ANDREWS LETTING AGENT: Does this count as a tenancy deposit protection scheme?

ultimatefighter

My friend sent me this agreement. It is by Andrews Letting agent.

It seems a little strange to me. Here is the section regards deposit in the agreement:

DEPOSIT
1. The deposit is held by Andrews as stakeholder
2. The tenant will not be entitled to interest on the deposit.
3. NORMAL CLAUSE ABOUT DAMAGE
4. The deposit is held by Andrews as stakeholder. Andrews is a member of mydeposits non custodial tenancy deposit protection scheme which is administered by My | deposits, ground floor, Kingmaker house, station road, New Barnet, Herts, EN5 1NZ, www.mydeposits.co.uk
4.2. (HERE IS THE CONCERN) If the landlord wishes to hold the security deposit, the responsibility for the protection of the deposit and the supply of "PRESCRIBED INFORMATION" lies with the landlord including the provision of the deposit at the end of the tenancy agreement including dealing with any dispute that may be raised by the tenant at the end of the tenancy agreement
(IS THIS NOT ANDREWS TRYING TO OFFLOAD THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF THEIR EXISTENCE ONTO A LANDLORD?)






He has also now been issued with a section 21 notice. Validity? Landlord is not communicating and Andrews claim the landlord has the deposit.... is this right?

Guest101

ultimatefighter wrote: »

My friend sent me this agreement. It is by Andrews Letting agent.

It seems a little strange to me. Here is the section regards deposit in the agreement:

DEPOSIT
1. The deposit is held by Andrews as stakeholder
2. The tenant will not be entitled to interest on the deposit.
3. NORMAL CLAUSE ABOUT DAMAGE
4. The deposit is held by Andrews as stakeholder. Andrews is a member of mydeposits non custodial tenancy deposit protection scheme which is administered by My | deposits, ground floor, Kingmaker house, station road, New Barnet, Herts, EN5 1NZ, www.mydeposits.co.uk
4.2. (HERE IS THE CONCERN) If the landlord wishes to hold the security deposit, the responsibility for the protection of the deposit and the supply of "PRESCRIBED INFORMATION" lies with the landlord including the provision of the deposit at the end of the tenancy agreement including dealing with any dispute that may be raised by the tenant at the end of the tenancy agreement
(IS THIS NOT ANDREWS TRYING TO OFFLOAD THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF THEIR EXISTENCE ONTO A LANDLORD?)






He has also now been issued with a section 21 notice. Validity? Landlord is not communicating and Andrews claim the landlord has the deposit.... is this right?

Well is the deposit protected? Has your friend contacted the schemes?
Responsibility is always with the LL, agency just covering their own backside.

booksurr

for someone who has apparently been a tenant for sometime your lack of knowledge is rather worrying. The agent is just that, an agent. The LL is ALWAYS responsible in law for the actions of their agent, particularly so in respect of deposits.

However, the agent can also be sued by a tenant as a co-party to the deposit protection.

Not unreasonably therefore Andrews' clause 4 seeks to separate themselves from such liability where it is clear that they no longer have any involvement in the deposit protection process because the LL has taken over sole responsibility for holding the deposit and therefore must administer all required actions themselves as the agent no longer undertakes such services on behalf of the LL.

Pixie5740

Your friend's contract is with the landlord, your friend has no contract with the letting agency. The letting agency has a contract with the landlord to act on his behalf as, well, their agent.

The letting agency is just making it clear that the landlord has used the insurance backed My Deposits scheme.

There's nothing shady going on here and nothing that would indicate the Section 21 is invalid.

ultimatefighter

booksurr wrote: »

for someone who has apparently been a tenant for sometime your lack of knowledge is rather worrying. The agent is just that, an agent. The LL is ALWAYS responsible in law for the actions of their agent, particularly so in respect of deposits.

However, the agent can also be sued by a tenant as a co-party to the deposit protection.

Not unreasonably therefore Andrews' clause 4 seeks to separate themselves from such liability where it is clear that they no longer have any involvement in the deposit protection process because the LL has taken over sole responsibility for holding the deposit and therefore must administer all required actions themselves as the agent no longer undertakes such services on behalf of the LL.

This isn't my agreement, it's just a little strange for me as I have never seen an agreement so short, and one to inform the tenant that the landlord is able (and permisable by such a large company) for him to keep the deposit as landlord.


I am aware of protection schemes and rules surrounding it but I wanted to ask if this was familiar with anybody else....

