A new ‘Guide to Tenancy Deposits, Disputes and Damages’ has been jointly published by all three government authorised tenancy deposit protection schemes.

Since 2007 some 47,000 disputes have been settled by the schemes’ alternative dispute resolution processes. The pooling of information on these disputes and their eventual outcomes has allowed the schemes to identify common issues and to work together to publish collective guidelines.

The guide covers items, such as the collation of evidence and what an adjudicator looks for when considering a dispute. It also outlines the principles on which scheme adjudicators make decisions so that the process is consistent and transparent for letting agent, landlord and tenant alike.

Download the Guide to Tenancy Deposits, Disputes and Damages.

West London this morning

Many London renters have been in this situation shortly after moving to a new home – the previous tenants moved out without paying their bills and the bailiffs come knocking on your door…

The Independent gives good advice on what to do in such situation:

While much damage is done by the type of boorish behaviour you’ve sadly experienced, many are simply trying to chase a mix of genuinely absent tenants, absconding credit customers and court no-shows.

Bailiffs are authorised to collect debts such as fines and council tax from those who repeatedly fail to pay up. They don’t have to be allowed entry – they are not allowed to force their way in but can enter through an open window or unlocked door.

Yet crucially, thanks to consumer legislation in 2008, “aggressive commercial practices” are now banned; these include pushing past a door once opened or leaving a foot in the door to prevent the tenant closing it.

Bailiffs recovering unpaid magistrates’ court fines, however, do have the power to force entry, but this is always as a very last resort.

This new law – known as Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations – ultimately lets your local trading standards and even the Office of Fair Trading take action in the event of a major problem.

However, says Moira Haynes at Citizens Advice, you should be able to easily solve this problem without any such recourse.

“Your first step is to show proof of your identity – a passport or driving licence – which should stop them calling. Bailiffs may suspect that the person who owes the money still lives there, so you should also offer proof that you are the new tenants.”

You can show them either a copy of your tenancy agreement or a council tax demand and offer them your landlord’s or letting agent’s phone number and address.

Remember that as it’s not your debt, they can’t make you pay it – bailiffs only want to fulfil their contract and earn commission; they simply won’t get paid for repeatedly harassing you.

Source: House Doctor: ‘Bailiffs keep calling for tenant who no longer lives at our flat’

If you think that your landlord or letting agent has misused your personal information you should pay a visit to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website. They have answered a few frequently asked questions from tenants here and you can check if your agent is a registered member here.

So far only 1,416 UK letting agents have registered (there are more than 3,500 ARLA members!) despite the statutory requirement set by the Data Protection Act 1998. Registered agents have to follow good practice guidlines and will have to make sure they are giving out your information fairly.

Via: Estate Agent Today

As of 1st of October 2010 all tenants who have been paying rent £25,000 – £100,000 per year (£480.80 -1,923.08 per week) for their main residency will automatically get Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) status.

The landlords will formally have to protect the deposits on these tenancies. Your landlord must provide you with prescribed information about the scheme (either custodial – DPS – or insurance based scheme – TDS, TDSL) within 14 days from when the new regulation comes into force. 

Update: Comment from Nick (Pimlico-Flats):

This is not actually true. Department of Communities and Local Government have stated:

“We do not consider that deposits taken before 1 October will need to be protected as these were not taken in connection with a shorthold tenancy and therefore do not meet the criteria for protection specified in the Housing Act 2004.”

However that is merely the Government’s position, it is actually up to the Courts to make a ruling.

The British lesbian, gay and bisexual charity Stonewall has published a housing guide that provides some information on renting accommodation, tenant rights and what to do if  one is at risk of becoming homeless. There is not a lot of specific information but you might not have known that there are two organizations that support young lesbian, gay and bisexual people who are homeless or are living in hostile environment.

Click here to read the booklet.

Stonewall Housing
020 7359 5767 advice line
info [at] stonewallhousing.org

Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT)
020 7831 6562
contact [at] akt.org.uk

In the First Interim Report for 2010 by the Property Ombudsman reports a sharp increase in the number of new referrals to the office during the period 1 January to 31 March. Compared to the last quarter of 2009, the number of complaints in lettings has risen from 102 to 171.

