Stankova v Glassonbury (2008)

The Bulgarian claimant took a private tenancy with the landlord in August 2007. She was a joint tenant with her daughter, and also with another person although she was unaware of this before the start of the tenancy.

The tenants jointly paid a deposit of £600, but the landlord did not notify any of the tenants that he had deposited the money in any of the statutory Schemes at any time.
The landlord served notice on the tenants at the beginning of October 2007, but the notice was defective. The third tenant moved out of the property shortly afterwards, and the three tenants made arrangements about how the deposit would be dealt with on its return.
Towards the end of October the landlord entered the property and pulled the extractor fan from the kitchen, leaving a hole in the roof. He also removed a carpet and the fireplace from the lounge, making it unusuable.
The Council dealt with the harassment, and then in November the landlord served a section 21 notice which appeared to be valid. The claimant moved out in February 2008, and made a claim under the Housing Act 2004 against the landlord for his failure to notify her within 14 days of how he would deal with the deposit and which scheme he was using.

The landlord argued that the claimant owed some rent arrears, that he would wish to withold some of the deposit due to damage at the propertey and that he had now placed the deposit in a scheme.

HELD: In the County Court the District Judge accepted the tenant’s argument that the award was a strict liability penalty, and that therefore the landlord could not offset it against rent arrears. There was also no provision for arguments about the return or retention of the deposit on the basis that a statutory scheme included arbitration for disputes about returning or retaining deposit monies.
Although the judge voiced concern over this, the landlord had to be ordered to pay the court costs plus three times the deposit.