Be the adjudicator! - Deposit Protection Service

Be the adjudicator!
Take a seat at the adjudicator’s desk and have a
go at resolving a dispute!
Click on the start button and follow the
case through to the verdict
ES
NOT
E
CAS
START
The claim
The landlord has claimed
£280 for costs awarded
by the court in Section 21
possession proceedings and
£720 for legal fees paid to
their solicitor.
ES
rt
NOT
cou
E
S
in
A
s
C
280
fee
ing £ licitors
IM
im
A
la
L
is c 0 in so
>C
lord
d
n
£72
a
L sts and
co
< BACK
NEXT >
The dispute
The court told the tenant
to pay £280 in court costs,
which they accepted, but they
disputed the claim for £720 in
solicitor’s fees.
ES
rt
NOT
cou
E
S
in
A
s
C
280
fee
ing £ licitors
IM
im
A
la
L
is c 0 in so
>C
lord
d
n
£72
a
L sts and
t
only
co
’re d rejec
y
e
h
n
t
E
a
s
T
lieve
osts
ISPU
t be ourt c ts
>D
n
a
n
s
c
e
the legal co
he t
T le for
r
o
liab ction f
u
ded
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NEXT >
THE TENANT’S STATEMENT:
“I will pay £280 as the court order said I had to pay that. But why do I have to
pay their solicitor’s fee as well? They chose to have a solicitor in court. I didn’t.
There was no need to have a solicitor as it was all quite straightforward.”
ES
rt
NOT
cou
E
S
in
A
s
C
280
fee
ing £ licitors
IM
im
A
la
L
is c 0 in so
>C
lord
d
n
£72
a
L sts and
t
only
co
’re d rejec
y
e
h
n
t
E
a
s
T
lieve
osts
ISPU
t be ourt c ts
>D
n
a
n
s
c
e
the legal co
he t
T le for
r
o
liab ction f
u
ded
< BACK
NEXT >
THE LANDLORD’S STATEMENT:
“The tenancy agreement says that the tenant has to pay my reasonable costs
for ‘professional advisers’ in ‘enforcing or remedying a breach of the tenant’s
obligations’. I had to get a court order for possession, so the tenant should pay
my solicitor’s costs.”
ES
rt
NOT
cou
E
S
in
A
s
C
280
fee
ing £ licitors
IM
im
A
la
L
is c 0 in so
>C
lord
d
n
£72
a
L sts and
t
only
co
’re d rejec
y
e
h
n
t
E
a
s
T
lieve
osts
ISPU
t be ourt c ts
>D
n
a
n
s
c
e
the legal co
he t
T le for
r
o
liab ction f
u
ded
< BACK
NEXT >
Key evidence
Tenancy agreement – clause included as described by the Landlord
Invoice for the solicitor’s fees (£720)
Copy of the possession order, with the court order instructing the tenant
to pay £280
ES
rt
NOT
cou
E
S
in
A
s
C
280
fee
ing £ licitors
IM
im
A
la
L
is c 0 in so
>C
lord
d
n
£72
a
L sts and
t
only
co
’re d rejec
y
e
h
n
t
E
a
s
T
lieve
osts
ISPU
t be ourt c ts
>D
n
a
n
s
c
e
the legal co
he t
T le for
r
o
liab ction f
u
ded
nt
CE
eme
IDEN
e
V
r
g
E
>
y a
nanc
e
oice
T
s inv
>
r
o
it
Solic
r
>
orde
t
r
u
Co
>
< BACK
MORE >
Now it’s your turn to be the adjudicator
ES
rt
NOT
cou
E
S
in
A
s
C
280
fee
ing £ licitors
IM
im
A
la
L
is c 0 in so
>C
lord
d
n
£72
a
L sts and
t
only
co
’re d rejec
y
e
h
n
t
E
a
s
T
lieve
osts
ISPU
t be ourt c ts
>D
n
a
n
s
c
e
the legal co
he t
T le for
r
o
liab ction f
u
ded
nt
CE
eme
IDEN
e
V
r
g
E
>
y a
nanc
e
oice
T
s inv
>
r
o
it
Solic
r
>
orde
t
r
u
Co
>
MAKE YOUR
DECISION
In this scenario, who would you award to?
