Western union prepaid direct deposit form, Landlords frequently ask a new tenant to pay 1 month’s rent beforehand and a deposit. The deposit is held by the landlord before the tenant leaves the property. If there is damage to the property or rent arrears the landlord uses the deposit to pay the costs. Many landlords fail to protect the deposit. There are two types of authorised deposit approaches available in the UK. They are custodial or insurance based strategies.
As landlord/tenant problems are among the most common legal questions I get from friends, I’d love to discuss rights and responsibilities concerning security deposits in this post. At the end I shall incorporate a sample letter you can send to your landlord for return of your deposit. Please note all info in this post is unique to California law. The laws of your state or authority may differ. Many nations provide renter’s handbooks that would include significant laws, or you need to contact a lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction for assistance.
A landlord has 28 days to register a deposit with a custodial or insurance type strategy. Information regarding the registration of this deposit has to be supplied to the renter. Under the Housing Act there is a prescribed format for information to be provided. The landlord can be taken to court by the tenant where the information has not been supplied in the correct format. Tenants have the right to go back six years prior to taking action against the landlord.
Where the landlord fails to register the bond there are hefty penalties. The landlord can be required to pay the tenant a sum three times greater than the deposit; or they may have to pay back all rent and a punishment or the landlord could eliminate the right to evict the tenant in the property the decision on the fee is taken by the court. Some landlords say they do not take deposits that they only ask the tenant to pay two weeks rent in advance. If the tenant pays rent monthly along with the landlord always has a float of one month’s rent this is just like taking a deposit and the principles concerning failure to register a deposit will apply.