Deposit woes

MercMan

As some of you may know the letting Agent I used to find my flat has shut up shop. I now know some more details, which are:

He closed the business and emptied the client's deposit account. The LL did not recieve the deposit. The agent has now opened another agency but is saying that it was his business partner who took the deposits. The business partner says she didn't and is accusing him of taking the deposits and is seeking legal advice. She has mentioned geting the Police involved. Anyway the upshot is my deposit has been nicked and my LL has no deposit on the flat. I have a reciept from the Agent stating I have paid the deposit in May when I moved in.

What is my legal position? Does this mean that the LL is in breach of the law as the deposit is not protected? If I want my deposit back how do I go about it as it has "disappeared"? Could I get the Police involved e.g. theft or fraud? Or is it down t the LL to pursue it?

BitterAndTwisted

As the agent had a contract with the landlord was acting on the their behalf I would have thought that it's the LL's job to repay your deposit and chase the agent for the lost/stolen monies, not you.

Was the letting agent a limited company or a partnership?

Jowo_2

It is the landlords responsibility - the Letting Agents failure to honour their separate contract he held with them to manage the property is his issue to deal with. Your contract has always been with the landlord, even if the LA acted on his behalf and signed documents to represent him.

Tell the landlord that he must protect your deposit and notify you which tenancy deposit scheme he lodges it in. Request that he does this asap. Let him know that the courts can order a landlord to pay x3 the sum of the deposit to the tenant as compensation for their failure to protect it.

Some landlords simply dont realise that if their agent mucks up (absconds with the deposit or doesn't sort out the gas safety certificate, for example), its their problem to resolve and that even with an agent in place, the primary legal relationship remains between landlord and tenant - the agency is an irrelevance.

chappers

As just said above the AST contract is between you and the landlord, the LA is just that, the landlords agent, they will have a seperate contract between themselves as to their rights and responsibilities.
I would send a polite letter to the LL saying you are sorry that the LA has not passed on the deposit, but that you have a recipt and you want the deposit protecting are you sure the deposit hasn't been protected as most agents will do this on the LL behalf.

Jowo_2

Good point - you should be able to check with each of the 3 schemes to double check if its been protected.

MercMan

The LA protected the deposit but withdrew from the scheme when the LA folded. The LL is supposed to be sorting out a DPS.

chappers

I assume it was with one of the insurance backed schemes then not sure what happens in this case, might be worth giving them a call