Landlord problems questions

sooz

Did the estate agent's manage the property? I know you said they did the outgoing inventory. - edit. Just seen the LL lives abroad, so the LA must have been managing.

Did they or the LL register the deposit with the DPS? You can check this online now.

When you do write to them, point out that they failed to comply with The Housing (Tenancy Deposits) (Prescribed Information) Order 2007 following the protection of the deposit.

Full details of what you should have been sent within 14 days (not working days) is at the bottom of the page here

If the EA registered your deposit, copy your letter to ARLA too.

Sazzyukrafc

The estate agents managed the property on behalf of the landlord, they live abroad.

The deposit was registered with the DPS. I've been told this has to be done within 14 days like you said. We recieved it after 14 days, which we only recently discovered after looking at the paperwork.

Thanks Sooz, I will include this in the letter too.

Should I send a letter to the estate agents, DPS and ARLA?

charmed-imsure

I've been renting for years, a previous LL I only paid a £100 deposit to, she came round the day I was moving out & said "you concentrate on the move & I'll help out here with some cleaning" so I thought that was jolly decent of her. A week later, I get a letter saying "I'm not giving you your deposit back because you didn't do any cleaning"!!! I never saw the deposit. What a devious woman she was. I've not had this kind of problem before but I do assume I'm going to experience it with the EA I'm with now, they're completely incompetent & never do anything they say they will. So I'm prepped for a fight on this!

Best of luck & certainly place the same complaint to ARLA too, they don't take kindly to their members letting their tenants down.

Sazzyukrafc

Thanks Charmed, it angers me so much that they have ignored us for two months, but can rent the house out!

It started off well and they seemed really nice. They rented it out because they moved abroad and I think they just can't be bothered to deal with being a landlord!

Sazzyukrafc

I hope that us saying we will be starting legal proceedings will make them return it, otherwise it will mean them having to come back to the UK.

Sazzyukrafc

Can anyone advise me on the fact that the house has since been rented out, so they cannot say we left it in an un-rentable state?

- the house was perfect btw, cleaner than when we moved in!

sooz

Sazzyukrafc wrote: »

Can anyone advise me on the fact that the house has since been rented out, so they cannot say we left it in an un-rentable state?

- the house was perfect btw, cleaner than when we moved in!

Hardly a great arguement as it's now 2 months later. Plus, you yourself said the cat damaged the sofa, & you didn't get anything in writing re the cat or the sofa.

Concentrate on writing to the agent, & copy to ARLA. DPS aren't interested in a copy. Contact the DPS for a single claim form, & fill it in. You will need to pay £5 for it to be witnessed as a statutory declaration, then send it to them.

Sazzyukrafc

Ok thanks I will send off for one of them.

So, because they didn't register any problems with the 14 days, does that mean they cannot do it now? Also, because they have rented it out again, they are saying nothing was wrong with it?

The cats didn't really cause the hole, it was already there, but they would look occasionally mess with it for a while, but they stopped. We weren't too fussed as the landlord was throwing it out and thought we had done the same, and then suddenly decided they hadn't said that when they knew we still had it...

sooz

Sazzyukrafc wrote: »

Ok thanks I will send off for one of them.

So, because they didn't register any problems with the 14 days, does that mean they cannot do it now? Also, because they have rented it out again, they are saying nothing was wrong with it?

No - that is not what I have said.
The LA have not followed the correct procedures.
They did not register your deposit within the correct timescale
They did not give you the required prescribed information within the correct timescale.
They have not followed DPS procedure for notifying you of problems (although your AST may have had a different timescale for deposit return)

You should WRITE to the LA, not call them, & follow the procedure for a single claim process.

Whether or not they re-let the place is of no relevance to you. They might have totally redecorated & refurnished overnight -LOL - you don't know. However, they did not follow correct procedure & inform you in writing of any deductions, & if they did do any work it is now too late to claim this money off you.

Sazzyukrafc

Thanks Sooz - that explains it better than I am trying to! You've summed it up perfectly, I couldn't explain what I was trying to say

I will add all that to my letter to the estate agent and also advise ARLA about what has happened, and state that we are following the single claim process.

Thank VERY much for you advice!