Tenancy agreement and deposit

Santiago1_2

Hi,

I have been renting a house for a few years now through an estate agency. I know the landlord personally quite well and in fact whenever I need something (repairs, etc.) to be done, I have to rely on him rather than the agency (they simply relay any request on to him, hence he has himself asked me to contact him directly if something needs to be taken care quickly). The agency seems to be making money for offering a very limited service.

Apparently the landlord is happy to have a direct tenancy agreement with me and end his contract with the agency (and save a bit of money too). My question relates to the deposit which I paid when I moved in. The landlord seems to trsut me and does not wish to receive a deposit at all. Therefore, if their contractual agreement finishes, I assume that I need to collect my deposit (correct?).

Will there be any pitfalls in trying to 'remove' the agency from the picture (obviously, a task for the landlord, not me)? Will there be any issue with me collecting my deposit? And how will I do this?

Any advice will be much appreciated.

Fire_Fox

Where is your deposit at present, is it lodged in one of the three schemes? How you receive it back depends on which one and their procedures, but basically both you and the landlord will need to give consent for it to be released. The landlord may or may not be liable for paying some money to the letting agents or he may be able to cancel the contract penalty free, completely depends on what he signed.

Santiago1_2

From the AST, I can recall that the deposit is lodged with one but I cannot remember the exact title (and I hope it is not a made-up title!). if I had to take a wild guess from this page here: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/DG_066391 I think it is lodged with the TDS. Any idea what this would practically mean?

EDIT: by the way, I just visited the TDS website and it mentions a certificate that I should had received at the beginning of the tenancy. I have not received any such thing.

G_M

The LL (or his agent) should be law have given you a certificate within 14 days of receiving it telling you which scheme the deposit is lodged with.

However, you can check yourself with each scheme to find out.

Each scheme's process is slightly different but basically as long as both you/the LL give consent, the deposit will be released.

If the agenct has kept the deposit it will be up to the LL to retrieve it from them. Although you gave it to the agency, the LL is liable a) for returning it to you and b) for breaking the law by not putting it in a scheme.

Scheme details/contacts here.

Santiago1_2

Thanks for these details. Would you be able to point me to which legislation makes the LL liable for the above? I am happy with him and do not want to create any bad feelings by pointing out he may be liable so if I need to bring this up, I would like to be able to refer to specific laws/regulations to make him understand his resposnibilities (without messing unnecessarily things up).

On a second note, could I simply ring these schemes up, give the address of the property and ask if the deposit is lodged? Do I need any other specific information to have to hand?

Fire_Fox

Simply ring all three deposit schemes and ask - you need address and perhaps both names too. Best way to deal with your landlord is simply to ask him which of the three schemes is holding your deposit so you can apply for it to be released. No need to get all heavy handed with legislation if he is a friend and you don't want to upset him!

Santiago1_2

Thanks for this. When you say both names you mean mine and the agency's or the landlord's?

The legislation would be good to know as a backup (to make sure I don't speak nonsense if I need to take this up with either the estate agents or the landlord), rather than shove it in the landlord's face...

EDIT: Perhaps I should have made it clearer that my impression is that the landlord does not know much about the deposit schemes. He seems to have hired the agency to do all this paperwork on his behalf because he does not want the hassle

Fire_Fox

If you run a search the legislation has been discussed at length, but honestly you are getting ahead of yourself. Find out if your deposit is lodged and then come back to us: we will talk you though the next step. An agency only works on behalf of the landlord not instead of him. It is the landlord's legal responsibility to lodge the deposit and the landlord's responsibility to return it to the tenant at the end (minus any legal deductions). These legal responsibilities cannot be delegated.

http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/rentingandletting/privaterenting/tenancydepositprotection/

tbs624

Fire_Fox wrote: »

If you run a search the legislation has been discussed at length, but honestly you are getting ahead of yourself. Find out if your deposit is lodged and then come back to us: we will talk you though the next step. An agency only works on behalf of the landlord not instead of him. It is the landlord's legal responsibility to lodge the deposit and the landlord's responsibility to return it to the tenant at the end (minus any legal deductions). These legal responsibilities cannot be delegated.

http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/rentingandletting/privaterenting/tenancydepositprotection/

But....... there was an interesting High Court appeal case in Feb 2010 covering this one. Painsmiths acted for the defendant letting agent.

There were 3 points to the case, one of which was whether an LA could be liable for failure to register a deposit.

The Court found against the LA, as the wording of the Housing Act 2005 s212(9)(a) clearly stated that in the section of the Act relating to deposit protection:

"references to a landlord or landlords in relation to any shorthold tenancy or tenancies include references to a person or persons acting on his or their behalf in relation to the tenancy or tenancies…"

See here for further info.

As Painsmiths Blog says:

" Therefore as things currently stand agents are liable for a failure to register the deposit...."

(My underlining)

Fire_Fox

Interesting, Tbs624, thanks!

Santiago1_2

Hello,

I found which scheme the deposit should have been lodged with and called them; in fact, I have called all three TDSs. The deposit has not been lodged with any of them.

What should be my next action given that the tenancy comes to an end at the end of the month and I would not like to have any troubles with the landlord himself?