Problems in recovering deposit from TDS

[wimbledonestates]

We currently have tenants in our property (students - joint tenancy) and one wants to leave early - the actual tenancy ends on 30th August. There is some damage which we want to deduct from her deposit. We know that she will refuse to pay as she has been a problem tenant from the word go!
We contacted the TDS who were unable to tell us how this works. We asked them about tenants doing damage half way through a tenancy and whether the scheme allows for landlords to deduct for this dmamge and then make the deposit up to the full amount again. They weren't able to give us a concrete answer.
We have written to our tenant who wants to leave and said that she can either have her deposit back when she leaves minus the damages or she can wait until the tenancy end date (30th August) and we apply as usual through the scheme. This is our undrstanding from the vague answers we were given when we contacted the scheme.
This doesn't of course address the general issue of landlords being able to get money back for damages as the tenancy goes along.
If anyone has experience of issues like these please can you advise?
Thanks,
Nick and Sue

[Poppy35]

you cant make deductions for damage made by a tenant 1/2 way thru a tenancy as you need to give T an opportunity to make good the damage before the tenancy ends which they could very well do.

If the money is protected by the TDS then you dont need to go thru them for anything as your agent must be holding the monies unless you are insured to do so? You should just contact your tenant at the end of the tenancy and state what damage is done costs you think wil lcover it and hopefully come to an agreement between you. If stalemate then you will have to use the ICE and go from there.

If its held by the DPS then this is a different matter as you will both have repayment id's which need to be submitted and therefore both parties need to have agreed on any deductions when you go to refund the monies.

I say give her back her money at the end of the tenancy once the damage has been sorted.

[wimbledonestates]

Thanks for you response.
We are still very perplexed by the whole damages question as we know that our tenants will not pay for damages as they go along and by the time the tenancy ends the cost of the damages may well exceed the deposit so we could end up with serious losses. Under the terms of our tenancy agreement losses/damages are supposed to be paid for when they occur to ensure that there is a full deposit at the end of the tenancy. How can we enforce this? how is all this supposed to work under the TDI?

[jeffrey]

Why not cap your losses by serving s.8 Notice under g12/g13 and trying to terminate thereunder?

[wimbledonestates]

Thanks,
could you give me the link to these please??

[jeffrey]

Thanks,
could you give me the link to these please??
Try http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/Home.aspx, then find Schedule 2 to Housing Act 1988.

[Sportingdad]

It is very hard to let someone out of a tenancy mid-term as this could possible lose you thousands..so do not , that is why you drew up a tenancy in the first place........but once again it shows that on student/house share a guarantor must be taken for each individual tenant.