I rented my Property out on a 12 month AST. The AST contained the clause that the tenant could vacate after 6 months, providing I was served two months notice.
I was undergoing surgery at the time the AST began and did not protect the deposit.
After 3 months, the tenant wanted to vacate and emailed to say that I could keep the deposit if I allowed vacation to take place – I have written confirmation of this.
The tenant has now bought a Claim against me for the 3x penalty for not protecting the deposit.
I understand that I am in the wrong, as the deposit should have been protected.
The question is, as the tenant gave up the deposit upon leaving the Property, can she bring a claim?
1 Comment
Unfortunately ex tenants (or current tenants) have six years to make a claim so the claim itself is valid.
The penalty though is between 1 and 3 x deposit at the courts discretion. We would be very surprised if you were ordered the maximum penalty.
You may want to consider offering an out of court settlement of 1 x deposit as a starting point because the court costs alone could be expensive. As you have no defence (except to reduce the amount as much as you can), the tenant is guaranteed success so you would have the costs to pay. However, if the tenant refuses a reasonable out of court settlement, you can then argue about the costs.
Please see this article about a claim where the penalty was reduced.