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I need some 'legal' advice
I know some of you guys on here will be able to help me!!
I have been very dozy with an ex tenant and was wondering if there is any way I can get some money back.
The story is that I had a tenant in property and he gave me a bankers draft for his deposit, he then left the property and all was happy and I gave him cash back. In my stupidity I then realised I hadn't paid in the bankers draft and even worse of all I had lost it
I contacted the tenant and explained this (all by text) and he said he would speak to his bank and check that the draft hadn't been cleared which he did, he then said he would get the money and repay me. This has never happened.
Do I have any 'legal' recourse? I was pretty dim on two accounts, 1, not cashing the draft and 2, giving him his deposit back in cash. I do however have documentation as such stating that he was going to pay me back.
Someone told me I could take this through a small claim procedure but I'm not sure I can.
Any ideas?
Ta!
I have been very dozy with an ex tenant and was wondering if there is any way I can get some money back.
The story is that I had a tenant in property and he gave me a bankers draft for his deposit, he then left the property and all was happy and I gave him cash back. In my stupidity I then realised I hadn't paid in the bankers draft and even worse of all I had lost it
I contacted the tenant and explained this (all by text) and he said he would speak to his bank and check that the draft hadn't been cleared which he did, he then said he would get the money and repay me. This has never happened.
Do I have any 'legal' recourse? I was pretty dim on two accounts, 1, not cashing the draft and 2, giving him his deposit back in cash. I do however have documentation as such stating that he was going to pay me back.
Someone told me I could take this through a small claim procedure but I'm not sure I can.
Any ideas?
Ta!
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Comments
If not it should have been placed in a Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme, and as I understand you'll have been breaking the law by not registering the money with a 3rd party. So you'd have to think very carefully about the potential consequences of pursuing it.
A bankers draft doesn't work like a cheque. Your tenant will have transferred the money to the bank (from his account) and they will have issued the draft. It is much harder to "stop" a bankers draft, particularly if it has been lost (it can be cancelled by handing it back to the bank) and unless it is stopped your tenant will not get his money back. That means your tenant has paid you and it's your fault that you lost it. Sorry, but that's about the size of it and the chances of being able to claim the money back are pretty remote.
I think you will have very little chance of recovering the money legally.
The tenant gave you the money. Your job is to pay that money in. If you lost that, then that's your fault. The tenant did the honourable thing. He does not have to give you a new banker's draft just because you lost the first one.
To add, if you have a tenancy agreement copy between landlord and tenant, accounts detailing
rent paid, also paying tax to HMRC and went by the book. Then there could be some hope.
If not, forget it and learn from your errors.