time.
Please help
