Rental deposit not returned

mrskingandthescarecrow

Hi, please could anyone give some advice or point me in the right direction?


We rented a house until last year through an estate agent and paid a deposit, which was put into a deposit holding scheme. However the deposit scheme was allowed to expire and our deposit was returned to the Landlord.


We vacated the property in June 14. This is when we found out the deposit was no longer being held. The landlord said he would return the deposit and after several phone calls and emails from us, he has paid half of it. He has since stopped answering the phone and ignored emails.


We intended to take him to the smalls claim court to claim the remaining half and have sent him a 'letter before action' giving him a final chance to repay. As we still haven't received the money, we need to take this forward.


My query is - is the small claim court the correct avenue for this sort of debt? Or is there some other body that we should be contacting?


The estate agents have since washed their hands of this landlord. They have not been able to offer any help in returning our deposit.


Thanks in advance.

G_M

* Deposits (payment, protection and return)

and

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/tenancy_deposits/getting_your_deposit_back/tenancy_deposit_compensation_claims

marleyboy

If he did not put it into another scheme, he has breached your deposit. You can claim it back via small claims.