Unfair Section 21 Notice – Tenants Cry for HELP!

Reply to the comment left by "Louise Mac" at "12/07/2013 - 13:44":

It IS a legal requirement that you MUST be issued a DPC and PI within 30 days of you paying the deposit monies.
IF you have not; then ostensibly you HAVE a claim against the the LL; NOT the LA.
This could allow you to receive 3 x the deposit amount plus the deposit amount.
It may not have been the LL's fault; that is IRRELEVANT!
A S21 CANNOT be used against you UNTIL the deposit is returned to you.
It would seem that the LA has made a severe admin error.
I bet the LL won't be impressed with the LA..
If you have a good relationship with the LA and LL then I suggest you suggest to the LA that you paid your deposit about 15 days ago and consequently they have issued the DPC AND PI.
If; however they are not your favourite people go for the court and make some money.
The LL will have to pay you and then he will have to sue his LA for breeach of contract and recover the deposit monies he has paid to you.
that; however is NOT your problem!

"A S21 CANNOT be used against you UNTIL the deposit is returned to you"

....or with such deductions as are agreed between the landlord and tenant, or
(b)an application to a county court has been made under section 214(1) and has been determined by the court, withdrawn or settled by agreement between the parties.

Reply to the comment left by "HB Welcome" at "13/07/2013 - 08:53":

My understanding was that if you have NOT protected the deposit you MUST return it all even if you have legitimate claim on such deposit; either all or part of it!
This must occur before S21 proceedings may commence.
It appears this is NOT the case.
Another thing where do you all get these very pertinent and helpful legal clauses to be able to post so accurately!!??
On the basis of the deposit needing to be used for rent arrears which is the reason a S21 was issued; how would that work.
So as a LL you are allowed to keep the deposit fro rent arrears for which is the reason you are seeking removal of the tenant.
Seems a bit strange to me.
Have I misunderstood the concept!!!???

Reply to the comment left by "Paul Barrett" at "13/07/2013 - 14:15":
You certainly mis- read the concept!!! Firstly I have never ever been in rent arrears secondly I am an intelligent person so I would read up on tenancy rights and the contents of my agreement. I would suggest YOU read the full thread before making presumptions and finally just because I rent does not mean I haven't got a brain cell between my ears!!! And just to make it clear this landlord has lied and lied about my deposit and my gas safety certificates .... Why would I not request these details when it is required by law. After 40 plus emails kindly requesting these details and constantly lied to as he thinks he's above the law what would you suggest I should have done say nothing and wave goodbye to my deposit because the landlord has spent it??? Or not check that me and my disabled daughter were safe in our home???? Yes I do know an awful lot more due to the kind advice from this site including mark and Adam and all the others even though I suspect they are possibly landlords themselves but, they do not want to give decent trustworthy private landlords a bad name. He's in the wrong not me.

Reply to the comment left by "HB Welcome" at "13/07/2013 - 08:53":

Thanks for the advice.

Reply to the comment left by "Paul Barrett" at "13/07/2013 - 06:26":

It was privately rented not through an estate agent. Never again though

Thank you Louise, I am indeed a landlord and I totally support you last comment. Check out my member profile 😉

Reply to the comment left by "Louise Mac" at "13/07/2013 - 16:23":

Clearly your LL is a wrongun!
Yes you must enforce your rights.
It seems you should leave this LL as he is NOT doing right by you.
Why should this LL have your rent monies.
Best thing you can do is find another tenancy with another LL.
However there is NOTHING wrong with using private LL for tenancies.
Lots of LL refuse to use expensive LA.
You just have to carry out DD on your LL
I would have no problem with answering any questions you might ask of me!!
Just use the net for sourcing your next tenancy.
Use rightmove and London Private Rentals.
Possibly ask the LL if he has any former tenants that you may talk with about the LL.
Tenants have NO real way of confirming whether the LL is a decent one.
As a tenant you can always vote with your feet; something that a LL cannot impose upon a tenant.
In business there is no compulsion to remain in a civil contract.
So you always have the ability to leave the tenancy.

