Nightmare housemate kept my deposit - help!!

bobwilson

I posted a related topic, but it became confused as developments happened, so I'm hoping this will be clearer.

We rented a flat in London. At the end of my tenancy, the landlord kept £500 for damages that were there before we moved in. I understand this has to be claimed through MyDeposits.

The estate agent transferred the entire remaining deposit into my ex housemate's bank account without my permission. My ex housemate has now run off with my share.

So I currently have 2 battles: I have to claim back from the landlord, and from my ex housemate.

I had a smaller room, between the landlord and ex housemate, I'm currently just under £500 out of pocket, in total.

I suspect the ex housemate thinks its ok to keep my share to reimburse herself for the amount the landlord kept, leaving me with the hassle of claiming against the landlord all by myself.

My ex housemate isn't responding to emails texts or phone calls, and I don't know where she now lives.

Regarding the money held by my ex-housemate, what can I do? Legally, is it the estate agent's responsibility to chase her, or mine?

Thanks

princeofpounds

Bob, you are right the situation is confused but I'm not sure starting another thread will help, one about the LL and one about the co-T. Your main problem, as I see it, is trying to figure out which one of the two to sue. You cannot pull apart the two issues until that is understood.

Best to refresh the original thread with a new summary IMO.

ValHaller

Previous thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4576309. Suggest everything to that thread.

bobwilson

This is what I'm asking - who should I sue. Who's responsibility is it all. It looks to me like 2 separate issues, with 2 ways of looking at one of them:

Issue 1: "Remaining deposit not received by myself"

1. Estate agent should never have transferred my deposit to a different tenant's account. Particularly considering that tenant had only been there 3 months, and had never paid any deposit toward the estate agent and she isn't even named on the MyDeposits protection scheme for the flat (only myself and other flatmate are). It is surely estate agents responsibility to reimburse my deposit to me.

2.) The ex-tenant ran off with my money and it is her responsibility to reimburse my deposit to me.

Either of the above - I'm asking which.


Issue 2: "landlord kept £500 of deposit for damage that was there before". This should be discussed by *all tenants* and claimed through mydeposits.

The biggest complication is that my ex flatmates are ignoring me, and I don't know how to get past that. If they would just talk to me and give me my share, we could work towards claiming back from the landlord.

So, my question is regarding issue 1- what is the way forwards?

happycamel_2

Issue 1) I'd chase the EA, write a proper letter addressed as a complaint at they haven't refunded your deposit to you. The fact they gave money to someone else is irrelevant in my opinion.

Issue 2) you need to raise a deposit via the deposit holding company. The procedure should be on their website.