Question

Deposits and Tenancy Deposit Schemes (England) | Entry and Refusal (England) | Landlord Wants Tenant to Leave (England)

Difficult tenants

24 Aug 2017 | 1 comment

I have some difficulty with my tenants who don’t bother communicating with me. Recently they at a main water pipe leak and I asked if I can come round to see it and they refused. I haven’t secured their deposit so cannot serve a section 21. I want them out now but don’t want to return their deposit as I want to use it to do repairs when they leave. Also the deposit is not the full amount as they moved in from Germany. I have about £250 in deposit. I need them out now as I think they will just leave.

Answer

1 Comment

  1. guildy

    If you want to serve a section 21 your only option is to first return the deposit in full. If you wanted to use the deposit for repairs, then it needed to be protected within 30 days of receipt. Once 30 days has been missed there’s no protecting late.

    The only alternative is to have a written agreement signed by you and the tenants agreeing to deduct from the deposit any amounts (e.g. rent owing or repairs). However, they are unlikely to “agree” to this and so you must return in full to serve a section 21.

    Please see here for full details.

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