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Bond protection/LL didnt protect and now wont give it back

Hello.

I am having problems getting my bond back from my previous landlord.

We rented a property through a letting agency, to which we paid the 1st month rent to as well as the bond.

The agency put it in a bond protection scheme. The agency then went bust. We got a letter telling us that the bond was now not protected and that the landlord had to re-protect it (and provide us with details) within 60 days or we could take him to court and claim up to x3 the value of the bond.

The landlord obviously lost out too here as he (told us) he never got the bond/rent from the letting agency.

We have now moved out of the property. Before moving out, we, on several occasions, tried to get the landlord to show us he had re-protected the bond. It all came to a head when, on the last day of our tenancy he came round (as we said we were not paying the last months rent until he showed us the bond was protected). We said we felt we could not pay him the rent until be showed us our bond was reported.

He produced a headed letter from Mydisposits.co.uk saying it was. (We didn’t take a copy of the letter). The letter had no details on it. As it was late Friday evening we could not phone the company to check. He then said if he did not get the money he would “get some boys to help us move out”. We took this as a treat and later reported it to the police. In the end we paid the rent as he was letting us move out over the weekend even though the tenancy ended on the Friday.

Now he is not giving us the money back. We have sent him a letter (recorded delivery) and left several messages on his phone. Still nothing.

The next action we feel is to try and take him to court to get the bond back.

Any other suggestions/hints/tips etc

Comments

  • The agent was acting on your landlord's behalf: that is why they are called agents. They are not a separate, discrete entity where your deposit is concerned. That the deposit was not secured in a deposit scheme is not your problem, it is your landlord's. For advice and guidance I think you should get in touch with the CAB and Shelter in the first instance. Your LL sounds like a nasty piece of work and if I lived only three streets away from your previous rental property I'd be concerned about his threats and about what measures he might be prepared to go to. It's always possible that he could try and come up with spurious and expensive costs to offset against the deposit to justify not returning it as well so you should be prepared for that eventuality: so, did you get a signed checkout inventory or anything like that when you left the property?

    I don't envy you in the least
  • tbs624
    tbs624 Posts: 10,816 Forumite
    edited 29 November 2009 pm30 4:10PM
    Check for yourselves that the deposit has not been registered see this link

    Its not your problem that the LA went bust - the LA works for the LL not for the Ts and it is ultimately the LL's responsibility to ensure that your tenancy deposit has been registered and that you have been given the schemes "prescribed information".

    Next step is "letter before action", state this at the top.

    State the tenancy dates, the property address, the dates on which you have made attempts to get resolve so far (fact only, no blather).Amount of deposit, date on which paid.

    Refer to the LA going bust.

    Then state that your understanding is that your tenancy deposit has remained unregistered .despite the requirements of the Housing Act 2004.
    " Would you now please return our tenancy deposit of £ xxx in full within the next 7 working days.
    If we have not received this by (whatever date that 7 days takes you to) we will begin proceedings for recovery in the County Court. This will be a claim for the full deposit, our court costs, plus the penalty payment of 3x the tenancy deposit amount".

    We look forward to hearing from you
    Yours etc

    cc: Private Sector Rental Officer, Mytown Council"
    send two copies to LL - one recorded delivery, one with cert of post . sen done to the PSRO and keep one yourself.
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