Epic Letting Agent Fail (Deposit Protection)

Bryony84

My partner and I recently got in contact with our lettings agent as we never received a confirmation of deposit protection from them for our property.

They said they would send us over the confirmation, so I expected the TDS paperwork as I have received from previous landlords.

What I actually got was a one line email from their admin department which just bascially says it was registered with the TDS and gives a unique code.

So I went to the TDS site, plugged the code into the 'is your deposit protected' page and got the following:

Tenancy not found, please try again or contact your agent or landlord.

Hmm, well done, any suggestions on what to do next? Not had this problem before!

mynameisdave

Bryony84 wrote: »

Tenancy not found, please try again or contact your agent or landlord.

Hmm, well done, any suggestions on what to do next? Not had this problem before!

Contact your letting agent or landlord?

They are the best place to go to find out why it isnt valid.

AFK_Matrix

Contact the Letting agent?

tbs624

Have you tried searching at TDS with the box below that one, on the off chance that the LA has simply given you an incorrect number? ((Start by giving them the benefit of the doubt)

You need to input rental property postcode, your surname, deposit amount and tenancy start date

The LA is a muppet because he is obliged to give you the scheme's prescribed information plus the evidence that your deposit is actually registered.

If the answer is still "no record" print out a screen dump from the TDS webpage and write to the LA/LL telling them that you are enclosing evidence that the deposit is not in fact registered there as the LA asserted. Tell them that you want it registering within the next 3 working days ( registering can be done online in just a few mins)

Bryony84

To those who said 'contact the LA', that's where the duff code came from... I've sent them an email back anyway to see what they say.

I tried the manual form, but haven't had any luck with the either, partly because the property is in both mine and my partners names (not married) so I'm not sure whose surname it would be under. I did try both separately without any joy.

Bryony84

As far as giving the agents the benefit of the doubt, I would do so if they deserved it, but so far they have caused nothing but trouble and have even trespassed in the property without our permission (took them several days to admit to it, but they did).

GAH

Your letting agent is the only one that can do somthing though. Its either with a scheme or its with them.

Personally, I would go down to the office and demand the truth. You have emailed them, but with that they can just fob you off.

Go down there, kick up a bit of stink, ask to speak to branch manager or owner, im sure things will get sorted bit more quickly.

Bryony84

This is what we did initially, last Saturday, but apparently all deposit related admin is done by head office, not the local branch so they told us they couldn't do anything except send them an email to request the information. Head office hours are only 9 - 5 monday - friday and as we both work 9 - 5.30 week days and it isn't local, we can't go down there and actually speak to anyone which is a pain.

It wouldn't surprise me if they hadn't registered it, when we took the property we were also charged an additional 'contingency deposit' of £120 which was to be retained by them (not protected) and was to be used in case deductions had to be made if contractors were unable to gain access to the property at a booked time. We kicked up a fuss about it at the time, but they told us it was madatory so we paid it and OH is currently looking into discussing that and some other matters (including the trespassing) with the CAB.

tbs624

It sounds as if you are being fobbed off regarding the deposit.

Stop using email and use good old fashioned snail mail. Head a letter "letter before action" - give the tenancy dates, the date on which the deposit was paid across and to whom, and the amount of the deposit.

Tell them that the deposit should, as they know, have been scheme registered and tell them that you have checked with the information they provided but there is no evidence that this has been done as required under the Housing Act 2004, s213-215

As I said above, give them 3 working days to come back with evidence that the deposit is registered and to give you the prescribed information. State in the letter that should you not receive this evidence & information within that time frame you will proceed to the county court and will also ask the court for costs to be awarded. "Head Office" may then get some sense of urgency. If it gets to the date and no suitable response send them a copy of your court claim form. Keep copies of all correspondence and if there is any discussion via phone or in person, follow it up with a letter which confirms your understanding iof what has been agreed.

Ultimately it is the LLs responsibility to refund your deposit/ensure that it gets registered so address a separate copy direct to the LL c/o the LA or direct to the LL.

Once you have got it sorted you may want to drop a line to the Housing Minister and to your local MP so that they can see that there are LLs who are still failing their Ts almost 5 years after the deposit regs came in.

If your LA is accessing the property without your agreement , write telling them that you wish to be present at any/all future visits/inspections, for whatever purpose, and that these are to be agreed with you in writing in advance. You can change the cylinder of the lock, keeping the old one to replace at the end of the tenancy - cost about 10 quid and a straightforward job.

My view is that the "contingency deposit" should also be scheme registered.

Bryony84

tbs624, many thanks, lots of useful info there

Will go ahead with the letter, my usual problem with letters is that we don't have a printer but hopefully work won't mind me printing out one page from there.

Is it down to the LL to sort out the deposit then? Its a full managed property and the rent and deposit were paid to the LA, receipt is from the LA and contingency deposit was taken by the LA. We have a good relationship with our LL so maybe we should be going directly to him?

Regarding the trespassing, there was already a letter stating that we were to be advised in writing of any visits/inspections and there is a note on our account to say that one of us should be present at all times (unless emergency) as we have indoor cats and we don't want them escaping. We have already changed the lock barrel after obtaining permission from LL as per our contract, he was shocked at the practice of the LA.

I agree with you on the contingency deposit, I'm not even sure it should have been taken in the first place as these things should come from the normal deposit.

agrinnall

Maybe you're too young to remember but there was a time (and not that long ago) when nearly all letters were written by hand - you could try that if work won't let you print it.