How to Report a Rogue Letting Agent?

nichekos

Hi all,

My wife and I bought our first house in January, and moved out of our rental mid Feb. The landlord of the rental (who is absolutely lovely) immediately said we could have our full deposit back and he had instructed the letting agent to release it...

>6 weeks and a huge number of phonecalls and emails later, and we're still waiting for the refund. I've even told the agent we're going to take legal action, and they still won't return it (without giving a reason).

It turns out they didn't use one of the approved protection schemes (the tenancy agreement says they used DPS, but DPS have no record of our deposit... I've checked the other two schemes too, but neither have any record of it). So it would seem they just kept our money, and now won't give it back to us.

It seems most of the online advice re: deposit retrieval is on a personal level (which I fully intend to take, e.g. mediation service and small claims court). Has anyone been through this process - what can I expect, and how long can I expect it to take? I was quite interested to read about '3x deposit amount' compensation for the agent not using an approved scheme

Also, does anyone know who I can actually report the agent to - i.e. regulatory body or equivalent? It seems the mediation service doesn't formally address this. The agent's conduct has been appalling and I don't want anyone in future to end up in this position. On reading a few online reviews, my wife and I are not the first to be treated like this (but hopefully will be the last).

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies.

nichekos

One note to add - is the mediation service etc even a good idea? Is that likely to accelerate things, or slow things down? I'm not sure if I should just wait it out and hope the agent sees sense and returns the money soon... so any advice really appreciated.

kinger101

Check if the letting agent is registered with an ombudsman, e.g,

https://www.tpos.co.uk/

Then follow their complaints procedure.

I'd absolutely go for the compensation route. It was the landlords responsibility to ensure the deposit was protected. It's not your fault the agent didn't do it.

tom9980

As part of the Mcol paperwork there is a tick box for mediation if both sides tick the box then you will be contacted by the court mediation service. They give you a date and will call you sometime during a 6 hour period, the appointment lasts one hour.

You dont talk to the other party just the mediator. In my experience the other side didnt answer the call it also delayed mcol a few weeks sending the claim to our local court. I started the process at the end of October, mediation was in mid January and court date is in May. Even then I may have to go back to court to enforce payment.

You should really be suing your landlord not the agent, the landlord is legally responsible. The agent acts for them and the landlord can sue the agent for the money. I suspect the agent may well go bust shortly so you would probably be wasting your time suing them.

Personally I would ask the landlord to return your deposit and not sue them for the 3x penalty if they pay up quickly. It is likely that this will be the easiest way for you to get your money.

HampshireH

It's your lovely landlord you need to be talking to as at the end of the day this is their responsibility. They can then deal with the agent.

Why fight your landlords battle for them? Your Landlord owes you your deposit get it back from them. They can the deal with the agents and any court action

G_M

Legal responsibility for both protecting, and then returning, your deposit is the landlord's, not the agent's.

If the landlord has paid an agent to do this for him, and the agent fails to do so, then the landlord can sue the agent for breach of contract, but that does not affect the LL's responsibility to the tenant.

So:

1) you sue the landlord for the return of your deposit (though you could add the agent as a joint defendant)

2) you sue the landlord for the 3 times penalty for failing to protect.

By all means apply for mediation at the same time if you wish, but there's little point.

The relevant agent's ombudsman might take action if the agent has failed to comply with their code of practice, though

1) that won't necessarily get you your deposit back
2) a complaint to the ombudsman might have to come from the agent's client - the landlord.


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

nichekos

Thanks so much for all the replies.

My wife and I had absolutely no idea this was squarely the landlord's responsibility. He (the landlord) told us it was entirely in the hands of the letting agent and there was nothing he could do... which we took at face value. He (the landlord) even went so far as to say the letting agent owes him money too, and he's in the same boat as us...

This is going to sound very naive, but I honestly think the landlord was being sincere and genuinely doesn't realise it's up to him to sort this out. We will of course be enlightening him to the facts pointed out above.

Thanks again, this has been a massive help (and eye-opener)

G_M

nichekos wrote: »

My wife and I had absolutely no idea this was squarely the landlord's responsibility. He (the landlord) told us it was entirely in the hands of the letting agent and there was nothing he could do... which we took at face value. He (the landlord) even went so far as to say the letting agent owes him money too, and he's in the same boat as us...

This is going to sound very naive, but I honestly think the landlord was being sincere and genuinely doesn't realise it's up to him to sort this out. We will of course be enlightening him to the facts pointed out above.

This is often the case with smaller LLs (not being heightest - I'm small myself!) eg where they move for work & let out their home.

And agents, touting for their business, often say things like "Leave everything to us. You don't need to worry" or similar.

But the fact is, your contract is with the landlord (that's why he's named on the tenancy agreement!), and the buck stops with him.

He can employ an electrician to fix the electrics on his behalf, a gas engineer to fix the boiler, or ..... an agent to collect the rent (etc). But ultimately he is responsible for all these things.