Lost Deposit

Carlos1882

Hi everyone, 2nd post in one morning!

I've been renting a flat for the last 8 years now, which was originally managed by a local Letting Agent called 'Pelorus Lettings'. This company went into administration in 2013 and from what I understand my security deposit of £500.00p (which I paid to Pelorus Lettings on 27th November 2009 and which I still have a receipt of proof) was then transferred to 'The Norwich Letting Business' when Pelorus Lettings ceased trading in 2013.

My current agent 'Dereham Accommodation Agency' took over the management of the property in 2014. This is the first time I discovered upon DAA reveiwing the Tenant Agreement, that Pelorus Lettings failed to register my security deposit with the DPS. The DPS then confirmed they had no record of receiving this...

With Pelorus well done and dusted at this point, I naturally contacted The Norwich Letting Business, to find out what happened, as they managed my property for at least the period of 2013-2014 and would have known about the deposit, as from what I understand as part of the process is this has to be transferred.

What is strange is initially TNLB denied they knew anything about it, then suddenly I had a voicemail from them to say they are in possession of my deposit! Great, I thought. However, my further attempts to contact them via phone and 3 fairly blunt letters failed to return anything...

This then prompted me to do a little detective work, to which I discovered a direct link between Pelorus and TNLB, as well as another business next door which traded under a different name but was registered to the same guy who ran Pelorus! Dodgy or what?! :eek:

Now apparently "Mr. Pelorus" we'll call him (although I have his real name and address) has been a naughty boy and basically pocketed thousands from unsuspecting tenants, who were not to know their deposit money wasn't registered with the DPS. This is all alleged I should stress, but the evidence stacks up and appears to be fairly common knowledge, to the point where people have been going up to his house and getting their money back from him!! How he is getting away with this is beyond me, why have the police not got involved? So my own agent has told me to do the same thing, just go to his house and demand the money, but I'll be honest, despite being told he is not intimidating at all, I'm a little anxious about doing this and I don't hold out a lot of hope it will actually get me anywhere, but it's a lead non the less...

It's either that, or I'm £500 down when I decide to leave my flat!

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, do tell me if there is anything I should probably edit from this post if it is any way incriminating/sensitive.

Thank you

Kind regards

Carlos

tim123456789

legal liability for rental deposits lies with the LL

if the LA that was holding it on his behalf has gone bust, this is his problem, not yours.

As your deposit has not been protected, you can "prosecute" him for that, either now, or after you have moved out

As to how do you avoid not losing 500 pounds because of an unprotected deposit when you move out. Don't pay your final months rent, there's not a lot that they can do.

Simples

saajan_12

Who is your landlord? If you paid a deposit to *someone* per your LL's request (or as stated in your tenancy agreement), then your LL is liable for returning your deposit. What happens between the LL and THEIR agent is between them.

If your deposit hasn't been protected, you sue the LL for its return via small claims court (and perhaps also for a penalty). If the LL had agreements in place with their agent which the agent failed to fulfill, the LL *may* be able to recover some of this money from the agent, but this is not your concern.

Guest101

Contact your LL and ask where the deposit is registered.

Carlos1882

Thanks for the prompt reply guys.

Whilst I have never met him, I know of my landlord and whilst legally I can see why it's his problem, I don't want to rock the boat. In the 8 years I have rented the property, not once has he put the rent up which I am extremely grateful for. He also has a brother who is a plumber, which again helps if there is ever a problem with anything. I don't think the landlord is playing it sly and in fact is already aware of the situation and will stand by the fact I have paid it and will honour that.

I paid the deposit in line with the tenancy agreement (which I still have a copy of) which states will be registered and held with the DPS. Apparently, I was supposed to receive some kind of written confirmation about this, which of course never happened... Unfortunately, the deposit was paid in cash, so my guess is it simply went missing or straight into the pocket of "Mr. Pelorus"...

Seriously though, there's something very dodgy about all of this, isn't it obvious that 'The Letting Agent' is just 'Pelorus' in disguise and basically doing it all again, or am I just getting paranoid now?!

