fake landlord, what do we do?

clairebear85

Hi,
This is what's happened.
In August 09 me and my boyfriend contacted an estate agents about a flat for rent. We were told to contact the landlord (Mr A) directly to view it, so we did.
When we decided to move in we filled out all the estate agents forms and paid them a deposit of £750, and decided on a moving in date. We were then told by the estate agents that all future contact would be direct with Mr A, who was living in the property at the time.
We eventually moved in to the flat and we paid Mr A cash in advance for the first month's rent, and signed a contract for 6 months.
The oven didn't work, so Mr A told us to contact Mr B. After contacting Mr B, it became apparent that not only was he the actual landlord of the property, he didn't even know we'd moved in there!!!
He was very good about it though and agreed we could stay there under the same terms as the contract. Mr A and Mr B know each other.
After a couple of months living there, we tried to contact Mr A as we hadn't recieved copies of the contract yet. Nothing.
When the 6 months were nearly up we contacted Mr B and signed another 6 month rolling contract with him.
Around this time we contacted the estate agents to find out how to get our deposit back. They said they'd given it to Mr A, and that he'd put it in a scheme, they told us which scheme and gave us the number.
We contacted all 3 schemes and none of them have the deposit.
A few days later Mr A phoned us to see if we wanted to renew our contract with him (???) so we asked him where the deposit was, he gave us the same info he'd given the estate agents, then said he'd check and get back to us.
Our 6 month contract with him is over now, he hangs up the phone whenever I manage to get hold of him, he's obviously not protected the deposit, what do we do?
I went to see the estate agent today but he was a tw*t, wasn't interested at all, just told us to withhold the deposit money from the last month's rent, but that's not fair, it's Mr A that owes us, not Mr B.
Really sorry for the massive essay but does anyone know what we should do?
Is there any point chasing the estate agents for the money, as we paid it to them and they've given it away?
Or should we go after Mr A?
Mr B is giving us advice and speaking to the estate agents and Mr A but it's not really his problem.
Aaarrgh.

poppysarah

What does the receipt say?

clairebear85

It says the estate agents name and address at the top, then the address of the property and the date, my boyfriends name, amount £800 chq deposit and admin fee and a signature

thanks for replying

nuttyp

hi, just to clarify, did you give the deposit to the estate agent or the mr A?? If its the estate agent then the omus is on them to repay you and then claim the money back from Mr A. The fact that Mr A has let the property to a 3rd party will of course go against him as well. Sounds a bit too fishy to me........

Is the estate agent a sole trader or is it part of a large chain?? Can you say what sort of area you are in??

Jowo_2

Not worth chasing the estate agent - they are mere intermediaries for the landlord - and your contract is with the landlord so the agent is irrelevant (even though the agent may sign a contract, they do so on behalf of the landlord).

Who are you paying the rent to and who do you currently have a signed contract with?

Who owns the property (not particularly relevant to your case as ownership doesn't necessarily determine who is the landlord as mesne, intermediate, landlords are legit)? You can download ownership documents from the land registry for about £3.

clairebear85

I'm not sure if the estate agent is a chain, but it has a couple of offices.
We gave the deposit to the estate agents, then they've since told us they gave it to Mr A as he "proved" he would protect it.
We're near Manchester.
Do you think the estate agent is at fault?

clairebear85

The first 6 months the contract was with Mr A, but the rent went to Mr B when we found out he was the owner of the property.
We now have a new contract with Mr B.
God this sounds awful doesn't it.

poppysarah

I'd assume whoever signed the receipt for the deposit is responsible for it...

could be wrong though ... ring shelter and ask perhaps

BitterAndTwisted

If Mr A and Mr B know each other then I would do exactly as the agent advised and withhold payment of the rent at the end of your agreement and let the two of them sort what is owed to whom between them. You paid the deposit to who you thought was the correct party in good faith and you want it back. End of. Out of good manners I would probably tell Mr B that you intend to withhold the rent in lieu so he's forewarned that he needs to get the funds from Mr A.

G_M

we contacted Mr B and signed another 6 month rolling contract with him.

What's a ' 6 month rolling contract'?
Do you have an address for MrA?

Either way, I'd write to Mr B, who is your landlord now, asking which deposit scheme your deposit has been lodged with. Enclose a copy of the receipt from the letting agent as well as an extract of the deposit law ie from here.

As Mr A & B know each other, that should start an interesting discussion between them!

ps - how much is your monthly rent? Is it as much as the £750 deposit?

Fire_Fox

Who is this Mr. A - an ex-tenant?? Did Mr. B know anything about the flat being advertised to let? Please stop dealing with this verbally or in person, you need to form a paper trail which means communicating in writing by recorded delivery - if your letters are not signed for you can send two copies from different post offices getting a 'proof of posting' each time.

Under normal circumstances your landlord (who can only be Mr. B as he owns the flat) would be legally responsible for returning your deposit and for the actions of his agent. HOWEVER it doesn't sound like the agents were acting on behalf of the landlord so I cannot see how Mr. B can be held liable. You should certainly NOT withhold rent as that would put you in breach of the second legitimate tenancy agreement.

You might try taking Mr. A to the small claims court if you have a correct postal address for him, can you get one from Mr. B and do a little detective work to prove he does live there? Or you might try reporting the letting agents to their trade association if they are registered or head office (use the formal complaints procedure) if they are part of a chain, arguably they were negligent in taking instruction from someone who did not own a property AND releasing your deposit without making the appropriate checks. I'd look to explore both avenues.