TENANT
ES
rt
NOT
cou
E
S
in
A
s
C
280
fee
ing £ licitors
IM
im
A
la
L
is c 0 in so
>C
lord
d
n
£72
a
L sts and
t
only
co
’re d rejec
y
e
h
n
t
E
a
s
T
lieve
osts
ISPU
t be ourt c ts
>D
n
a
n
s
c
e
the legal co
he t
T le for
r
o
liab ction f
u
ded
nt
CE
eme
IDEN
e
V
r
g
E
>
y a
nanc
e
oice
T
s inv
>
r
o
it
Solic
r
>
orde
t
r
u
Co
>
LANDLORD
SPLIT
DECISION
HOW WAS THIS DECISION REACHED?
The court order was made under the Section 21 “accelerated possession procedure”.
The landlord was awarded £280 in court costs which the tenant agreed to pay.
The landlord employed a solicitor to conduct the court proceedings for him, relying
on a clause that said the tenant should pay their “professional adviser’s” costs. The
tenant is only liable for solicitors fees if they breached their tenancy obligations.
Section 21 is also known as the “no fault” procedure, where no reason needs to be
given when recovering a property. All the landlord needs to show the court is that
the tenant has been given notice and due process has been followed. Therefore, as
the tenant hadn’t breached their contractual obligations, the clause didn’t apply and
only the court costs were awarded to the landlord.
ES
rt
NOT
cou
E
S
in
A
s
C
280
fee
ing £ licitors
IM
im
A
la
L
is c 0 in so
>C
lord
d
n
£72
a
L sts and
t
only
co
’re d rejec
y
e
h
n
t
E
a
s
T
lieve
osts
ISPU
t be ourt c ts
>D
n
a
n
s
c
e
the legal co
he t
T le for
r
o
liab ction f
u
ded
nt
CE
eme
IDEN
e
V
r
g
E
>
y a
nanc
e
oice
T
s inv
>
r
o
it
Solic
r
>
orde
t
r
u
Co
>
< BACK
NEXT >
IN SUMMARY
When a landlord wants to recover their property from a tenant, they need to choose
between a Section 21 “no fault” procedure or Section 8 “fault based” procedure.
Section 21 is far more straight-forward and quicker (without a court hearing). The
deposit will need to be protected before any section 21 notice can be served.
Outstanding rent can’t be recovered through this process but a separate claim can
be made to the deposit protection scheme.
Section 8 will take a lot longer, with a number of court appearances. And a judge
will need to be persuaded that the tenant was “at fault”. Also a tenant can pay the
rent arrears at any point before the court hearing.
Whatever the claim, the court will usually only award fixed costs and not solicitors fees.
Section 21 is used more often, even when the landlord believes the tenant is at fault.
ES
rt
NOT
cou
E
S
in
A
s
C
280
fee
ing £ licitors
IM
im
A
la
L
is c 0 in so
>C
lord
d
n
£72
a
L sts and
t
only
co
’re d rejec
y
e
h
n
t
E
a
s
T
lieve
osts
ISPU
t be ourt c ts
>D
n
a
n
s
c
e
the legal co
he t
T le for
r
o
liab ction f
u
ded
nt
CE
eme
IDEN
e
V
r
g
E
>
y a
nanc
e
oice
T
s inv
>
r
o
it
Solic
r
>
orde
t
r
u
Co
>
FINISH >
AS THE HOME OF DEPOSIT PROTECTION, WE’VE GOT IT COVERED
We hold over 1.2 million active deposits.
We’ve repaid more than £1.9 billion deposits.
We’ve adjudicated on almost 10,000 deposit disputes in the last 12 months.
We’re the largest provider of tenancy deposit protection in the UK.
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