first of all i have every sympathy with any tenant who is treated badly by a tiny minority of bad landlords and such tenants have my full support
however i think we should bear in mind that shelter is desperately anxious to force through legislation to stop what they call retaliatory evictions the way this is being proposed any tenant who is in arrears of rent does damage to a property or is guilty of antisocial behavior simply sends a communication to the landlord stating there is a defect in the property(a dripping tap say )when the landlord try to evict for rent arrears destroyed property and terrorised neighbours then tenanty simply says my landlord only wants to evict me because i complained about the dripping tap the proposed law would then halt all eviction proccedings the happy tenant then lives there rent free for ever
it is curious how since this legislation was proposed all these stories have suddenly appeared in all sorts of media written aledgedly by tenants who are extreemly vulnerable(but remarkably well informed) about how their evil landlord only wants to evict them because they complained about the appalling state of the property and other matters
as we all know politicaly motivated organisations who use lies half truths and propaganda to further their agenda and are not overly fussy about their tactics are a myth and do not exist and i am just a cynical old hector
as i said genuine tenants who are abused by their landlord have my full support
however everything is not always what it seems!!!!!!!

I have come to this discussion very late but I have read all of the comments.

Louise, First of all I am really very sorry that this landlord has put you and your daughter under so much stress. I am not qualified to give your advice but if you were my daughter this is what I would be suggesting.

1. Continue to look for a new home - do not be rushed because you need to make sure that the next landlord has more respect for his/her tenants.
2. Continue to pay your rent and to take care of the property as you have.
3. Do not communicate further with the landlord and keep a copy of all his communications with you - I know that you are doing this.
4. Do not take his phone calls or reply to text messages - force him to email so that you have everything in writing.
5. Change the locks on all of the final exit doors - you have the legal right to do this even if the tenancy agreement says that you cannot.
6. If he comes to the property refuse to let him in and tell him (through the door) that you are recording everything he says on your phone.
7. If he makes any threats or tries for force entry call the Police
8. If you get a Notice from the Court that the landlord is enforcing the Section 21 write back defending that the deposit was not protected within 30 days of payment. You have not been given the Deposit Protection Certificate nor Prescribed Information for Tenants and the none of the deposit has been returned to you.
His Section 21 will fail.
9. He will no doubt try to serve the S21 again. If he gives back your deposit in full he can do this. If he tries to negotiate an agreement to withhold any of your deposit do not negotiate simply do not reply and he will be forced to return 100% of the deposit before he can serve a valid S21
10. The new S21 will give you at least 2 months before he can ask the court to enforce it, that will take a least one more month. The Court will then give you up to 46 days if you explain that you need the right property because of your daughters needs and have not been able to find one.
11. All of the above should give you 4-5 months to find a nice home.

Nothing that I have suggested is unlawful, you have done nothing wrong and this landlord needs to be taught a lesson.

After you have left the property take legal action against this landlord for not protecting the deposit and giving you the correct paperwork within 30 days. He will no doubt be forced to give you compensation of up to 300% of the deposit and if he has not returned the deposit in full he will be forced to do that too. You should also claim any legal costs from him.

Contact Gas Safe and report the engineer who has provided the Gas Safety Certificate if you are certain that the inspection was not carried out. In my opinion it is time that these certificates had a box to record the gas meter reading on the date of the inspection - this would be proof that the engineer had indeed called when he said he did. As it is it will be your word against his but he will be concerned that he is on the radar of Gas Safe because losing his registration would have a major impact on his business - as it should if he is issuing certificates for equipment that he has not inspected and risking peoples lives. If the person who fitted this boiler did not show you his Gas Safe badge you should also report that the landlord may be using uncertified fitters and they will check this out too. By doing all of this you may save a life or at the very least stop this landlord and Gas Engineer risking more lives.

If you want to talk this through or just want to vent your frustration please ask Mark Alexander to give you my phone number and call me.

If any landlord reading this wants to know why a landlord would suggest that a tenant treats the landlord in this way. I am sick and tired of landlords like this giving organisations like Shelter, NCAB .... good reason not to trust us and to ask Government to bring in more controls. It is only the good landlords who will pay for more controls because landlords like this continue to treat tenants with no respect and to ignore the law. If any landlord does not want to obey the law and has no respect for his customers he needs to get out of the business and leave good landlords to offer nice homes to good tenants.