Letter of Claim to Demand Return of Rent Deposit

Under section 96 of the Housing Act 1996 and section 19A of the Housing Act 2004, deposits on Assured Shorthold Tenancies must be placed in deposit protection schemes. This is to ensure that unscrupulous landlords are not able to keep a tenant’s deposit without a good reason after they have left the property. If your landlord is refusing to return the deposit you paid, you do not feel he has a valid excuse for doing so, and you suspect that your landlord may not have entered your deposit into a protection scheme, this letter allows you to make your concerns known to him.

This is a free template for a letter of claim or letter before action which can be used to complain to a landlord who you feel is refusing to return your tenancy deposit without good reason. This letter also requests details of the protection scheme under which your deposit was placed, since if the landlord did not use an appropriate scheme then you are entitled to compensation worth three times the amount of your deposit.

Simply download the document and fill out the relevant details where indicated by red placeholder text.