I failed to protect the tenant's deposit on time. What are my options

[Kem T]

Thank you for your practical advice all. I will contact the lead tenant today and hopefully he accepts my apologies and proposal sum to cover his expenses.

[Sandi]

I would give them the deposit back in full, offer to pay the court fee and send them a bunch of flowers to stop the court action.

You don't have a leg to stand on and if it goes to court you will lose and have to pay 3 * deposit amount.

The court action is quite time consuming so your tenants may prefer to settle.

[theartfullodger]

Try and agree a settlement: It seems sheriffs usually award 3xdeposit - see

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums...t-penalty-fail

[Moderator2]

You need to ask in the Scotland section.

This advice leads to duplicate threads which if not caught early will create difficulties when trying to merge the threads later.

Please use the 'report post' option and if you wish advise the OP that you have requested the thread to be moved.

[Kem T]

Thanks. I will do so.

[Wannadonnadoodah]

Yes it is. Aberdeen.

You need to ask in the Scotland section.

Check out Shelter scotland.

http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_a...eposit_schemes

[Kem T]

Yes it is. Aberdeen.

[Mrs Mug]

The tenant has now put a claim through the sherrif court.

Is the property in Scotland?

[Kem T]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a landlord and I have done the unthinkable and did not protect the tenants deposit. Just at the end of the tenancy, the lead tenant contacted me saying 2 of them ( they are 3 students) needed a place to stay till their new flat was ready. I had already rented out to a new set of students. I however managed to speak with the parents of the new tenants and they agreed to let the existing tenants stay on as they weren't moving in for the next few weeks. I also got the parents to agree to accept a mere token as rent for the extended stay. My exisitng tenants were to pay a £100 each for their stay. They would normally have paid £531 (normal rental rates). One of them paid immediately and the other did not.
At the end of the tenancy, I personally returned their deposit minus pre agreed amount of 100 for extra stay for one of the tenants and £60 for carpet cleaning. I have all evidence that shows that the dedcuted amount was pre-agreed. The lead tenant came back insisting the deposit must be returned fully and that I had deprived them of being able to go through the dispute resloution process. I then deposited their full deposit amount into a deposit protection scheme and commenced a dispute resolution process. The dispute resolution process is still ongoing.
The tenant has now put a claim through the sherrif court.
What are my options?
Can anyone advice me on this.
Any advice will be much appreciated.