Letting agent in administration

Acdarlin

Hi guys,

Recently I've been searching for a new rental property, and this past weekend found one which I liked through an estate/letting agent called Morgan Randall, based in London.

I've made an offer on the property today and to do so have put down a £400 deposit, which if my offer is declined would be refundable, and if it is accepted would be used to offset against the subsequent 6 week security deposit.

Subsequent searching this evening (which in hindsight I should have done first) has found that the company entered into a Company Voluntary Arrangement back on 15/10/2008, and have entered administration as of 23/11/2009. Naturally, this wasn't highlighed to us at the time but is confirmed by Companies House.

I should find out tomorrow if the offer has been accepted by the landlord, and if it has I am due to pay the rest of the deposit / first month's rent by the end of the month (totalling somewhere in the region of £3k). I would be due to move in shortly after.

Naturally this has got me concerned the company will go insolvent at some stage over the next few weeks, and with it the potential to lose the security deposit and rent placed with the agent.

Does anyone have any advice on how I should proceed?

Jowo_2

Any agreement or contract that you have is actually with the landlord -agents are mere intermediaries, your legal relationship is with the landlord who they represent. My understanding is that landlords remain responsible for the return of deposits when agents abscond or squander them. Do you have a receipt or proof of payment of what you've paid to date.

Companies House list the administrator - contact them for advice.

Practitioner name:PAPANICOLA, TPractitioner address:BOND PARTNERS LLP
THE GRANGE
100 HIGH STREET
LONDON
N14 6TB

Fire_Fox

I would ask for written confirmation that my holding deposit is in a separate client account OR is passed to the landlord for safekeeping immediately. The landlord is certainly legally obligated to lodge and return your damage deposit but I wouldn't want to bank on the landlord being legally obligated to return a holding deposit.

Acdarlin

Thanks for your quick response Jowo. Yes I ensured I got a receipt from the company emailed over to me after I paid, and everything discussed so far (offer etc.) has been done via email, so I have a full audit trail.

Firefox - good plan, I shall do this first thing tomorrow morning.

Acdarlin

Anyone else have any further comments?

Jowo_2

It's not the type of query that comes up on this forum which is fairly generalist. You might be better posting it on the Landlordzone forum as some of their members are housing solicitors.

So does the agent belong to a professional body, such as ARLA, which insists that its agents protect their clients money? And did the administrators have any advice for you?

By the way, an agent is obliged by law to provide the landlords address within 21 days of a written request. I'd be trying to wheedle the landlords address out of them at this stage.