My deposit for the house I live in

stringer_bell_2

sorry, i have been very busy for two weeks with an interview

right, i moved in 3 years ago this july (with my then partner)

we paid the deposit to the aqgency but the landay dealt with me (any problems etc)

when we had 'heated discussion' where she said most of my deposit would be taken and i replied 'lets see what the small claims court say', she then has started putting everything through the agency

i then got a letter from the above named company stating they were no longer looking after my deposit, which seemed bizzare

stringer_bell_2

anybody got an idea what is happening?

silvercar

The agancy can amanage the property with the deposit held by the landlord or held by the agency or in a scheme. You need to find where your deposit is, with a tenancy 3 years old it is permissible for the landlord to hold the deposit.

Sounds to me like the agency has decided not to get involved in a deposit dispute and passed responsibility back to the landlord (though this could be because the landlord held the deposit at the beginning of the tenancy).

Assume the deposit is with the landlord, ask for a breakdown of the amount being retained. If you don't get a breakdown or you disagree with one provided you try and negotiate. If that fails you write a "letter before action" stating what you agree to and what you don't; give a time to respond say 14 days to allow time for quotes.

If that doesn't work you then need to make a claim in the small claims court.

You do need to follow the process I've outlined, jumping straight to court will ask the judge to query what efforts you have made to settle.

Wickedkitten

have you renewed the contract since you've moved in?

stringer_bell_2

yes, quite a few times

tbs624

stringer_bell wrote: »

I have been renting a nice house for 3 years as I am too lazy to buy

I have had a few run ins with the woman that owns the house due to damage in the garden (my fault but its sorted) and some picture hooks in the wall

a few months ago she said she was within her right to keep all the deposit. i laughed saying i will see what the small claims court say

its 1000 pounds

since then, she has switched the management back to the agency i let it through and i have had a letter from an agency called 'the dispute service' saying they are no longer looking after my deposit

what does this mean?

There are 3 deposit schemes TDS, TDSL(My deposits) and DPS. The first 2 are insurance based schemes , and earlier this year TDS refused to continue to hold deposits from LAs who were not registered with ARLA, RICS, NAEA etc. If this applies to your LA then they should have re-registered the deposit with one of the other 2 schemes.

Whilst the LA's membership of ARLA etc is not a guarantee of Ts not having any problems with them, what it does mean is that they *have* to keep your deposit money in a separate client account. Anyone can currently set up as an LA - if the one that your LL is using is not registered then your deposit money may just be sitting in the LA's own account.Ultimately, the LL is responsible for the repayment of the tenant's deposit, and also for making sure that the deposit is held under one of the 3 schemes: s/he can be ordered to pay the tenant 3x the deposit amount, plus immediate scheme-registraion or deposit return in full to the T, plus costs and interest.

Contact all of the schemes yourself and get written/email confirmation of whether or not your deposit is actually registered link