Here is a question to the blog clinic from Bakare who is a landlord
I inherited a tenant from a former tenant, who gave me deposit in 2006, and I only gave this new tenant an agreement in 2010, butI have no idea that sinceI gave the tenant an agreement in 2010 I have to protect the deposit.I did serve the tenant a section 21 notice, and a proceeding was issued, but the case was struct out, because
1, the proceeding was issued on the 23 December, but rather it should be on the 6th because it is a periodic tenancy.
2, and that when the notice was served i did not protect the deposit.
what should I do now please advise me.
Or is it a case of death sentence because I did not protect the deposit, so I should live with the tenant I didn’t want anymore.
If you have taken a depost and, since 2007, have given the tenant a new tenancy agreement, then you do need to protct it. You need to do this before doing anything else. If the tenancy is a periodic one you will probably need to use the Deposit Protection Service, which is a free sevice.
In particular you MUST protect the deposit BEFORE 30 APRIL 2012 as if you do not protect by then you will have to return the deposit money to the tenant as a condition of being able to use section 21.
As well as protecting the deposit you will need to serve a leaflet and an information form on the tenants. If you use the DPS you will find a form you can use here.
Once this is done you will be able to serve a section 21 notice and then (once the notice has expired) proceed to eviction. If you want someone to act for you in serving the s21 notice (to make sure it is correct this time) and then bringing proceedings for possession, see my All in one service.
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If YOU have a problem, why not put it to the blog clinic? However there are a lot of questions submitted, so if you need an answer quickly remember that members of my Landlord Law service can ask me questions in the members forum area, and will normally get an answer with 24 hours.