Estate agent not releasing the deposit to landlord

Annie1960

adeelmpk wrote: »

I have already [this afternoon] used TDP to secure the tenancy deposit and will be providing tenants with the VALID deposit bond certificate shortly.

Good news.

I'm not sure if I explained earlier on, at this point tenants are holding on to the MyDeposit certificate issued by the LA, which they [tenants] still think is a valid certificate. I'm not sure what the their reaction will be when I tell them the certificate they have been holding on to was an invalid one and here is their spanking new and VALID deposit certificate.

Exactly. Which is why I suggested you eat humble pie, explain the situation to them about the LA getting it wrong, you have done everything in your power to put it right etc. And give £25 off rent to apologise for their inconvenience. I realise you have also been inconvenienced, but you are the one who chose the LA, and you are the party with the most power. Just my view, no doubt others will be along soon with a different perspective.


I rung up MyDeposit to find out a bit more why they didn't pick up this error. Due to the lack of screening in their process/system they have no way of knowing who is landlord and who is EA. Any tom, !!!!!! and harry can come and join the scheme and use any name and designation. They don't verify anyone and any property.

Why does this not surprise me? This field is really not regulated very well.

It's only when I escalated this matter to myDeposits they checked the land registry documents and verified I was indeed the landlord and LA have incorrectly registered themselves as LL. At that point they mentioned that the existing tenancy certificate is invalid and I could get in legal trouble.

Legal trouble with whom? If tenants, just be nice to them, as suggested above. If you come clean with them, most reasonable people will understand that you did not do this deliberately.

On another note. I know my tenants are a nice family and very unlikely they will take a legal action out of this mistake and the LA I am dealing with is also a local agency [although internet based] so in case of further issues I guess I may have a door to knock on

Better to put things in writing, in my view.

Any other ideas welcome.

Good luck with this.

nids

adeelmpk wrote: »

I have already [this afternoon] used TDP to secure the tenancy deposit and will be providing tenants with the VALID deposit bond certificate shortly.

Make sure to serve correct PI and Deposit info alongisde!

adeelmpk

nids wrote: »

Make sure to serve correct PI and Deposit info alongisde!

Excuse my ignorance, I've tried hard but couldn't figure out what "PI" stands for ?

adeelmpk

adeelmpk wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance, I've tried hard but couldn't figure out what "PI" stands for ?

Ah got it - You meant Prescribed Information and Clauses guidance document ?

nids

adeelmpk wrote: »

Ah got it - You meant Prescribed Information and Clauses guidance document ?

that's the one!

adeelmpk

Thanks to all the member for the advise and opinions. After some pressured emails and as such the LA have transferred the deposit and I have also served the tenants with their updated deposit bond and Prescribed Information document. All looks well.