So, it transpires my landlord hasn’t put the deposit I paid 5 years ago into a deposit scheme. The Shelter Scotland website says I can claim 3 times the deposit via a sheriffs court order, as long as I make the claim within 3 months of the end of the tenancy. I haven’t bought the champagne yet though, as he lives overseas so I don’t fancy my chances, 3 times nothing is still nothing.
Anybody ever been through this ? What is my best move ?
I am giving him the benefit of the doubt just now as he has always seemed a nice guy, and have emailed politely asking for details of the scheme, give him the chance to get it sorted quick smart. As I don’t have a tenancy agreement and he hasn’t done any electrical or gas inspections for 4 years, I am not sure he wants to attract the attention of any kind of tribunal.
And for the record, the house is in excellent order, I keep it clean and tidy, and the cat has only scratched away one bit of wallpaper which I have offered to fix.
I only found out today about the deposit when I called the lawyers who took it initially. I am pursuing them for the money, they guaranteed to hold it, spent 18 months trying to track the landlord down when the law changed and deposit schemes were set up in 2012 to hand it the money, and never once got in touch with me. I know I will get nowhere with this, but can waste a hell of a lot of their time. Pretty annoyed they never bothered to let me know. Asshats.