estate agent refusing to refund full DPS deposit

Lil_Lady

Hi,
advice needed please, Mother rented her house to estate agents AR that sublet to another company KS. They stupidly negotiated a contract with the company KS and not a named person so we have no legal redress to take KS to court. ( They'll just close the company and start a new one with the same name) The other company KS refused to pay and we had to take them to court at great expense to evict from the property. The court order stated that the deposit should be returned immediately to offset the loss of rental income. AR put the deposit with DPS and on returning it they helped themselves to their share of their percentage of the rent .
What can we do about this, do we have any leg to stand on ?
Help
very grateful for any advice on this

Guest101

Lil_Lady wrote: »

Hi,
advice needed please, Mother rented her house to estate agents AR that sublet to another company KS. They stupidly negotiated a contract with the company KS and not a named person so we have no legal redress to take KS to court. - you wouldn't even if they had rented to joe blogs, your contract is with the agent, not KS. you have no relationship with KS at all. ( They'll just close the company and start a new one with the same name) - no they'll just ignore you as they aren't obliged to deal with you at all. The other company KS refused to pay and we had to take them to court at great expense to evict from the property. - why? If you let it to the agency, then it's their problem, not yours. The court order stated that the deposit should be returned immediately to offset the loss of rental income. AR put the deposit with DPS and on returning it they helped themselves to their share of their percentage of the rent . - makes no sense. Either the rent was fully theirs or not at all.
What can we do about this, do we have any leg to stand on ?
Help
very grateful for any advice on this

You need to double check your facts and find out exactly what the legal relationships are.


IE is the agency (AR) acting as a commercial tenant or an agent?


EDIT: please ignore as new information below

Lil_Lady

AR were acting as an agent, my mother is elderly and just wanted to get a rental income without stress

Guest101

Lil_Lady wrote: »

AR were acting as an agent, my mother is elderly and just wanted to get a rental income without stress

Ok so lets start from the top.


Your mother (irrespective of age) was a landlord, but it seems carried out no due diligence.


The agent are most likely entitled to a % of the rent, as per the contract.


There was no subletting, no renting to agents.

Lil_Lady

My mother used AR as an estate agent to rent her property, they then rented it out to KS who sublet it , mother was given to understand KS were using it for their own language school students but they themselves sublet it to paying tenants. Their tenants paid them but they didn't pay mother.

Guest101

Lil_Lady wrote: »

My mother used AR as an estate agent to rent her property, they then rented it out to KS who sublet it , mother was given to understand KS were using it for their own language school students but they themselves sublet it to paying tenants. Their tenants paid them but they didn't pay mother.

No.


Your mother rented it to KS, on a commercial lease.


KS then did as they wished with it.


Your only action is to take KS to court

G_M

guest is right.

* AR are irrelevant. They are simply agents acting on the landlord's behalf (mum).

* the tenancy is between mum and KS

* the tenancy is not an AST, it is a commercial tenancy - very unwise as far less protection.

* if KS owe rent, the only way to get it is to sue KS in the courts

* AR will not undertake legal action - they are letting agents, not lawyers

* any rent that is recovered will be subject to whatever the contract between mum and AR specifies (X%). Indeed, it may be due even if not paid by the tenant (KS)

Is your mother a member of a landlords association? If so, seek advice.
Does she have rent guarantee insurance? If so, claim.
Does she have access to legal support elsewhere (eg via landlords buildings insurance)?


For future reference,

* New landlords: advice, information & links

* Letting agents: how should a landlord select or sack?

agrinnall

Guest101 wrote: »

No.


Your mother rented it to KS, on a commercial lease.


KS then did as they wished with it.


Your only action is to take KS to court

You probably need to go back and update post #2 (maybe just strikethrough) as some of the answers you gave there have been superceded by later information from the OP and are contradictory to what you're now saying.

Guest101

agrinnall wrote: »

You probably need to go back and update post #2 (maybe just strikethrough) as some of the answers you gave there have been superceded by later information from the OP and are contradictory to what you're now saying.

Yes agreed, it was accurate to the situation as described at the time