Letting Agent bust and no contact details for landlord, help!

terryw

rantingbadger wrote: »

I'm confident that this is the correct account as we've had no trouble for the last few months. Got his name and address now so will do some snooping, ideally I would find a number but that is proving to be difficult.

I would make all communications IN WRITING and obtain certificates of posting of all letters in case this gets messy.

molerat

Have you checked your deposit yet, it does not matter to you if the agent has done a bunk with it as it will be the landlords loss !!
Assuming England - http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/paying_for_a_home/tenancy_deposits/deposit_protection_and_tenancy_deposit_schemes

AlexMac

Trusting though you may be, you have no (statutorily required) evidence that your deposit has been held in a protection scheme (so the landlord could be penalised for this alone, although they'd probably plead bent/bust agent) nor that your rent is really going to the owner,

so I'd withold rent and keep it safe while simultaneously writing to the landlord in reasoned and courteous terms saying why you are anxious to safeguard his money (ha-ha), pref recorded delivery via his/her bank (easily identified by sortcode at http://findsortcodes.co.uk/) explaining and asking the bank to pass on the (maybe open) letter so they know what's happening and that it isn't some stalker?

Or just sit on the money without doing the LL any favours. They've nopt done you any, other than letting you the property and cutting you adrift

G_M

* Check each deposit scheme yourself and confirm it is registered.

* If it is not, you could WRITE (letter) to the LL pointing this out and threaten to claim 3 times the deposit as penalty, but this will not endear you to the LL, so first decide what you want. ie to leave, to stay, to get a reference etc

* if it is registered, you have no problem.

* You can leave when the fixed term ends, without notice, but is sensible to give some notice so you can arrange key return, meter reading, and deposit.

More here:

Ending/Renewing an AST (what happens when the Fixed Term ends?)(What is a Periodic Tenancy?)(How can a LL remove a tenant?)(How can a tenant end a tenancy?)

terryw

AlexMac wrote: »

Trusting though you may be, you have no (statutorily required) evidence that your deposit has been held in a protection scheme (so the landlord could be penalised for this alone, although they'd probably plead bent/bust agent) nor that your rent is really going to the owner,

so I'd withold rent and keep it safe while simultaneously writing to the landlord in reasoned and courteous terms saying why you are anxious to safeguard his money (ha-ha), pref recorded delivery via his/her bank (easily identified by sortcode at http://findsortcodes.co.uk/) explaining and asking the bank to pass on the (maybe open) letter so they know what's happening and that it isn't some stalker?

Or just sit on the money without doing the LL any favours. They've nopt done you any, other than letting you the property and cutting you adrift

Far better to send the letters to the landlord's address as shown at the Land Registry which is the address for service of notices. Sending to the bank is no guarantee that it will be passed on.

Guest101

Ultimately it's the LL's responsibility to secure your deposit, so a letter should help identify where your deposit is.

Chances are its not protected, the LL should be concerned, especially if he has multiple properties

Yorkie1

terryw wrote: »

Far better to send the letters to the landlord's address as shown at the Land Registry which is the address for service of notices. Sending to the bank is no guarantee that it will be passed on.

The highlighted bit is not correct. The LR address is not by definition the statutory address for the service of legal notices.

terryw

Yorkie1 wrote: »

The highlighted bit is not correct. The LR address is not by definition the statutory address for the service of legal notices.

You may well be right, but the address registered at the Land Registry
is likely to be the correct address of the landlord in view of the chance of fraud if it is incorrect.

http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/guides/public-guide-2

A copy could also be sent to the last known address as "belt and braces" but this address appears to be an empty estate agents.

At this stage, the OP merely wantsthe landlord to make contact to consider the outstanding matters.