Getting a rent deposit back

purple_koala

My letting agent have said that my landlady isn't responding to their emails/phone calls regarding the return of my deposit. My letting agent won't authorise it's release from the DPS until my landlady's agreed to it. Tomorrow will be one calendar month since I moved out...am I being too impatient?

Any advice on how I should proceed would be appreciated!

dancingfairy

Do you know which scheme it is lodged with? it might be worth having a look at their website and seeing if there is anything you can do/need to do there.
Also do you think the letting agents can't contact the landlord or do you think they are trying it on? Do you have the personal address for the landlord? I believe if you are in contract the letting agents HAVE to provide you with a proper address for the landlord if you aks but since you have moved out now I'm not sure if they HAVE to but it's worth writing and requesting it from them. Once you have the landlords address you can then write to them reminding them about the deposit.
In theory you should be able to go through the deposit arbitration scheme but I'm not sure whether there is a time limit in which in needs to be sorted within - ie within 30 days of the end of tenancy or something?
If you can't get it back through the tenancy deposit people then you might have to resort to legal action to get your deposit back (which is why you need to get the landlords address).
Best of Luck
df

purple_koala

The deposit is with the Deposit Protection Service. Their responses to my queries have just consisted of quoting a section of their website; either a second attempt at reclaiming the deposit (the letting agent rejected the first), or starting a single claim, which involves getting a magistrate to sign/stamp a declaration stating that I'm entitled to all the deposit back and the "landlord/letting agent" is unreachable. I don't know if I'm entitled to the latter of these since the letting agent has responded; the DPS haven't been helpful in clarifying.

I think the letting agency probably aren't making as much effort to contact the landlady as I'd like. I have recently asked them for her address so I'll wait and see what happens with regards to that. Obviously I want to avoid having to go to court but I'm just not sure what the ideal next steps are.

may_fair

Start the single claim procedure. The statutory declaration can be witnessed by "a Solicitor, Commissioner for Oaths or Magistrate". I believe solicitors charge £5. You just walk in to a solicitor's office and ask them to be a witness. No appointment necessary, no other charges.

And do read through the DPS' FAQ
http://www.depositprotection.com/help/browse/tenant/tenant-single-claim