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Tenant Deposit Claims

If you entered into most types of residential tenancy agreement with a landlord on or after 6 April 2007 for a property in England or Wales and paid a deposit, the landlord was obliged to pay this into a relevant deposit protection scheme.

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From 6 April 2012, landlords were required to pay that deposit into a relevant scheme within 14 days and provide you with certain prescribed information within those 14 days. This is:

Equally, if you do have an ongoing issue that you feel we can help you with, please call us today to arrange a free, no obligation meeting at a time and place that suits you.

We can assist you and your business with:

  1. Confirmation of the address of the address of the property you have agreed to rent and the amount you have paid as a deposit. This is normally contained within the tenancy agreement;
  2. The details of the deposit protection scheme (‘DPS’) utilised;
  3. The contact details of the landlord or their managing agent;
  4. Information about how the DPS works;
  5. How to reclaim the deposit at the end of the tenancy;
  6. Details of any deductions from the deposit that are applicable;
  7. Details of how and why you can claim compensation; and
  8. The process in the event of a dispute over the return of the deposit.

Compensation

As tenancy agreements are contracts, you must bring a claim for a breach of the above rules within six years of paying or agreeing to pay the deposit in most cases.

If you have paid a deposit within the last six years and your landlord has failed to pay it into a DPS and or provide you with the required information, you may have a claim for compensation and for the return of the full deposit. The compensation is capped at three times the deposit and so, if the deposit paid was £1,000, you can claim £3,000 in compensation and for the return of the £1,000 deposit totalling £4,000.

Making a Claim

You are able to make such a claim yourself and Shelter have an excellent guide for how to do so . However, many people find representing themselves in litigation to be daunting or stressful and prefer to instruct a solicitor to assist them.

If you believe you have a claim for a breach of the rules on the tenancy deposits, complete our contact form, call us at 01253 858231 or e-mail info@mjvlaw.co.uk

We offer our services on a no win no fee basis and will take a percentage of the amount you recover as a success fee towards our legal costs.