problem with deposit and letting agency - advice needed please :)

gorgeouslatinrose

hi, was just wondering if anyone could give some info on this situation.
basically i have moved into a student house ( halfway throught the tenancy) and the room im in has some damage done to the room. The girl who was responsible for the damage moved out before the girls got back in one day, told the letting agency she was leaving and paid the rent and leaving fee. Apparently she had told the girls she was leaving, but it happened really fast. Anyway she demanded her deposit back, and the girls ( who were rather naive) were told by the letting agency to give her back the deposit. They told them there was damage and unpaid bills which was why they were holding the deposit back, but the letting agency told them to pay the girls money back anyway and they would sort out the damage with the landlord . Due to this the girls not very cleverly believed the letting agency and paid her deposit back. However 2 months later and the damage had not been repaired, they contacted the girl but she ignored everything, answered no calls and letters were left unanswered. During this time another girl moved in and left, and when it came to signing my papers to move in , the letting agency had a go at the girls about the damage and signing the paper and insisted they had no said to sign the deposit slip. To save more embarrassment with the way the letting agency were acting, they agreed to fix the damage themselves, but it has now emerged there was more damaged done than they thought. Now they are faced in the position of paying a lot to repair her damage, due to the letting agency telling them to sign the slip. I know they should not have done this and there is probably not much they can do, but I just wondered if we could still get any money to repair the room from the girl, or whether we could try and take it up with the letting agency? I understand signing the paper makes it difficult, but this letting agency is one of the main student lettings and has a reptuation for being rude and difficult to deal with, especially to students. Any help appriciated, thanks.

clutton_2

a few paragraphs would make this much easier to read ....

Ste_C

It'll take more than a few paragraphs for me.

I'm totally lost. Is this an extract from a MENSA test question?

barnaby-bear

gorgeouslatinrose wrote: »

hi, was just wondering if anyone could give some info on this situation.
basically i have moved into a student house ( halfway throught the tenancy) and the room im in has some damage done to the room. The girl who was responsible for the damage moved out before the girls got back in one day, told the letting agency she was leaving and paid the rent and leaving fee. Apparently she had told the girls she was leaving, but it happened really fast. Anyway she demanded her deposit back, and the girls ( who were rather naive) were told by the letting agency to give her back the deposit. They told them there was damage and unpaid bills which was why they were holding the deposit back, but the letting agency told them to pay the girls money back anyway and they would sort out the damage with the landlord . Due to this the girls not very cleverly believed the letting agency and paid her deposit back. However 2 months later and the damage had not been repaired, they contacted the girl but she ignored everything, answered no calls and letters were left unanswered. During this time another girl moved in and left, and when it came to signing my papers to move in , the letting agency had a go at the girls about the damage and signing the paper and insisted they had no said to sign the deposit slip. To save more embarrassment with the way the letting agency were acting, they agreed to fix the damage themselves, but it has now emerged there was more damaged done than they thought. Now they are faced in the position of paying a lot to repair her damage, due to the letting agency telling them to sign the slip. I know they should not have done this and there is probably not much they can do, but I just wondered if we could still get any money to repair the room from the girl, or whether we could try and take it up with the letting agency? I understand signing the paper makes it difficult, but this letting agency is one of the main student lettings and has a reptuation for being rude and difficult to deal with, especially to students. Any help appriciated, thanks.

Small claims online but you'll need evidence *She* caused the damage - can the agency confirm this at least.

gorgeouslatinrose

lol sorry, am dyspraxic and dyslexic so am not to good on the writing part and tend to ramble on.
thanks, we will get on to that. The agency have twice told us that the damage was the first girls fault, but whether they will confirm that im not sure, they like to change their minds on what they tell us half the time. They told my house mates the second time a girl moved out they could keep her deposit untill the end of the tenancy, then called us again demanding we hand it back and should have given it 14 days ago.
Not the most helpfull people!