Fergusen v Jones [2008]

A tenant with an assured shorthold tenancy paid a deposit of £500. Her landlord failed to put the deposit in an authorised scheme within 14 days as is required by the Housing Act 2004 sections 213(3) and (4). It was not until the landlord began possession proceedings that he put the deposit in an authorised scheme.
The tenant counterclaimed for disrepair, and claimed three times the value of the deposit under sections 214(2) and (3).

HELD: The County Court judge held that the court had no discretion under section 214(4); the deposit had to be protected within 14 days of its payment as required.
To have interpreted s.214(4) in any other way would have been contrary to the inention of Parliament; the statutory provisions would be otiose if the landlord could escape the penalty in s.214(4) by placing the deposit in an authorised scheme after the 14 day period. The court therefore had to order the landlord to pay three times the sum of the deposit.