Monday, October 20, 2008

Tenancy Deposit Protection – test case?

I have been contacted by a London tenant who is bringing a claim against his former landlords and their agents under the tenancy deposit protection legislation. He is looking for a local firm of solicitors to assist him with his claim (preferably on a pro bono or ‘no win no fee’ basis), which he hopes will be a ‘test case’. He tells me that the facts are briefly as follows:

- A well-established London based Estate Agency accepted a deposit to be held against a 1-year AST. The Agent registered the deposit with TDS over 5-months after the 14-day window allowed by UK Housing Law. The Agent never notified the Tenant of the deposit registration details despite repeated requests from the tenant.
- When the tenancy concluded, the Agent returned the deposit back to the tenant only after the tenant threatened legal action, and even then it was returned after a reasonable deadline was given by the tenant for its return without legal action.
- The tenant has filed a claim in West London County Court for 3x the deposit as per UK Housing Law. The Agent has stated that they will fight the claim and have retained the services of specialist housing solicitors.

Anyone interested in assisting can contact the tenant at tnhill@london.edu.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tessa,

How much is the deposit? If the case is less than £5K, no-win no-fee would be very difficult indeed. Deferred fee, possibly, but then the client would have to pay.

Tessa Shepperson said...

Point noted. However, can anyone interested please contact the tenant direct at the email address given. I do not think it appropriate that any further details about the case be given on a blog open to the public.