Return of Deposit for rented house

Deiwos

Deiwos

Deiwos

Soldato
Joined
30 Nov 2006
Posts
3,174
Hi all,

I'm just wondering if anyone knows how long a landlord can take (legally) to return my deposit? I moved out a month ago, after cleaning the house from top to bottom and confirming with the local agent that everything was ok, and that we didn't need to do anything else with the property. I've checked my contract and there's nothing in there saying how long they can hold my deposit for, just that once they agree to return it, they have to within 10 days of agreeing. I've been on the phone to them almost every day, and every time I get a different answer as to when it'll be, with them blaming the cleaning contractors for the delay.

Does anyone know how long they can legally hold my deposit without saying when it will be returned?
 
Ok, so the deposit should be held in an approved tennancy deposit scheme (a 3rd party arbrator holds the deposit for situations like this). You should have also been given confirmation of this in writing 30? days after AST commencement. If not, the landlord has broken the law and is liable for a significant fine.

If you've received no confirmation, ask him for it (that'll **** him up), give it a few days, if it's not forthcoming I'd be taking legal action. He'll not come off well if all is not in order.

EDIT: 14 days.

Have a look here, might be useful; http://www.luton.gov.uk/internet/housing/housing_advice/tenancy deposit schemes - faqs
 
Last edited:
they can get away with 2 months. I'm not aware of a legal limit, and it will be a civil matter, but anything after 2 months is probably unreasonable which is a key word in legal terms. If it's longer than 2 months, you should consider starting a small claims action.
 
Amleto said:
they can get away with 2 months. I'm not aware of a legal limit, and it will be a civil matter, but anything after 2 months is probably unreasonable which is a key word in legal terms. If it's longer than 2 months, you should consider starting a small claims action.
Click to expand...

Why 2 months? I'd say a month max would be reasonable. It doesnt take long for them to walk to a bank and pay your money back into your account.
 
From what I can find out, the only legal limits are when they confirm that they are returning the deposit, they have 10 days to pay it back.

I'm going to contact the CAB tomorrow and see what they have to say. The Dispute Service (who the deposit is held with) have said to give them another week, and then consider filing a dispute with them, but I'll see what the CAB say from a legal perspective.
 
Check the rules of your tenancy deposit scheme but it should be returned within 10 working days of you requesting it.

You should have received confirmation of which scheme it was in. If it wasn't in a scheme you're entitled to compensation of up to three times the value of your deposit. There are only three schemes - phone them all to check whether your address is registered if you're not sure.
 
Deiwos said:
From what I can find out, the only legal limits are when they confirm that they are returning the deposit, they have 10 days to pay it back.

I'm going to contact the CAB tomorrow and see what they have to say. The Dispute Service (who the deposit is held with) have said to give them another week, and then consider filing a dispute with them, but I'll see what the CAB say from a legal perspective.
Click to expand...

Give them another week. It'd be way too much hassle to try anything else, and it'd likely take longer than a week.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom