Is it worth reporting my former letting agent to the Property Ombudsman?

HonourlessWeasel

Evening,

Bear with me here, it's a bit long!

So, a couple of years ago this letting agent ceased to be my letting agent as the flat we were living in was sold to a new landlord and they didn't want it to be managed by an agent any more, and that new landlord made an agreement with us and the ex-letting agent for the deposit to remain with them and remain protected by the TDS - that was the main reason for it to stay where it was, as otherwise it wouldn't be protected in the case of a dispute, as this new owner was not a member of the TDS. Fine, everyone was happy with this.

Fast forward to this year and it's time for us to move out. Latest landlord contacts ex-letting agent and tells them to release the deposit. I contact the ex-letting agent and ask for the deposit to be released. They tell me that they can't without the permission of the original owners. Okay then, fine. The original owners agree the release of it. Perfect I believe. Not so.

The ex-letting agent are are now telling me that they still cannot release the deposit to me because I have not provided them with a forwarding address. Now, I know (and had it confirmed by a property lawyer) that I have no legal obligation to do so. They never requested it when they ceased to be our letting agent two years previously, but suddenly they require it in case any mail for me is sent to their office (NOT to the property, which they no longer have access to as they don't manage it, and none has been sent to their office since our relationship started with them five years previously, so it's just bull). It was also nowhere in my tenancy agreement that I had to provide them with one at the end of my time in the property. An email row ensues for almost a month with them repeatedly stating that it's one of their "policies" and they "won't change it just for me", but they can't prove at any point that it's a policy or that I've signed anything to make it binding.

So, I take it to the TDS providing them a copy of my tenancy agreement and with all of the email exchange. The TDS settle it within 72 hours in my favour, it appears that the letting agent put up no evidence and no contest, I get all of my deposit back without question - they obviously knew they were wrong, so why did they bother fighting it for so long if they knew what the outcome was going to be? :mad:

I can't be the only person they've done this to. I do have very good reasons for not providing a forwarding address (no, I'm not running from debts because I haven't got any, some of us require a level of privacy for some things and not having a letting agency data mining is worthwhile). It is grossly unfair of them to behave this way, I was lucky in that I didn't need the deposit to pay for anything immediately afterwards, but for other people it won't work like that, they'll be relying on the return of the deposit to fund another, or to fund another rent or mortgage payment very shortly afterwards, and nearly £2k is a lot of money for them to withhold.

I see from the Ombudsman website that they could be expelled, but would that really make any difference? I know they'll continue to operate, and most people don't look to see if agents are regulated, they're just interested in finding a property. I know someone here is going to ask "why are you bothering? You got your money back, just let it go." It annoys me, and I don't want other people getting ripped off because they don't know what to do. It's unfair and I can't stand to watch it happen.

Any advice on what recourse I can take would be most appreciated.

G_M

You can make formal complaint to the ombusdman.

1) I doubt they would be expelled, but they might well get a letter and formal 'ticking off'. More importantly, it would remain on their record with the ombudsman, so a repeat offence might result in expulsion. So they'd think twice in future.

2) if expelled, they'd have to close down. Letting agents must by law belong to one of the 3 ombudsman schemes. Whether expulsion from one scheme would simply mean they could join a different scheme I'me not sure. I would hope not.



Since 1st October 2014, the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 S83 requires letting agents in England to sign up to one of 3 schemes:

* The Property Ombudsman
* Ombudsman Services Property
* Property Redress Scheme

HonourlessWeasel

Thanks for that G_M.

It might be worth it then, if they get more than one complaint (hopefully) something might actually happen to them. I've dug further online and looked at reviews of them - most reviews are glowing ones, but they're when they've been used as estate agents and not letting agents, the reviews of them as letting agents are terrible, especially when people have come to leave the property.

The Property Ombudsman states:

Full members who breach our Codes may be expelled from the voluntary scheme. Depending on the seriousness of what the agent did, agents may also be expelled from being registered with TPO. Although there are two other schemes which agents can register with, if an agent has been expelled from registration with one scheme they will not be accepted by another.

This letting agent is a full member too. Looking at the list of expelled members, it seems they're expelled for a period of time (years). Might just start putting my complaint together now!

