Deposit Return: What's a reasonable timescale?

kamperkat

Hi there,
We moved out of our rented house on Monday 14th December, we met with the LA that day & he said that we would get our deposit back in 10 working days.
It is now 4 weeks and 1 day :rolleyes: later, and whilst I appreciate that we have had Xmas, New Year (and snow?) in between, I wondered whether I should be taking any further action other than phoning the LA (which we have done ...twice)?
He has said that he has not received the cheque for the deposit scheme yet so he can't give us our money...but I have bills (and a mortgage :j) to pay and i don't think that the time it is taking is reasonable.
Many thanks
Kkx

Fire_Fox

Have you requested your deposit is returned immediately in writing by recorded delivery? Have you checked with the deposit scheme that your money has been released? Why are you dealing with the letting agent when it is the landlord's legal responsibility to return your deposit?

clutton_2

""He has said that he has not received the cheque for the deposit scheme yet so he can't give us our money""

i dont understand this...

DPS for example do their deposit returns via internet banking.. no cheques involved...

if he has used Mydeposits... then the money is already in HIS bank account.....


""Why are you dealing with the letting agent when it is the landlord's legal responsibility to return your deposit?""

if it was the agent who lodged the deposit with a Scheme, then the LL cannot arrange its release, as the LL will not have a Deposit ID number with which to access the website...

kamperkat

Thank you firefox and clutton - yes, we have only ever dealt with the LA not the landlord so it will be our LA that will be returning the deposit (eventually)
Clutton - when my OH said that that the agent had said he was waiting for a cheque I thought it was a bit odd - I thought everyone did everything online now.
The deposit was registered with The Dispute Service - Tenancy Deposit Scheme, does anyone have any experience of them at all?
Many thanks
Kkx

Fire_Fox

IMO it's a red herring who you have dealt with, as stated it is the landlord's responsibility to return the deposit. The letting agent works on behalf of the landlord, so get the landlord to chase his employees to get your deposit back promptly. Who has what deposit ID number is a matter for them to thrash out between themselves and should not be used as an excuse.

dreamalittle

The Dispute Service scheme is insurance-based, anyway, so the agent would have kept the deposit money in their own client account rather than lodging it with the scheme. As long as a dispute hasn't been raised, there's nothing stopping them paying out immediately.

clutton_2

""The Dispute Service - Tenancy Deposit Scheme"" i would call them tomorrow and tell them what you have told us...