Deposit gone missing

BitterAndTwisted

Do not rely on any assurances not made to you in writing. They can deny it later and landlords often do. That is the purpose of writing now if you haven't done it already. Are they aware of the water-ingress since you moved in?

Condensation and the resultant mould can be a health-hazard so under the circs I would be rather more alarmed about that than any deposit. There are ways and means to force your landlord to undertake necessary repairs and the writing of letters with proof that you have sent them (two copies by first-class post, sent from two different post offices, retaining proof of postage) is merely the first step in the process. This is why it has been suggested you do this now. If you have previously written to them, mention your previous correspondence and the date/s in the latest letter.

PedroOrange

Update on this:

The Letting agent (LA) paid the deposit money over to management company A (MCA), who have since done a runner with the money. The deposit was protected when we moved in with mydeposits.co.uk, and the landlord holds the money under this scheme. The problem is that the LA (wrongly) named a director of MCA as the landlord on our Assured Tenancy Shorthold (which we signed), and this same person was named on the certificate from mydeposits.co.uk (which was never sent to us but I have managed to obtain an unsigned copy of from mydeposits.co.uk).

When I rang the LA to ask them about this they said that they’re “not really sure who the landlord is”. Basically they keep trying to fob me off, and have been saying for months that I will not get my deposit back unless I can successfully chase MCA. Thanks to Management Company B (MCB) I have managed to obtain contact details of the actual landlord, and an email address through google as he works for a big company in Ireland. We have moved out of the property (end of May) and MCB have agreed that we should be returned our deposit in full (we followed the advice in this thread, so many thanks to everyone for that).

So my question is what should be my next move? I suspect that the landlord is unaware of any of this so I am tempted to email him and copy in the letting agent. Alternatively I could begin a dispute on mydeposits.co.uk, but as the landlord is not named on it, and the LA are the ones really at fault I’m not sure if this is the right way to go. Does anyone have any advice?

may_fair

Contact MyDeposits before doing anything else. They have time limits to raise a dispute and you don't want to miss the deadline.

Have you checked on the Land Registry website as to who is the owner of the rental property?

may_fair

PedroOrange wrote: »

The problem is that the LA (wrongly) named a director of MCA as the landlord on our Assured Tenancy Shorthold

I don't understand how the letting agent cannot know who instructed them to let the property.

If it was MCA and MCA have been receiving rent, then MCA was in fact your landlord. The owner of the property may not have been aware of anything. Sounds like possible fraud on the part of MCA - I would consider informing the police if you think MCA have been acting dishonestly.

Is MCA a limited company? If so, has it gone bust?

PedroOrange

Mydeposits deadline is 3 months so not urgent just yet.
!
MCA have definitely been acting fraudulently, they have ran
off with the rent money, website has disappeared, no one knows what has
happened to them. I think various people are trying to recover money from them,
including the owner (this guy who lives in Ireland).
!
Not sure who instructed LA to let property, it may well have
been MCA, and we were paying rent to MCA. But surely they’re just agents
acting on behalf of the owner/landlord? MCB have taken over since MCA
disappeared and they have instructed me that the Ireland guy is the landlord,
but we were paying our rent to MCB, not him.
!
Not checked on Land Reg. Would that give a definitive answer
as to who the landlord is?
!
ImportantDraftsSent

PedroOrange

Sorry for the !s, having to post on my phone

may_fair

PedroOrange wrote: »

!
Not sure who instructed LA to let property, it may well have
been MCA, and we were paying rent to MCA. But surely they’re just agents
acting on behalf of the owner/landlord?

Only if the owner instructed them to act on his behalf.

Not checked on Land Reg. Would that give a definitive answer as to who the landlord is?

It would tell you who the owner is - not necessarily the same as the landlord if the landlord didn't instruct MCA.

PedroOrange

Are you saying the owner may have instructed MCA to act as landlord rather than as his agent? In which case my claim would be against them, and as they have disappeared I would lose my deposit money?

jjlandlord

PedroOrange wrote: »

Are you saying the owner may have instructed MCA to act as landlord rather than as his agent? In which case my claim would be against them, and as they have disappeared I would lose my deposit money?

You said that the director of MCA in person is stated to be your landlord on your agreement rather than MCA, the company.

If so, I would think that the fate of MCA is not relevant to your purpose (recovering the deposit). Though it would also mean that the rent would be due to that director person...

PedroOrange

Yes it is the director of MCA who was named as landlord. I thought this was incorrect as MCB do not operate in this way. Basically I need to ascertain who the landlord really was. MCB have told me that it is Ireland Guy (IG), so surely my claim is against him? I thought the whole point in this scheme was to ensure tenants recover their deposits when they have done nothing wrong!