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Letting Agent not giving Landlords deposit back
MrsJam
Posts: 134 Forumite
Hi
Just wondered where we stood with this.
OH has a property which he rents out.
Local letting Agents found him a tenant approx 5 years ago, tenant paid LA the deposit, which I assume they paid into a Landlord deposit scheme.
Tenant leaves in October 2016 giving less than a weeks notice, she asked for her deposit back.
As the house was left in a state and needed repairs, new decor and carpets we declined and have not heard from tenant since.
However, despite requesting deposit from LA we have not received the deposit.
LA says we have to wait 6 months from when tenant left in case she disputes not getting her deposit back, is this true?
OH rang LA a few weeks once again requesting the deposit, he was told it would be paid into his bank account within 5 working days.
Well its not been paid into account.
Is there anything we can do to get this LA to pay up?
Thanks in advance if you can offer any help.
Just wondered where we stood with this.
OH has a property which he rents out.
Local letting Agents found him a tenant approx 5 years ago, tenant paid LA the deposit, which I assume they paid into a Landlord deposit scheme.
Tenant leaves in October 2016 giving less than a weeks notice, she asked for her deposit back.
As the house was left in a state and needed repairs, new decor and carpets we declined and have not heard from tenant since.
However, despite requesting deposit from LA we have not received the deposit.
LA says we have to wait 6 months from when tenant left in case she disputes not getting her deposit back, is this true?
OH rang LA a few weeks once again requesting the deposit, he was told it would be paid into his bank account within 5 working days.
Well its not been paid into account.
Is there anything we can do to get this LA to pay up?
Thanks in advance if you can offer any help.
0
Comments
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It sounds like they refunded it to the tenant by error and not telling your OH hoping that he will forget.
He should be able to check himself on the website what has happened. Oh and no, there is no such thing as keeping deposits for 6 months in case it is disputed by tenant. The tenant would have to agree for the deposit to be released to the LL and if it never got resolved and went to adjudication, then once it's agreed and refunded, it's the end of the process.
They are messing him about and he needs to take action asap.0 -
Write a Letter Before Action to the LA giving them a deadline to pay up by, then if you don't receive the money do a MCOL.
Oh, and change your agent, they should be working for you.0 -
Thanks guys,
LA has said tenant called into their office asking for deposit but they refused as they know the state she left property in, they could be fibbing though.
FBaby, what website should he check? LA said deposit had gone into Landlord deposit scheme, but other than that no more details.
Vectis, he won't be using them again, thats for sure!0 -
check each scheme - see below.
Letter Before Action then sue.
* Deposits: payment, protection and return
But really a half-decent landlord should be ensuring he's complying with the leglislation so should know the deposit was put into a scheme. as well as making sure all other regs are complied with.
A bigger issue would be if the agent never proptected the deposit - the tenant then has 7 years to take the landlord to court......
See also:
* New landlords: advice, information & links
* Letting agents: how should a landlord select or sack?
0 -
Thanks G_M
I would say OH is more than a half decent Landlord.
But its his first and only rental property, he trusted the LA's
Everything else, gas certificates, insurance etc is all sorted!0 -
Bit of an update!
LA phoned OH today.
They say they have had a letter today from the deposit protection service where the deposit is held.
Letter says tenant is disputing not getting deposit back and that the property was left in good shape.
DPS need proof of state of property at end of let and rent statements.
All this by tomorrow as that is the deadline?
We have asked LA for a copy of the letter.
Seems strange, all quiet for 8 months and now this?
LA has got to be making this up surely?0 -
The LA should have performed a check out with photos so this should be no problem. Have you contacted the deposit scheme yourself to verify?0
-
Hi
LA says DPS won't talk to us as deposit is lodged in LA's company name.0 -
What was your husbands contract with the agent?
* tenant find only + deposit registration?
* full tenancy management?
* something less, or more, or in between?
If the agent was contracted to do the check-out, then have you seen the report? If not, what happened when husband chased them up for the report 8 months ago?
If the contract was tenant-find only, then presumably husband either did the check out himself, or employed an AIIC member to do it.
Either way, the report + asociated photos should be forwarded to the scheme arbitrators.
Of course, if the agent has in some way breached their contract with husband, then he has a claim for breach of contract against them.0 -
Hi
LA found tenant and took their deposit.
OH did the check out and took photo's etc.
LA has photo's of work completed, new decor, carpets etc.
All of this will be available to DPS.
We just basically wanted to know if the time scale for disputing deposit is correct? Thanks.0
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