Difficulty getting house deposit back from Letting Agent

callum9999

Hi,

I moved out of my house about 6 weeks ago, and informed the agent one week before that (so 7 weeks ago) that I am moving out and the landlord had approved the immediate return of my deposit.

After delaying for a while, they finally contacted the landlord and confirmed that they'd been authorised to return it.

I'm still waiting for it back now, with emails constantly being ignored and a recent text message from them just saying it's "being dealt with".

The deposit does not appear to be protected either (I can't find it with any of the agencies and they've ignored my 2 requests for protection information - they were originally meant to pass it on to my landlord who has protected the deposits of other tenants but continually ignored her requests too).

I'm going to send a LBA in the next few days if they don't settle this quickly. Given the rules seem to state that in some situations they can be forced to pay up to 3x the deposit amount back, would it be reasonable to demand they pay an additional 10% to cover the amount I have now lost due to the delay in getting it back (I have emigrated and Brexit has resulted in the amount now being worth 10% less in my new local currency)?

Thanks in advance.

Guest101

You only have a contract with your LL. Get them to repay you ( or sue them for it and 3x penalty )

callum9999

Are you sure? The only contact I've signed has been with the agents (albeit "on behalf" of the landlord) and they were paid directly.

It doesn't seem right to sue my landlord when the people with my money are the agents (though the law isn't always right I guess!). I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable suing my landlord unless there was absolutely no other option.

Thanks for the reply.

Guest101

callum9999 wrote: »

Are you sure? The only contact I've signed has been with the agents (albeit "on behalf" of the landlord) and they were paid directly.

It doesn't seem right to sue my landlord when the people with my money are the agents (though the law isn't always right I guess!). I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable suing my landlord unless there was absolutely no other option.

Thanks for the reply.

positive


Your landlord is responsible for the action of his or her agents. That what they pay them for.


Your LL would in turn sue the agents and also win. So its win/win.

Marvel1

callum9999 wrote: »

I'm going to send a LBA in the next few days if they don't settle this quickly.

Send today, they have had long enough.

callum9999

Thanks again.

If I have to serve the LBA to the landlord not the agent I'll give the landlord a bit of time to chase them up first - I've just been talking to the agent so far.

Pixie5740

This advice assumes that you are in England or Wales, and had an AST:

Your tenancy agreement will tell you a) who your contract is with and b) what address to use for the serving of notices. It is very likely that it will be LANDLORD's NAME, C/O LETTING AGENT'S ADDRESS.

Send 2 LBA, one addressed to the LL and one to the LA if you want. Get proof of postage.

I'm assuming that you've checked with all 3 deposit schemes to make sure that your deposit really hasn't been registered...?

callum9999

Pixie5740 wrote: »

This advice assumes that you are in England or Wales, and had an AST:

Your tenancy agreement will tell you a) who your contract is with and b) what address to use for the serving of notices. It is very likely that it will be LANDLORD's NAME, C/O LETTING AGENT'S ADDRESS.

Send 2 LBA, one addressed to the LL and one to the LA if you want. Get proof of postage.

I'm assuming that you've checked with all 3 deposit schemes to make sure that your deposit really hasn't been registered...?

Both assumptions are correct and I've checked with the agencies (though there's the possibility they've just filed it wrong/late I guess if you want to be generous!).

I don't have my contract with me but it definitely wasn't the landlords address on there.

As I mentioned above, I'll give the landlord a few days to chase it up as they've not been involved so far before using them a LBA. I'll try for the 10% extra to cover my Brexit losses but if it's done quickly I'll just be happy to swallow the loss! I am thinking of sending a message to the agent setting out my intention to issue the LBA for the deposit+10% but I don't know if that will just make them close up and slow things down further - it's a hassle to sort out the LBA now as I'm abroad (hence the currency loss).