Deposit

scamp1977

Hi, I'm new to the forum so apologies if something similar has been posted previously.

Myself and my OH received notice that our old letting agency had been bought over and the new company were organising a new lease.

We're due to sign this new lease tonight.

The girl at the letting agency called me this afternoon to confirm the appointment and advised on the phone that there will be a clause in the contract to say that we may not get our deposit back.

It seems that the owner of the old letting agency hasn't transferred any of the deposit monies he collected from renters and the new company don't have the spare money to pay them. And apparently this fly guy has now fled to Thailand.

Any advice on this would be much appreciated!

G_M

Your tenancy agreement is with the landlord, NOT the agency. What name is on your current contract? Check the Land Registry for £4 to see who owns the property.

What tenancy do you currently have? The fact that a new agency (or even a new landlord) has taken over does not alter the validity of your current tenancy. If you have a Fixed Term tenancy, nothing needs to change except perhaps who you pay the rent to, until the current tenancy ends.

If you have a periodic tenancy (month by month) the same applies - you can simply continue the same tenancy. I suspect they are using this as an excuse to increase the rent?

As for the deposit, again, you are owed this by the landlord NOT the agency. If you are in England and started the tenancy after 2007 the deposit should be protected by the LANDLORD (or the agent ON HIS BEHALF) in a scheme. Was it?

So
1) check who is your landlord. Has the landlord changed? The change of agent is just a matter between the landlord and he agent - not you.
2) check where your deposit is. Check yourself with each scheme
3) do NOT sign anything till you have checked all the facts

BitterAndTwisted

The final responsibility for your deposit rests with the landlord, regardless of what the previous agents actually did with it. If your tenancy started after April 2007 by law it would have to have been registered with one of the three deposit-protection schemes: MyDeposits, TDS or DPS. I suggest that you get onto each scheme's website right away and double-check. Don't sign anything absolving anyone from responsibility for your deposit until you know one way or the other what has happened to your money