Here’s a few cases from the report that might interest you:

Holding Deposit
The Complainant was in the process of renting the property and had paid a holding deposit of £350. He raised a complaint against the letting agent after he was informed he had failed the referencing checks and would need to put forward a guarantor to enable the let to go ahead. As he did not wish to bring in a guarantor, he was refused the let and his request for the holding deposit to be refunded was rejected by the agent, although he has said the agent offered him £175 as a gesture of goodwill, which he believed was an ‘absurd offer’.
Read the report to find out how the problem was resolved.

Holding Deposit/Complaints Handling
The Complainant was a prospective tenant who had paid a holding deposit of £250 to secure the property. He had also provided the letting agent the details for his references. Twelve days later the Complainant discovered that due to an alleged computer error the references had not been logged.
Read the report to find out how the problem was resolved.

Referencing/Holding Deposit
Straightforward transaction between the Complainants (the prospective tenants) and the member agent, which became contentious following the landlord rejecting the Complainants’ initial references and requesting that guarantors were provided, which resulted in the transaction breaking down. The member agent sought to retain the Complainants’ holding deposit on the basis that they had explained the terms and conditions of that payment to them during a telephone conversation. Whilst their progress notes did record that these terms and conditions were discussed, the Complainants contested the agent’s account of the conversation.
Read the report to find out how the problem was resolved.

Administration Fees
The Complainants were landlords who had paid the letting agent a fee to prepare the Tenancy Agreement on their behalf. After the tenancy had commenced they discovered that the letting agent had also charged the tenant the same amount (£170 + VAT) for the preparation of the Tenancy Agreement. The agent claimed that their terms were clear in both the Management and Tenancy Agreements and thus they had not done anything illegal. The Complainants however, believed that the money taken from the tenants should be payable to them and not the agent, as the agent was not a party to the Tenancy Agreement, and had acted in a misleading and deceptive manner.
Read the report to find out how the problem was resolved.

The Property ombudsman TPO offers an independent service for the resolution of disputes between member agencies and buyers, sellers, landlords, leaseholders, lessees and tenants of property in the UK. The service is free to complainants.

The latest report from The Property Ombudsman* reveals that the biggest cause of people contacting and asking for help is still frustration with letting agents.

The Ombudsman Christopher Hamer says there were more than 110 people a week  asking for assistance with problems over property lettings during the period of  Q2 2009. Since the end of June last year, enquiries regarding lettings have gone up by 44% .

Mr. Hamer stresses in the introduction to his report that estate agents must take much greater care when explaining fee structures to clients and ensure that clients are aware of what they are signing up to.

‘My message to consumers in the lettings market is that they should only use agents who are covered by The Property Ombudsman scheme and are therefore following the standards in our Lettings Code of Practice.

Download the full report here (*pdf)

You can check if your letting agent is covered by The Property Ombudsman scheme HERE.

*The Property Ombudsman Scheme (www.tpos.co.uk) offers a free, independent, and impartial service to members of the public who are dissatisfied with the service provided by an estate agent who is a member of the scheme during the buying, selling, or letting of a residential property.

Embarrassing news from the Letting Protection Service LPS.

The number of landlords who claim for lost rent skyrocketed over the last year. In October 2007, 91 tenants disappeared without paying; 12 months later the number was >>> 1,286. In January, 218 (2008) and 1,117 (2009). Kevin Firth, Director of the LPS, tells tenants:

“Running away from financial difficulties is never the best way to deal with them. It could have a negative impact on your credit rating and could potentially mean you are breaking the law.”

Running away is not an option. Running away is NOT an option.

Get help (from Shelter, if all else fails), and talk to your landlord about your difficulties as soon as they arise.

Community Legal Advice has recently posted 3 videos on YouTube that contain some good advice for the private renters. The videos are in sign language, dubbed, in English.

- What if I can’t afford the deposit?
- Can my landlord throw me out?
- What if I have difficulty paying my rent?

- When can my landlord come into my home?
- My home is damp and my things have been damaged. What can I do?
- What if my landlord won’t give my deposit back?

- How can I leave my shared house or flat?
- My neighbours are so noisy I can’t sleep. What can I do?

