Tds

rakesh5883

Can I sue my agent for not letting me know within 30 days that they had deposited my money in Deposit Scheme ?

G_M

For not letting you know, or for not depositing?

As for suing - I'm afraid I can't read your contract with your agent, so how do I know?

edit: I assumed you were the landlord? Are you?

If you are the tenant, it is yourlandlord you sue, not his agent.

rakesh5883

Hi,

Thanks. Iam the tenant and the agent did not let me know the details of the deposit scheme where they have deposited.

But , Can I sue them for not informing me (tenant) within 30 days of depositing money ?

Werdnal

rakesh5883 wrote: »

Hi,


But , Can I sue them for not informing me (tenant) within 30 days of depositing money ?

As above, you sue the landlord! The LL is ultimately responsible for ensuring the deposit is secured and the prescribed information supplied to the tenant. If he/she employs someone else to do so, they should ensure that person/agent complies. The fault for not ensuring it is protected lies with the LL, so it is them that you sue.

However, check your tenancy agreement, as many agents supply the prescribed information attached to the contract at the start of the tenancy, and providing they have actually secured the money within 30 days of your payment, and supplied the PI with the tenancy agreement, they may have complied with the regulations.

Assuming you are a relatively new tenant, do you really want to start suing your landlord already? I appreciate they may not have complied with the regs, but a sure fire way to be served notice is to go in with guns blazing within a few weeks of moving in! If the deposit is protected (have you checked all the schemes websites to see if deposit is there) and everything esle seems well with the property, whats the problem?

By the way, the court process for suing for non-compliance goes through a specific legal route - £1K fees to bring the case, although if course, if you are successful, court can award these costs against the LL ... if not, then LL's costs could be awarded against you!


PS I am a little confused as you posted on 8.8.13 that you were moving into a new property the following day? Does this deposit relate to the new property or the one you moved out of?

rakesh5883

Thanks for this information. I moved in on the 5 th Oct 2012 and have moved out of my old house. The agents are acting very cocky about the Professional cleanig stating the house was clean before and not npw, But they do not have sufficient proof to say that was the case and iam goig back and forth. Well, Inlegally complied with the law and returned. the place the sane was as before. !!

So , they need to ask themselves firat if they have followed the rules

1, have you deposited the money wihin 30 dya ? yes they did
2, But did they inform me within 30 days that they did so ? No they did not.

so they are at fault ?

Yorkie1

It seems as though you may be merging two issues, namely: a) whether deductions should be made from your deposit; and b) penalty for non-compliance with the deposit rules.

One is not set off against the other, unless you sued the LL as described above for the return of your full deposit and for non-compliance with the deposit rules. The LL would in that circumstance counter-claim for deductions from the deposit, and the court would look at it all in the round.

Otherwise, the two are kept separate.

And as others say, you do not sue the agent. You sue the LL.

Is there an inventory from when you moved in, signed by you and the LL/agent? What does it say about the cleanliness of the property?

Werdnal

rakesh5883 wrote: »

so they are at fault ?

Yes, but they are employed by the landlord to act on his behalf, so you sue the landlord - how many times do we need to say it? The agent does not work for you, the agent does not protect the deposit on your behalf - they protect it on the LL's behalf and he employs them to do so.

So you sue the person ultimately responsible for ensuring compliance with the deposit protection regs, ie the LL ... That is, if you have £1K and a good solicitor on hand to take the necessary action required to launch the claim.

The deductions issue is completely separate and you need to raise a dispute with the scheme holding your deposit to act on your behalf if you disagree with the amount the agents/LL wish to deduct. The agent/LL has to prove the start and end condition and therefore that you were liable for any costs of damage during the tenancy.

Do it properly and the system will work for you, go off half-cocked, threatening to sue the wrong people and get yourself into a total muddle and you will be the one ending up with a big court bill and nothing to show at the end of it.

Sort out the deposit you are disputing first, THEN, sue the LL if you feel you have the time, money and are sure that the deposit protection prescribed information was not served to you within the requested timescale!

rakesh5883

I have no case agains the Landlord.
My contract clearly says :

The Agent will register with and provide other required information about the tenancy deposit scheme within 30 days of the commencement of the Tenancy and provide proof to the Tenant of compliance. If the agent fails to provide proof within 30 days the Tenant should take independent legal advice from a solicitor, Citizens Advice Bureau(CAB) or other housing advisory service

Werdnal

rakesh5883 wrote: »

I have no case agains the Landlord.
My contract clearly says :

The Agent will register with and provide other required information about the tenancy deposit scheme within 30 days of the commencement of the Tenancy and provide proof to the Tenant of compliance. If the agent fails to provide proof within 30 days the Tenant should take independent legal advice from a solicitor, Citizens Advice Bureau(CAB) or other housing advisory service

Then you take your own legal advice and ignore everything you have been told here ... why bother to ask if you are going to go your own sweet way and ignore all replies. Good luck, let us know how you get on ...

Guest101

Anothe rperson who wont listen to good advice, either sue your landord, or waste money chasing the letting agent

rakesh5883

Thanks Werndal.
I really am concerned about not disturbing the LL primarily because they are equally getting ripped apart in the name of fees by Letting agents.

So, by way of this forum, I seriously want all your inputs so much so that I dont hurt the LL, but at the same timem screw the Letting Agency over because they are not good to you always , and they make a lot of money. !!!!