An interesting report in the Oxford Mail shows that it is never a waste of time to complain about rogue agents to Trading Standards. Oxford Trading Standards, in a joint operation with the Police, have raided two estate agents offices and two homes in a probe into complaints about missing rent and deposit payments. This…
I have been contacted by a landlord who has drawn my attention to a thread on the popular LandlordZone forum: “Briefly, the rental property has been in the hands of the receivers since July 2008. The receivers accepted the tenancy and collect rent from the tenant (the tenancy is now periodic). The deposit was originally…
There is new tenancy deposit case report in the November issue the Legal Action Magazine, Da Costa v. Pinter, which took place at Bromely County Court in April 2009. Here the tenancy agreement provided for a monthly rent of £1,950 but also stated ‘Payment required in advance of £4,200′. The agents invoice described £2,250 of…
Most of the complaints I hear about regarding the Deposit Protection Service (DPS) are from landlords. However they are not the only sufferers. Today I received this cri de coeur from Miss C: “The DPS paid my deposit back to my landlord in July 2009, despite me claiming it back. They claim they wrote to…
I have recieved an interesting e-circular from the Deposit Protection Service. It is essentially correcting a circular they sent earlier to dissociate themselves from a company. However apparently they also said in that earlier circular: “The DPS would recommend landlords obtain an independent Inventory because one conducted by a landlord or agent would not be…
It has recently been announced by the Scottish Parliament that a tenancy deposits scheme is going to be set up in Scotland. This has been welcomed by the Scottish National Union of Students, Shelter Scotland and ARLA. There is also a report on the BBC site where perhaps predictably, there are objections from Scottish Association…
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Over 8,000 tenants fail to claim their deposits says DPS
After all the complaints made by and on behalf of tenants regarding landlord failures to return deposits to tenants, it is ironic that the DPS in a recent report, states that over 8,000 deposits remain with them, unclaimed by their owners. The DPS, remember, is the tenancy deposit scheme where the deposit money is actually…