Estate Agent Stole My Deposit - Who Now Owes It to Me?

BATDAN

Me and my partner began renting this property in Dec 2009 and paid a £750 deposit to the estate agent. At the time we weren't too clued up about the deposit protection scheme and all we received was a receipt from the agent without a deposit protection scheme number.

A few years later we were contacted by a new estate agent who had taken over the management of our property at the request of our landlord. When we asked them about our deposit they said they didn't have it and to check with the deposit protection scheme. We called them and they had no knowledge of it either.

Turns out the agent our landlord was originally with was as dodgy as ****. The owner had been putting all the money into a separate account and once found out did a runner. The police were involved for a while, there was a bunch of us, a facebook page etc but it soon went quiet.

Now we are buying our first home. All is going well and are just waiting for the moving date. However when we announce to our current estate agent that were leaving i'd like to be clued up as to who is responsible for our deposit. Can the landlord be held accountable?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

anselld

The Landlord is responsible for the return of your deposit.
You can also sue the Landlord for up to 3x deposit for non-protection.
How the L recovers the money from the previous agent is not your problem.

G_M

As anselld says above. Your contract/tenancy agreement is with the landlord. The agent just works for him.

For more, read:

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

Marvel1

As above really, the Landlord, even though they have a letting agent to sort everything out, they are responsible for any issues (which I believe wannabe/new landlords don't think they are).

PasturesNew

anselld wrote: »

The Landlord is responsible for the return of your deposit.
You can also sue the Landlord for up to 3x deposit for non-protection.
How the L recovers the money from the previous agent is not your problem.

G_M wrote: »

As anselld says above. Your contract/tenancy agreement is with the landlord. The agent just works for him.

cjdavies wrote: »

As above really, the Landlord, even though they have a letting agent to sort everything out, they are responsible for any issues (which I believe wannabe/new landlords don't think they are).

As all the above said. Just adding my "weight" to the answer, so you understand that the above is correct and right.

Not your problem where the deposit disappeared to, it's the full/sole responsibility of the landlord to keep it safe and get it back to you. He appointed the agent, his responsibility.