House deposit not returned

Xeorix

I recently graduate in June and left my student accomodation early July. Our contract ran until August 31st. Once the rent was up, we were given 3 weeks to hand in copies of all final bills.

It is now nearly 2 months since our contract expired and over 4 months since we moved out and handed the keys in and we still do not have our deposits back.

I have contacted our letting agency and they say "its a long process...we've moved you up the pile...you should have had it by now...the lead tenant gets the letter first, your not the lead tenant (when I am)....we will call you back (and they don't)"

This is getting far beyond a joke now with a deposit of £300 owed to 5 graduates.
Not to mention the numerous problems we had with the house that became apparent after we moved in.

The house had no bins anywhere, we had to buy our own when they should be provided to us in accordance with the Landlord regulations.
The door to the basement was unlocked and open, it was only after I told them I had been down there that it should be locked as one of their employees fell through the stair and broke their leg.
The carpets were dirty, stained and mouldy after being told they will be cleaned as stated in their contract.
The bathroom was dirty, toothpaste stains on floor, mouldy shower curtain (we had to go buy our own)
All lightshades had been removed, had to buy our own
Bedroom curtains mouldy.
Then after winter we had a mouse problem. Informed the agency and they took 2 weeks to sort it out. When they did, they informed the council who took care of it but they also sent one of their own guys who put poison down on the kitchen floor.
We rang up asking for them to remove the poison several times, however it was still there when we left 4/5 months later.
Oven was left grimey and dirty when we moved in

I have called them twice today and the are not picking up the phones. Can anyone recommend me something to do so they get their !!!!!! in gear? If they dare have the cheek to remove money from our deposit I will go mental since the house was left in a no worse condition than when we arrived. It was probably in a much better state as we gave it one hell of a clean 1 month before leaving.

jayss

Which scheme is your deposit protected by? Have you requested the return from the scheme or just through the agent?

If you are lead tennant you should be able to go direct to the scheme.

Fire_Fox

You definitely need to find out which deposit scheme your money was lodged in, and also to mentally separate the poor service you had during the tenancy from the issue at hand. Have you written a recorded delivery letter yet? Phone calls clearly are not effective.

blackmidnight

I was about to post a very similar thread - it's been over a month since we moved out of our flat and still no sign of deposit. Would be interested in responses.

Might be a stupid question but how do you find out what scheme your deposit is in?