Deposit used for court costs

Landlord Discussion Legal
1

I’ve successfully evicted a tenant. The court awarded costs of under £500. Does the OpenRent contract allow me to take this off the deposit?
Any advice gratefully received.

2

I would be very surprised if it didn’t allow this. That’s the point of a deposit after all.

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3

Hi Clare,

Any deductions will have to be made directly with the deposit provider in the repayment process.

You can check which scheme your deposit is protected with in your contract, which you can access through your OpenRent account.

Simply click on the tenancy you want to handle the deposit for and you’ll find instructions for doing so. You will also find your dedicated deposit page with all the required information by selecting ‘More details’ under ‘Tenancy Deposit’.

Kind regards,
Leo

4

Thanks Leo.
I understand the process. I think the issue will be how the DPS interpret the wording of the contract ‘monies owed’

5

Thanks David. I think it depends on how the wording of the contract is interpreted by the DPS

6

Your right, although I’m not familiar with the wording as I haven’t seen the OR contract. Are you able to copy the relevant clause here?

7

Deductions (can be made) in respect of

  • any other breach by the Tenant of the terms of this agreement (in my case she didn’t leave after the Section 21 expired)

  • any unpaid council tax… or other monies owed by the Tenant to the Landlord (in my case £450 c costs)

8

Is there anything there about recovering costs from the deposit for measures to seek possession? If not, then I don’t think you can claim the funds from the deposit and in this case, I suggest you encourage Openrent to amend their contract template.

9

Agreed it should be more explicit in the contract.

OpenRent, any comment? Take note, please.

No harm trying to claim off the deposit is there?
It’s her ignoring the Section 21 Notice that is , surely, a breach of contract, forcing me to go to the courts, and be out of pocket.

10

I doubt that ignoring hhe s21 notice is a breach of contract, since there is no compulsion to leave with s21.

11

If the court award is clear that the £500 are costs against the tenant, I would just include it in the deposit claim. It would be for the tenant to argue that the £500 are not “monies owed by the tenant” i cant see how their claim could be upheld. If it was you find out the answer to your question! Good luck

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12

Sorry I missed the part of the clause about other monies owed by the tenant. I would agree with @David89 that this may be sufficient basis to claim it from the deposit.

13

Congrats on the eviction! I assume the tenant owes you rent. Also you are not responsible for her Council Tax as she was still the tenant. I have argued this with the Council and they immediately sided with me and I have a ccj against the tenant. The process with your deposit company, is it my deposits ? you just need to itemise your costs ie. cleaning, unpaid rent, damage, theft. Do this asap as it takes weeks. IF she doesnt dispute it then you have to jump through a ridiculous hoop of getting your claim witnessed then they give these undesirables another 14 days to dispute it.

14

I’m really interested in what happened. Only getting just under £500 isn’t great. But getting tenabt out of course is! Did you lose rent arrears or anything? MyDeposits must consider a court order. An update would be great. Very interested!

15

She paid her rent, less a couple of days.
I’ll try to remember to update the forum on the outcome with the deposit.

16

I’m pleased to report that the tenant did not dispute my claim for court costs. I claimed it as an ‘other’ expense and once the tenant agreed, I got an email confirming that amount would be paid into my account.
It took minutes.
As it wasn’t disputed, we can’t know how it would have been judged had it gone to arbitration.

Thanks for all your comments.

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