Community Legal Advice
Shelter

Renters are advised to not to pay rent up front for more than 1 month when moving into a property, unless they have proof that the landlord has not fallen behind with his mortgage payments. The number of buy-to-let investors who are in arrears, and face losing their property, has soared in the last 3 months.

Chris and Siobhan Taylor rented a five-bedroom house in Loughton, Essex, in August. They paid £48,000 upfront for the year after being offered a £6,000 discount. Now settled in, they have discovered that their landlord is already tens of thousands of pounds behind on his mortgage repayments.

‘We are feeling very vulnerable. We had no idea when we rented the property that this could happen. We just assumed that everything was OK. We face losing all our money and our deposit, or having to go to court, should the lender want to repossess during our one-year tenancy,’ says Siobhan, 39.

The Taylors have fallen into a gaping hole in the legislation covering tenants. As their rent is more than £25,000 a year, they had to sign a standard tenancy contract, not an assured shorthold tenancy contract, which would have given them a raft of protection.

It also means their initial £7,850 deposit was given directly to the landlord rather than being held by a third party under the Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme.

Read the whole story at MailOnline.

It would normally be up to the letting agent to check that the landlord’s lender knows about the property being rented out but do not count on it – it would be wise to always ask for some sort of proof on paper.

The annual Buy-To-Let guide published on Monday by the Association of Residential Letting Agents ARLA contains a lot of valuable information for not only landlords but tenants as well.

Click here to read the electronic version.

We found this excellent overview of the key elements of a tenancy, which lists the legislation requirements of England/Wales and Scotland (page 21 of the guide).

ARLA stresses in the article accompanying this table that tenants should always insist on a written agreement (although it is not a legal requirement) in order that they are aware of all their obligations and also those of their landlord. They advise not to settle for an agreement that is bought from newsagents, as it might not be up to date. By the way – ARLA standard tenancy agreement runs to some 20 pages!

Telegraph lead us to an organisation called Residential Property Tribunal Service, which provides an independent and fair tribunal service for resolving disputes between landlords and tenants. Participants don’t need a lawyer, they can represent themselves, and in the majority of cases they don’t have to pay any court fees later, as the problem gets solved.

The service does not have the power to deal with all types of dispute about rents, and cannot become involved in disputes about commercial property. They resolve issues with:

- Rent When the landlords want one figure and the tenants want another;
- Service charge When tenants dispute the maintenance charges for the common parts;
- Buying the freehold When tenants can’t agree a price with the landlords;
- Leasehold extension When a tenant wants to extend their lease at a new rate;
- Breach of lease When landlords say a tenant has breached his lease, and the tenant disagrees;
- Right to buy When local authority landlords won’t sell to the tenants.

On their website they have a record of the decisions they have made on their file, if you want to have a look.

The Landlord Law Blog writes of an interesting case in hand.

A London tenant is bringing a claim against his former landlords and their agents, who took over 5 months into the contract to register the deposit.

Under the UK Housing Law agents or landlord must protect the deposit taken within 14 days from receipt of the deposit from the tenant.

The tenant has filed a claim in West London County Court for 3x the deposit as per law.

Make sure that your deposit is protected!

The sale and rent back deals need regulation with better protection for consumers, according to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) study. The relatively new type of property transaction whereby firms buy homes from individuals at a discount, and then allow those individuals to stay on in the property as tenants, has caused serious harm to vulnerable homeowners.

The study found that:

- some consumers enter into sale and rent back transactions when this is not the best option for them

- some sale and rent back firms may mislead customers as to the value of their property or the security they have as tenants. This includes telling people they will be able to stay in their home for years, when in reality the tenancy may only be guaranteed for six to 12 months

- some firms impose substantial rent increases or even evict tenants after a short tenancy period. It is also possible that tenants may lose their homes if the landlord defaults on the mortgage, and

- some consumers are evicted because they cannot afford the agreed rent, which suggests staying in their property was not sustainable in the first place.

- there are upwards of 1,000 firms, together with an unknown number of non-professional landlords, who have conducted about 50,000 transactions to date.

Source: Sale and rent back firms need statutory regulation – OFT report