Deposit query on an expired AST

[waferthin]

My tenants moved in on 01 Jan 2013, signed an AST and a deposit. I did not use TDS for this deposit. The AST expired on 31 Dec 2013 and the same tenants signed a new AST starting 01 Jan 2014. This time, I did use a TDS and gave them a deposit certificate and all related paperwork on 15 Jan 14.

Now one of the tenants is querying about the last year's deposit and how it was kept etc. Is that of any relevance now that the old AST has expired?

[jpkeates]

Yes.
The tenants can take you to court for not protecting their deposit for up to six years after the deposit was received.
The maximum penalty is three times the value of the deposit - although that amount is at the discretion of the court.

[theartfullodger]

Tenants are at liberty to sue you for up to 3x deposit as you did not protect it within 30 days of being paid to you (heresay suggests likely to get 1x if it gets to court) . Suggest you are helpful & honest and hope they don't.

Did you do a NEW inventory & photos for 01/01/2014?? Have you served Prescribed Information??

[thesaint]

What problem has occurred that caused them to query a deposit 8 months after you had protected it for the new tenancy?

[waferthin]

Is it possible to draw a legally valid agreement with the tenants that they would not claim for this particular breach? e.g. If I offer them a rent reduction on the current AST. I do not want a threat of litigation hanging over me till 2020.

[Wannadonnadoodah]

I think the general consensus regarding agreements like that is that they won't stop the T's rights in bringing a case against you. The 3 X penalty is the maximum and would probably only be awarded after a litany of errors by the LL and with some actual 'damage' suffered by the T. If they bought a case against you in 2020 then this 'damage' must have been mitigated to some degree by being so old. Unfortunately there are no win no fee companies offering to make claims on T's behalf now so it's open season.

[thesaint]

What problem has occurred that caused them to query a deposit 8 months after you had protected it for the new tenancy?

I will ask it again.

[waferthin]

thesaint, the reason I did not answer your question was that I thought it was not very relevant - in my particular case. It is possible that someone has pointed this out to them and now they want to rake back some money from me. One of the tenants wants to leave before AST expires and it is possible they are going to use this to get me to agree to it. Does anyone know if there is a remedy or is it just a case of facing the music?

[thesaint]

thesaint, the reason I did not answer your question was that I thought it was not very relevant - in my particular case.

It is relevant, as then members can give you advice tailored to your specific situation.
If you want generic advice, then you have it. Good luck.

[jpkeates]

There is no actual remedy.

You can try and agree that they won't sue you in exchange for something,
But that doesn't actually have any great protection.
They still have the right to sue,
And then you have to sue them separately for a breach of the contract.

If the tenants are using this as a bargaining chip, you may have to let them.