Advice please: Shall I go for court claim for my deposit?

Sunnier

I have been demanding the deposit from the letting agent for more than 6 weeks since I returned the keys and still haven't receive anything from them. Initially, they said there will be some deductions from the deposit to cover the cleaning. I asked them to provide details, they didn't. I rang them several times to demand the deposit but was told to wait for the call back because the people responsible was not in or not available.

Last week, I found out that my deposit was not protected by the Tenancy Deposit Protection scheme. I rang their office again to threaten if there is still no response, I will take legal action. One guy then rang me back and told me the cheque with full deposit will reach me early this week because my deposit was not protected. However, I still receive nothing from them. I rang them yesterday, same story as the person is not available and will ring me back. No one rings me back. I wrote them an email this morning to demand again.

I have emails from all 3 deposit protection service confirming my deposit was not protected by them. Should I wait a bit long or go for court claim?

iB1

Whatever your next step is, stop ringing and start writing to the letting agent. You need a paper trail so that someone else can see what is/isn't going on

G_M

Stop ringing. Start writing.

Write to the landlord with whom you have a contract, not the agent who simply works on his behalf. By all means cc the agent.

Write listing ALL the previous phonecalls, emails, letters, promises etc. Include reference to the failure to protect and penalty for this.

Give a deadline (5 working days?) for receipt before you take court action.

Sunnier

iB1 wrote: »

Whatever your next step is, stop ringing and start writing to the letting agent. You need a paper trail so that someone else can see what is/isn't going on

Thanks for your advice. I will write them a demanding letter today.

Sunnier

G_M wrote: »

Stop ringing. Start writing.

Write to the landlord with whom you have a contract, not the agent who simply works on his behalf. By all means cc the agent.

Write listing ALL the previous phonecalls, emails, letters, promises etc. Include reference to the failure to protect and penalty for this.

Give a deadline (5 working days?) for receipt before you take court action.

Actually I don't have the contact details for the landlord. There is only a name on the tenancy and the address is co to the agent.

tbs624

Pay 4 quid to HMLR and check out the LLs address as held there.

BitterAndTwisted

Sunnier wrote: »

Actually I don't have the contact details for the landlord. There is only a name on the tenancy and the address is co to the agent.

Those are the contact details. Just write your letters, one to the landlord c/o the agent and one addressed to the agent. Remind both parties that there are penalties imposed by the courts for non-protection (in case the landlord is not aware of it or that the agents have failed to protect it and they haven't informed the landlord) and give them 5 days to make payment or you'll go to the Small Claims Court and ask the court to impose three times the deposit as penalty. Include your bank details so they can make a BACS payment. This should make them all sit up and take notice.

Sunnier

Thanks all for the advice. I have sent out letters to both LL and agent. I will see...

BitterAndTwisted

Please come back and let us know what happens as this might be useful for other forum-readers

Sunnier

I gave them 5-day notice in the letters and receive nothing so far. What is the next step if there is still no response?

RabbitMad

get over to landlord zone and ask their advice. I suggest a no win no fee solicitor to go for the 3 times deposit penalty. Given the tenancy has ended the only way to defeat a 3 times deposit claim is the return of the deposit.