Can the Letting Agent Keep the Deposit?

Guest101

domcastro wrote: »

You're all saying "it's nothing to do with the letting agency" but it is. They use insured schemes such as MyDeposits. My Agents were awful giving the deposit back to me (I'm the landlord). They deliberately didn't contact the tenants then told me I had to take them to small claims court to get the deposit back. They wanted to keep the deposit. I spoke to Mydeposits and wrote a strongly worded email to the agency saying they weren't following procedures. They then contacted tenant who said I could have it and then I got it back. The Agents were liars and thieves!! and they're a massive country wide [:)] company

You, the LL, is responsible. If you delegate the practicalities of this to your agent, that's your choice. But the tenant would take you to court if there were any issues.

Pixie5740

domcastro wrote: »

You're all saying "it's nothing to do with the letting agency" but it is.

As explained earlier in this thread, the T has a contract with the LL. The T has no contract with the LA. The LL has a contract with the LA.

It is ultimately the LL's responsibility to protect the deposit and since the T only has a contract with the LL that's why the T would sue the LL. If the LL wants to take it up with the LA that's his/her look out.

relaxtwotribes

dibdabable,
Please keep us advised. I am in an almost identical situation with my son, who was one of 4 students who rented a flat for a year and at the end of the AST the deposit never materialised. The LA sent the deposit to the LL at commencement and the LL has told my son that he has spent it! My son has obtained a CCJ for the deposit and fees through the Money Claim On Line process and a warrant of execution has been issued, but the bailiff has had no joy.
We have sent another letter before action to the LL claiming the 3x compensation (my son mistakenly did not ask for this in the original court claim). Once we have this second CCJ the two CCJs will amount to £9,000 and we will obtain a Charging Order over the flat and file a bankruptcy petition against the LL.
So, I am just a little ahead of you with the legal process. I will PM you if you wish me to keep you posted.

rtt

dibdabable

Voyager2002 wrote: »

It will not make a great deal of difference...

I sued a kitchen fitter: I was willing to go to mediation but he was not. When we eventually got to court the judge asked him why he had not accepted the offer of mediation; he gave a brief and insubstantial explanation and the matter was not mentioned again. The judge decided...

Oh: the hearing will not be out in public. It will just be a small room with the parties to the dispute, and a woman or man in a suit who is the judge.

Yes don't worry when I say public I understand this isn't "Judge Judy", thanks for your comment above too.

dibdabable

domcastro wrote: »

You're all saying "it's nothing to do with the letting agency" but it is. They use insured schemes such as MyDeposits. My Agents were awful giving the deposit back to me (I'm the landlord). They deliberately didn't contact the tenants then told me I had to take them to small claims court to get the deposit back. They wanted to keep the deposit. I spoke to Mydeposits and wrote a strongly worded email to the agency saying they weren't following procedures. They then contacted tenant who said I could have it and then I got it back. The Agents were liars and thieves!! and they're a massive country wide [:)] company

Not sure why you got a deposit back given that you are the landlord?? I think there's a difference between you suffering at the hands of LAs and what we're saying about responsibility. No one's actually claiming that Landlord's won't be used badly by Letting Agents. Letting Agents may well be asked to protect the deposits as has happened here in our case I believe the Landlord presumed the Letting Agent knew what they should be doing with the Deposits. As has been said above, even if the LAs act on behalf of the LL, at the end of the day the Tenant's contract is with the Landlord and it's from them that they claim their money. If the Landlord ends up paying the Tenant, through the small claims, they would then be able to claim money through the small claims against the LAs just as the Tenant has to do with the Landlord.

This is taken from MyDeposits;
The following apply regardless of whether a Landlord(LL) has used a Letting Agent(LA)
1. The LL is ultimately responsible for ensuring the Protection of the Deposit.
2.The LL should give the Tenant the "Prescibed Information" and "Information for Tenants", once the Deposits have been protected and the LL should ensure both of these are passed onto the Tenant.
3. If the Deposits are not protected or you have failed to give the prescribed information you can face penalties, one of which is that you will be instructed to pay equal to 3 times the amount of deposit within 14 days.

dibdabable

relaxtwotribes wrote: »

dibdabable,
Please keep us advised. I am in an almost identical situation with my son, who was one of 4 students who rented a flat for a year and at the end of the AST the deposit never materialised. The LA sent the deposit to the LL at commencement and the LL has told my son that he has spent it! My son has obtained a CCJ for the deposit and fees through the Money Claim On Line process and a warrant of execution has been issued, but the bailiff has had no joy.
We have sent another letter before action to the LL claiming the 3x compensation (my son mistakenly did not ask for this in the original court claim). Once we have this second CCJ the two CCJs will amount to £9,000 and we will obtain a Charging Order over the flat and file a bankruptcy petition against the LL.
So, I am just a little ahead of you with the legal process. I will PM you if you wish me to keep you posted.

rtt

Will definitely update, it's quite good that something gets concluded as a help to others too. So at present we're waiting to see if the LL responds to the Court within 7 days. Interestingly enough the Letting Agent rang my daughter here last week, I happened to answer. I simply told them that anything they wanted to say should be put in writing as she wouldn't be entering into communication by phone. So we'll wait and see what happens next.

dibdabable

Well didn't think I'd be updating quite so soon, but my daughter had a phone call from the LAs this morning. I answered the phone and before I had a chance to tell them, my daughter wanted everything in writing, the woman slipped in the fact that they would be settling out of court for three times the amount of the original Deposit!! Needless to say I've told my daughter to wait until she has the cheque and it's cleared, before stopping her claim and I also insisted they add the original Court Fee and that the covering letter should confirm or deny the Protection of the Deposits. I can't think for a moment they'll actually do the latter, as it's confirming they acted illegally, but it's worth a try.

Since beginning this claim we've found out that this has happened many times to others who are all, in the main, students. Whilst the main thing is she will hopefully get her money back, there's a part of us that almost wishes that we had gone to court. The LAs will probably just carry on doing exactly the same thing, until someone else can be bothered to tackle them on this issue.

There's one other house mate/tenant who hasn't had his money back, he was waiting to see how we got on. We'll happily send him a copy of the letter they send to my daughter, to make his claim against them easier. I'll also try and contact student housing at the University, because the LAs are on their list of LAs

jjlandlord

dibdabable wrote: »

... and that the covering letter should confirm or deny the Protection of the Deposits. I can't think for a moment they'll actually do the latter, as it's confirming they acted illegally, but it's worth a try.

What would be the point of that? To rub it in?
If they don't comply, will your daughter send the cheque back with a 'see you in court'?

dibdabable

jjlandlord wrote: »

What would be the point of that? To rub it in?
If they don't comply, will your daughter send the cheque back with a 'see you in court'?

Rub what in exactly, the fact they broke the law and acted in an unprofessional way? My daughter doesn't owe them anything. They didn't want to treat her respectively and honestly so even if it was a case of "rubbing it in", they made their bed. I don't see what the problem is with stipulating a few of our own requests and we haven't decided what we'll do if they don't comply. They have decided on their course of action from the beginning, if it's the illegal route then they only have themselves to blame.

As it happens this request in writing is to hopefully give the remaining tenant some additional clout, when taking up his claim. and to inform the University what has happened, not a case of gloating. The fact they're settling out of Court might be enough of an admission.

Pixie5740

Legally letting agencies have to be signed up to one of the 3 redress schemes:

• Property Ombudsman
• Ombudsman Services Property
• Property Redress Scheme

so you could raise a complaint with whichever scheme the LA is registered with in addition to contacting the university.