I suppose if my LL is aware and understanding of the situation, then he'll let me miss the last payment on the rent, should I choose to move on...

TBagpuss

It is still your landlord's responsibility.

If you want, you could let you landlord now that you do expect the deposit to be returned but that you are happy to provide him with the evidence of when and to whom it was paid, and to provide a statemetn or any other evidence which may help him to recover it from the agent / former agent.

You can also make clear that while you are aware that technically you could take steps against him for failing to ensure that the deposit was protected, you have no wish to do so or cause any troble for him, you simply want your deposit.

(you might want to remove the names from your original posts )

Guest101

Carlos1882 wrote: »

Thanks for the prompt reply guys.

Whilst I have never met him, I know of my landlord and whilst legally I can see why it's his problem, I don't want to rock the boat. In the 8 years I have rented the property, not once has he put the rent up which I am extremely grateful for. He also has a brother who is a plumber, which again helps if there is ever a problem with anything. I don't think the landlord is playing it sly and in fact is already aware of the situation and will stand by the fact I have paid it and will honour that.

I paid the deposit in line with the tenancy agreement (which I still have a copy of) which states will be registered and held with the DPS. Apparently, I was supposed to receive some kind of written confirmation about this, which of course never happened... Unfortunately, the deposit was paid in cash, so my guess is it simply went missing or straight into the pocket of "Mr. Pelorus"...

Seriously though, there's something very dodgy about all of this, isn't it obvious that 'The Letting Agent' is just 'Pelorus' in disguise and basically doing it all again, or am I just getting paranoid now?!

I suppose if my LL is aware and understanding of the situation, then he'll let me miss the last payment on the rent, should I choose to move on...

It doesn't matter.


You paid the deposit to your LL. It's his job.


If your LL chooses to use and continues to use a dodgy agent, that's he problem.

Carlos1882

Understood and noted and apologies if I begin to sound like a broken record...

To clarify, I paid £500 cash deposit (equivalent to 1 months rent) upon viewing/agreeing to rent the flat in 2009 to 'Stefan' the agent acting on behalf of Pelorus Lettings. Pelorus should have notified my LL of this, but did not. They also did not register this with the DPS. However, we were not to know any of this until it all came out in the wash in 2014, a year after Pelorus ceased trading.

My current agent is not dodgy at all, they are simply trying to iron everything out from the mess that previous agents left behind.

Guest101

Carlos1882 wrote: »

Understood and noted and apologies if I begin to sound like a broken record...

To clarify, I paid £500 cash deposit (equivalent to 1 months rent) upon viewing/agreeing to rent the flat in 2009 to 'Stefan' the agent acting on behalf of Pelorus Lettings. - Irrelevant. You have no contract with the agent. You paid it to the LL. Pelorus should have notified my LL of this, but did not. - Not your problem. They also did not register this with the DPS. - Not your problem. However, we were not to know any of this until it all came out in the wash in 2014, a year after Pelorus ceased trading.

My current agent is not dodgy at all, they are simply trying to iron everything out from the mess that previous agents left behind.

It makes no difference who physically got the money. The deposit was paid at the request of the landlord.

AlexMac

If you're happy with your LL and had no rent increase for years, why bother doing anything now? After all, assuming you plan to stay in the flat, it won't be an issue til you quit (at some unspecified future date)?

So the option is forcing your LL to work out whether s/he has been ripped off by Mr Pelorus's strategic bankruptcy and failures to protect it...
.... now (as others point out, it's down to them, not their agent to cough up)
... or years into the future...

I know what I'd do; in fact, as a LL I know what I'd prefer you to do- tht is, let sleeping dogs lie (not that I am accusing Mr Pelorus of being a dozy mendacious canine!)

Carlos1882

Yes, good point well made and as you say it's not really affecting me at this moment. It just winds me up that someone ran off with mine and other peoples money!

I agree though, let sleeping dogs lie.

Thanks!