Guest101

HonourlessWeasel wrote: »

Evening,

Bear with me here, it's a bit long!

So, a couple of years ago this letting agent ceased to be my letting agent as the flat we were living in was sold to a new landlord and they didn't want it to be managed by an agent any more, and that new landlord made an agreement with us and the ex-letting agent for the deposit to remain with them and remain protected by the TDS - that was the main reason for it to stay where it was, as otherwise it wouldn't be protected in the case of a dispute, as this new owner was not a member of the TDS. Fine, everyone was happy with this.

Fast forward to this year and it's time for us to move out. Latest landlord contacts ex-letting agent and tells them to release the deposit. I contact the ex-letting agent and ask for the deposit to be released. They tell me that they can't without the permission of the original owners. Okay then, fine. The original owners agree the release of it. Perfect I believe. Not so.

The ex-letting agent are are now telling me that they still cannot release the deposit to me because I have not provided them with a forwarding address. Now, I know (and had it confirmed by a property lawyer) that I have no legal obligation to do so. They never requested it when they ceased to be our letting agent two years previously, but suddenly they require it in case any mail for me is sent to their office (NOT to the property, which they no longer have access to as they don't manage it, and none has been sent to their office since our relationship started with them five years previously, so it's just bull). It was also nowhere in my tenancy agreement that I had to provide them with one at the end of my time in the property. An email row ensues for almost a month with them repeatedly stating that it's one of their "policies" and they "won't change it just for me", but they can't prove at any point that it's a policy or that I've signed anything to make it binding.

So, I take it to the TDS providing them a copy of my tenancy agreement and with all of the email exchange. The TDS settle it within 72 hours in my favour, it appears that the letting agent put up no evidence and no contest, I get all of my deposit back without question - they obviously knew they were wrong, so why did they bother fighting it for so long if they knew what the outcome was going to be? :mad:

I can't be the only person they've done this to. I do have very good reasons for not providing a forwarding address (no, I'm not running from debts because I haven't got any, some of us require a level of privacy for some things and not having a letting agency data mining is worthwhile). It is grossly unfair of them to behave this way, I was lucky in that I didn't need the deposit to pay for anything immediately afterwards, but for other people it won't work like that, they'll be relying on the return of the deposit to fund another, or to fund another rent or mortgage payment very shortly afterwards, and nearly £2k is a lot of money for them to withhold.

I see from the Ombudsman website that they could be expelled, but would that really make any difference? I know they'll continue to operate, and most people don't look to see if agents are regulated, they're just interested in finding a property. I know someone here is going to ask "why are you bothering? You got your money back, just let it go." It annoys me, and I don't want other people getting ripped off because they don't know what to do. It's unfair and I can't stand to watch it happen.

Any advice on what recourse I can take would be most appreciated.

No i'm going to say that your contract was with the LL, not the agent. So any complaint should be directed there.

HonourlessWeasel

Guest101 wrote: »

No i'm going to say that your contract was with the LL, not the agent. So any complaint should be directed there.

But the tenancy agreement wasn't with the landlord, it was with the letting agent, they were named on the tenancy agreement, everything had to be passed through them.

It was the letting agent that held the deposit and refused to release it.

Guest101

HonourlessWeasel wrote: »

But the tenancy agreement wasn't with the landlord, it was with the letting agent, they were named on the tenancy agreement, everything had to be passed through them.

It was the letting agent that held the deposit and refused to release it.

That's just not true.


a new landlord and they didn't want it to be managed by an agent any more, and that new landlord made an agreement with us and the ex-letting agent for the deposit to remain with them and remain protected by the TDS

Even if originally your landlord was the letting agent (under some guaranteed rent scheme) that then changed as above

agrinnall

HonourlessWeasel wrote: »

But the tenancy agreement wasn't with the landlord, it was with the letting agent, they were named on the tenancy agreement, everything had to be passed through them.

It was the letting agent that held the deposit and refused to release it.

You're wrong and Guest is right. Regardless of what you think the paperwork means, your tenancy agreement was with the LL (the only way it could have been with the LA is if they actually owned the property), and the LL has ultimate responsibility for the deposit.