Guest101

ultimatefighter wrote: »

This isn't my agreement, it's just a little strange for me as I have never seen an agreement so short, and one to inform the tenant that the landlord is able (and permisable by such a large company) for him to keep the deposit as landlord.


I am aware of protection schemes and rules surrounding it but I wanted to ask if this was familiar with anybody else....

For goodness sake!


1: A tenants contract is ALWAYS with the LANDLORD!
2: The agents are basically employees of the LANDLORD!
3: The LANDLORD is always entitled to hold the deposit!!!

Miss_Samantha

If the deposit was paid to the agent, and the tenancy agreement states that it will be held by them as stakeholder then the landlord cannot just tell the agent to transfer it over to him.
Or rather, the agent is obligated to refuse until the tenant has expressly agreed.

Apart from clause 4.2, the wording is standard.

Kynthia

It seems obvious to me that if the landlord didn't use their agent to protect the deposit then the agent is not going to be involved in supplying the prescribed information or deal with disputes over the deposit. So has your friend checked that the landlord protected the deposit themselves?

G_M

I never use an agent to manage a property. I manage myself.

However, I sometimes use an agent to market the property and find me a tenant, since that is how many tenants search for properties.

Thus although an agent is the tenant's initial point of contact, I take responsibility for the deposit. I can, of course, choose either to hold it myself via an insurance backed scheme, or I can pass it to a deposit scheme to hold.

Having said that, personally I also don't let the agent draw up/sign the tenancy agreement, or take the deposit - I do that myself too. However, other landlords delegate different parts of the process to their agent.

D1m3b4g

Hi, just a quick one.
I am the person that this was posted for.

I have read the information on here and it seems to conflict very clearly with the information provided by citizens advice.

The advice from the CAB was clear - As the deposit was paid directly to Andrews as the agent acting on behalf of the Landlord and the contact directly lists Andrews as stakeholder, Andrews are both accountable for the protection of the sum of deposit and liable for providing information toward the protection status of the deposit within the 30 day period.

The general opinion above is that this is not in fact correct and the sole responsibility lies with the Landlord.

Could someone please, clearly, confirm who is liable for providing the deposit information to us as Tenants and just to confirm very clearly, the deposit IS NOT CURRENTLY PROTECTED UNDER ANY SCHEME.

The thing that jumps out to me is 2.4.2 states "If" the Landlord wishes to hold the deposit they are liable for providing information to us regarding the protection. It wasn't confirmed to me until today that this was the case.

We are still unable to get hold of our Landlord via text message, phone call, or recorded letter that has been returned to sender.

If the Landlord really is 100% liable (which I find perverse given the stakeholder passage in the contract + the fact we paid the letting agency) I suppose my next move has to be the small claims court.

Thanks
P

pmlindyloo

D1m3b4g wrote: »

Hi, just a quick one.
I am the person that this was posted for.

I have read the information on here and it seems to conflict very clearly with the information provided by citizens advice.

The advice from the CAB was clear - As the deposit was paid directly to Andrews as the agent acting on behalf of the Landlord and the contact directly lists Andrews as stakeholder, Andrews are both accountable for the protection of the sum of deposit and liable for providing information toward the protection status of the deposit within the 30 day period.

The general opinion above is that this is not in fact correct and the sole responsibility lies with the Landlord.

Could someone please, clearly, confirm who is liable for providing the deposit information to us as Tenants and just to confirm very clearly, the deposit IS NOT CURRENTLY PROTECTED UNDER ANY SCHEME.

The thing that jumps out to me is 2.4.2 states "If" the Landlord wishes to hold the deposit they are liable for providing information to us regarding the protection. It wasn't confirmed to me until today that this was the case.

We are still unable to get hold of our Landlord via text message, phone call, or recorded letter that has been returned to sender.

If the Landlord really is 100% liable (which I find perverse given the stakeholder passage in the contract + the fact we paid the letting agency) I suppose my next move has to be the small claims court.

Thanks
P

CAB and the above posts are correct.

The letting agent can hold the deposit in a special bank account and they are responsible for issuing the prescribed information.

However, the the landlord is ultimately responsible for the deposit so if the LA went bust (for example) then the LL would still be responsible for returning your deposit. The LL should be checking that their agent (the LA) has done everything properly and the deposit has been protected and the prescribed information issued.

It is all explained here:

https://www.mydeposits.co.uk/sites/default/files/mydeposits%20Guide%20for%20Landlords%20using%20an%20Agent_0.pdf

In your particular situation it seems unclear whether the deposit has been protected by the LA or the LL so the first thing you need to do is check with mydeposits.