Potential loss of entire rental deposit

schnide

Morning All

Last November I began renting a property in London. We paid the deposit to the letting agent as well as the first month's rent. Six months later, after continous problems with the property, the landlord and I agreed to end the contract early.

We have now moved out, and I'm expecting the deposit back via the letting agent. The check-out inventory has revealed no problems so I am expecting the full deposit back. But the letting agent asked me if I had a receipt for the deposit from the third party holding company, and I don't.

I have since found out that one of the two men behind the letting agency left recently under acrimonious circumstances. The one remaining hasn't explicitly said, but there's the strong implication that the other guy may have run off with the deposit and never paid it in.

I have asked the remaining agent for an update but haven't heard anything yet. Given that this involves £2.3k, I'm getting slightly anxious and am not sure what my options are. If I'm not the only person this has been done to, and it's been happening since November, my concern is the company may not have funds to compensate us and just fold the company, leaving me stranded.

Does anyone know where I stand and what I can do?

With sincere thanks as always -

schnide

Jowo_2

The landlord is responsible for returning the deposit - the agency represents them but doesn't replace their obligations. Your tenancy was actually with the landlord, the agents are mere intermediaries.

A letting agent is obliged to inform a tenant of the landlord's address (which you'll need for any future court action) within 21 days of a written request. Get the landlord's address now if you don't know it but the agency sounds like a completely rogue outfit so perhaps they won't cooperate as they'll not want the landlord to know they've ripped them off.

What was your annual rent? Did you have an AST or another kind of let? Was the tenancy protected in a tenancy deposit scheme?

mqandy

Try and find at least some sort of proof - like a chequebook stub or bank statement - then write a demand for payment FAO The Landlord, via the agency.

You could optionally state that if you do receive payment within 15 days, you will issue a claim through the county courts.

Might be worth reading up on the moneyclaim.gov.uk website - allows you to make the above claim online, uploading your evidence, etc.

Let us know what happens!

lizzielondon

proof wise my deposit receipt is on the front page of my contract? all of mine from different agents have been like that- have you looked?

sequence

You need some proof as the others have said.

For example you could use a bank state that shows the payment of X amount the agents.

Don't forget to sue for 3x penalty for not protecting the deposit!

Remember your contract is always with the landlord not the agents.

N79

sequence wrote: »

Don't forget to sue for 3x penalty for not protecting the deposit!

Only if the deposit needed protecting - this is London. Jowo has already asked the relevent questions but we don't know the answers yet.

TheBrutalTruth

N79 wrote: »

Only if the deposit needed protecting - this is London. Jowo has already asked the relevent questions but we don't know the answers yet.

Eh?

What does that mean "This is London"?!?!?

The Tenancy Deposit Scheme covers England and Wales, which includes London last time I checked. TDS covers tenancies from 6 April 2007, which would therefore include this tenancy.

Your first stop is the TDS. Contact all 3 to confirm that it is not held with them.

(i) If it is held, then initiate the TDS procedures to get your money back
(ii) If it isn't, take the LL to the small claims court to get your deposit back, plus 3 times compensation.

Jowo_2

TheBrutalTruth wrote: »

Your first stop is the TDS. Contact all 3 to confirm that it is not held with them.

.

No, it's not. The first stop is for the OP to confirm the annual level of rent - TDS legislation does not apply to rent above 25k (though I understand this has been raised recently). The deposit cited by the OP is very steep and indicates the rent could be high.

N79

TheBrutalTruth wrote: »

Eh?

What does that mean "This is London"?!?!?

The Tenancy Deposit Scheme covers England and Wales, which includes London last time I checked. TDS covers tenancies from 6 April 2007, which would therefore include this tenancy.

Your first stop is the TDS. Contact all 3 to confirm that it is not held with them.

(i) If it is held, then initiate the TDS procedures to get your money back
(ii) If it isn't, take the LL to the small claims court to get your deposit back, plus 3 times compensation.

London has high rents so many tenancies are not ASTs. The TDS ONLY covers ASTs and not all tenancies, as you mistakenly think and state in your post.

schnide

These forums are utterly indispensable. Thank you for all replies - to answer your questions:

Jowo wrote: »

The landlord is responsible for returning the deposit - the agency represents them but doesn't replace their obligations. Your tenancy was actually with the landlord, the agents are mere intermediaries.

A letting agent is obliged to inform a tenant of the landlord's address (which you'll need for any future court action) within 21 days of a written request. Get the landlord's address now if you don't know it but the agency sounds like a completely rogue outfit so perhaps they won't cooperate as they'll not want the landlord to know they've ripped them off.

What was your annual rent? Did you have an AST or another kind of let? Was the tenancy protected in a tenancy deposit scheme?

The rent was £1668.84 per month x 12 months so £20,026.08. I will check the paperwork to be sure but I'm 95% it was an AST. The tenancy was meant to be protected by the deposit scheme, hence me being asked for a receipt (I hope I've understood that point correctly).

I do have a breakdown of the funds we first transferred to the agency - the agency fees, the first month's rent and the deposit. I've also got the landlord's address - because he lived on the floor below us (much to our slight annoyance - on one occasion, he asked to break the 24 hour notice period for entering the flat, but that's just the tip of the iceberg for issues we had with the place, hence wanting to leave early).

Please let me know what else you might need to know - as I say, this help is invaluable and thank you all.

schnide

N79

Good. So you need to find out if your deposit was protected (sounds unlikely) and if not then you will need to take your LL to court for the return of your deposit. At the same time you can threaten you LL with a claim for 3x the deposit but, unless we get some new high court cases soon, you LL will be able to defeat the 3x claim by returning the deposit to you. However, this would, of course, be a result.

Technically we need to check that the property was your main residence (or, in the case of joint Ts, was the main residence of at least 1 of the individual Ts) but I'm sure this was the case!

Finally, just a check that you did not agree to let the LL retain your deposit as part of the conditions for ending the contract early?