The Court Service has published guidance setting out that the proper route for bringing claims under the Tenancy Deposit Provisions of the Housing Act 2004 is via Part 8 of the Civil Procedure Rules.

Key points to note are:

• these claims are automatically allocated to the multi-track which means that legal costs are recoverable irrespective of the size of the claim;
• the claim must be commenced on a form N208 and not the standard N1 claim form;
• the claim cannot be commenced using the moneyclaim online service;
• the Claimant is required to serve a witness statement with their claim form setting out their evidence;
• the Defendant is required to serve a witness statement with its aknowledgment of service setting out its evidence;
• failure to serve witness statements at the appropriate times will preclude reliance onm evidence save by permission of the Court

A great many claims are currently not being commenced correctly and are not having the appropriate procedure followed.  While it is unlikely that a claim will be struck-out for following the improper procedure, a defendant may be precluded from giving evidence and there may be costs implications for both parties if the correct procedures are not followed.