Can the Letting Agent Keep the Deposit?

dibdabable

Hi Everyone. My daughter left her current rental premises on the 30th of June this year. There have been no problems with damage/breakages so the Landlord isn't asking for a contribution or anything. We have asked the Letting Agent why the tenants haven't had their deposit back, on behalf of my daughter, who's not well at present.They have said they need proof from the Ultilities companies and Council that all payments are up to date.
One of the tenants she was sharing with dealt with the Water payments, getting payments from each tenant each quarter which worked perfectly well, their Gas and Electric being on a metre. However as all tenants left on the same date she desn't know if she can contact the other tenant to get the info she needs to ask the Water Board to provide a letter.

I thought I would just check that this is necessary or even within the Letting Agencies powers to keep the Deposit in this way. Would really appreciate your comments. Obviously we can find out the contact details of the Water Board (although we may not have the specific Customer Number), if we need to.

anselld

None of those are legitimate reasons to withhold the deposit.
You should find out which scheme the deposit is held in and claim the full amount back via the dispute process of the scheme. This will need to be done by your daughter or, if it was a joint tenancy, whoever was designated the lead tenant.

theartfullodger

The tenant (ie daughter not you..) needs to contact the deposit scheme that has the £££ & raise a dispute: Why hasn't she done this already??

You say "one of the tenants" - was this a joint-and-several tenancy or were they individual let rooms??

Was it just your daughter that left??

How (eg letter, email..& saying what) did she give notice to end the tenancy?? Simply leaving, unless before end of fixed term, does not end a tenancy.

dibdabable

theartfullodger wrote: »

The tenant (ie daughter not you..) needs to contact the deposit scheme that has the £££ & raise a dispute: Why hasn't she done this already??

You say "one of the tenants" - was this a joint-and-several tenancy or were they individual let rooms??

Was it just your daughter that left??

How (eg letter, email..& saying what) did she give notice to end the tenancy?? Simply leaving, unless before end of fixed term, does not end a tenancy.

She hasn't contacted the scheme because as said she's not been well and was told by the Letting Agent they couldn't have their deposit back.

"One of the tenants" was dealing with it because they knew each other as students, they all rented an individual room and shared everything else, they all left at the same time as per the Tenancy Agreement so was a pre decided end date, so notice didn't need to be given again. She went into a Benfits Hub and advised them about leaving so as to inform the Council as regards Council Tax, so that was all above board.
I want to be able to say to the Letting Agent that they don't have the right to keep the Deposit and know that I can quote something or other, my daughter's very unwell, so isn't working now and really needs the money, but we've only just started helping her with this as we were dealing with the more important ill health first.

Pixie5740

So each tenant had his or her own tenancy agreement then rather than one joint tenancy agreement naming everyone?

The utility accounts belong to the account holder, not the property so the LA are talking out of their hoop.

Does your daughter have the prescribed information that was issued when her deposit was protected? The documentation should give a deposit reference number. There's nothing to stop you using it to logging into whichever scheme the deposit is being held with, the website won't know it's not your daughter doing it. Do it sooner rather than later though.

dibdabable

Pixie5740 wrote: »

So each tenant had his or her own tenancy agreement then rather than one joint tenancy agreement naming everyone?

The utility accounts belong to the account holder, not the property so the LA are talking out of their hoop.

Does your daughter have the prescribed information that was issued when her deposit was protected? The documentation should give a deposit reference number. There's nothing to stop you using it to logging into whichever scheme the deposit is being held with, the website won't know it's not your daughter doing it. Do it sooner rather than later though.

No it was a joint tenancy with each person being named on one agreement, does that change anything? Not sure, but doubt she has the reference number. In fact I would imagine they never received anything in writing about the deposit being secured in a scheme.

anselld

dibdabable wrote: »

She hasn't contacted the scheme because as said she's not been well and was told by the Letting Agent they couldn't have their deposit back.

"One of the tenants" was dealing with it because they knew each other as students, they all rented an individual room and shared everything else, they all left at the same time as per the Tenancy Agreement so was a pre decided end date, so notice didn't need to be given again. She went into a Benfits Hub and advised them about leaving so as to inform the Council as regards Council Tax, so that was all above board.
I want to be able to say to the Letting Agent that they don't have the right to keep the Deposit and know that I can quote something or other, my daughter's very unwell, so isn't working now and really needs the money, but we've only just started helping her with this as we were dealing with the more important ill health first.

As an example, Section 08 ...
http://www.depositprotection.com/documents/a-guide-to-tenancy-deposits-disputes-and-damages.pdf

However, the LA has already declined the chance to return the deposit so you really should raise a dispute. That is the whole purpose of the protection scheme.

You need to find out ...
Which scheme it is in.
The details (deposit ID or whatever).
Who is the lead tenant ( will be your daughter if she had an individual room tenancy).

... then get your daughter to contact the scheme and claim. Or do it for her and get her to sign if she's that unwell.

princeofpounds

The LA can say whatever they like. They don't get to decide anything.

The tenant (or lead tenant in a joint tenancy) should go to the scheme their deposit was protected in and claim it all back.

If the LA/LL don't agree with that, they can dispute it.

The dispute is resolved by independent adjudicators.

Start here to learn about the system:

https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/overview

The deposit protection schemes have a wealth of information about disputes and so on, so go to their relevant website too.

anselld

dibdabable wrote: »

No it was a joint tenancy with each person being named on one agreement, does that change anything?

Yes it does. It means the lead tenant is responsible for dealing with the total deposit. You will need to find out who the lead tenant is and get them to submit the claim.

dibdabable

Thanks everyone. I'll try through my daughter or lead tenant to see if they will release the deposits now they know the tenants will be contesting it. It may not be in their interest to withold if they think they are going to be having a dispute in this way. It will also give the tenants an opportunity to find out whrere their deposits were held too. I'll follow up once we've got anywhere with this. Many thanks again everyone.

chanz4

Its an unlawful deduction by not refunding, go onto the deposit schemes website and claim today. Remind the agents that utility / council tax is a 3rd party contract and no legal concern of theirs.