One of the tenants who posted comments to my item on tenancy deposit protection – 62% failure, subsequently bought my kit 2 and was on the point of issuing proceedings. She has now contacted me to say that her landlord has finally caved in and paid back the whole of her deposit. “Which”, she said, “is all I ever wanted!”
This landlord had made a deduction for ‘cleaning’ despite the fact that there had been a clear inventory report, and tried to justify his failure to protect the deposit (which meant that my client could not use the free arbitration service to challenge his deductions) on the basis that his agents should have done it.
Obviously he has now taken some advice and found that his position was a bit shakier than he had thought. So it is worth tenants persisting with claims regarding tenancy deposits. Most landlords do not want to risk a court claim if it is clear that they are in the wrong.
See also my earlier post here.
I’d be really interested to hear people’s experiences, particularly if they get to could. We are getting quite varying reports of County Court decisions at NL, and this is a topic that a lot of people are interested in.