Tenancy Deposit Missing between the change of Letting Agents

kaboo

Hi everyone,
I have been renting a house for the last 6 years. At the start it was with one Letting Agent (say agentX), but after 3 years in 2019 Landlord (LL) decided to change the letting agent to say agentY. It was not a smooth process as agentY drew up a totally new contract with a few new clauses that were questionable and wanted to force his contract on us. Thankfully, the LL saw some sense in our arguments we were able to meet somewhere in the middle. In general agentY seems to be quite a confrontationist and eager to pick arguments. I had started a thread here at the time and got some valuable suggestions to find a solution.  

Now the situation is that I have given a notice to end the tenancy because I have purchased a house for myself finally ( [:) ). Upon serving the notice I got to know that agentY never received our deposit from agentX. At the time of the change in Letting Agents, all the paperwork that we had seen and the forms we signed and LL signed had confirmed that our deposit from agenX (held under TDS) will be transferred to agentY (to be held under DPS). However now agentY says he never received it! So he is not responsible for it. AgentX should do the checking out inspection with the LL and they are responsible for it. Now LL is chasing down agentX.... 

So the deposit is sort of missing. Given the nature and attitude of agentY I am expecting arguments and debates, and knowing them they will try to shrug responsibility. I just dont want to lose my depsoit and also dont want massive delays in getting it back - dont have much money left with me after the purchase. I am very very opposite of a confrontationist and will avoid having arguments un-necessarily, but I also hate bullies with conviction. 

So all the experienced and knowledgeable people of MSE, in case situation becomes more complicated, what options do I have?
Many thanks

GDB2222

it's the LL's responsibility to make sure it is protected. In the meantime, check whether it is still with TDS here -

https://www.tenancydepositscheme.com/is-my-deposit-protected/

GDB2222

By the way, TDS do an insurance scheme as well as a custodial one. 

GDB2222

And check here too.

https://www.depositprotection.com/im-a-tenant/id-like-some-renting-guidance/where-s-my-deposit/

moneysavinghero

Your Landlord has a legal obligation to ensure that your deposit is held in a protected scheme at all times. A court could award you between 1 and 3 times of the deposit amount if this has not happened.

It is not clear from what you say whether your deposit is till validly held within the TDS scheme that Agent X organised. See what happens when LL gets hold of Agent X. Ultimately the LL is responsible for your deposit, so you will get it back (and possibly more).

Agent Y are correct, it is not really anything to do with them. Your LL may disagree and say he's paying them to take care of it - but that is between the two of them, nothing to do you with you.

kaboo

I got an email roughly 2 months back from TDS saying that my tenancy has come to an end and deposit is no longer protected. Also said something along the lines that this is a generic email we send when tenancies come to end. I forwarded it to the new agent, he said it should be ok and did not bother to check or inform the LL. 

Yes I am waiting to hear from them now...

kaboo

Thanks for the TDS link, I found the certificate and it says that it ended in July 2018.   

GDB2222

kaboo said:

Thanks for the TDS link, I found the certificate and it says that it ended in July 2018.   

Did the cert say whether it was insurance or custodial?
As MS Hero says, it's more bad news for your landlord than you, assuming that he's honest. I'd check with DPS, too. 

anselld

GDB2222 said:

kaboo said:

Thanks for the TDS link, I found the certificate and it says that it ended in July 2018.   

Did the cert say whether it was insurance or custodial?
As MS Hero says, it's more bad news for your landlord than you, assuming that he's honest. I'd check with DPS, too. 

Think it must be Insured as that is the one they cancel at end of tenancy if the L fails to renew the premium.

They cannot just cancel custodial and return funds to L willy-nilly so I dont think it can be custodial.

Either way the Landlord's problem to sort out.

kaboo

It is TDS insured

moneysavinghero

kaboo said:

Thanks for the TDS link, I found the certificate and it says that it ended in July 2018.   

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/tenancy_deposits/how_to_make_a_tenancy_deposit_compensation_claim

Or if you don't want confrontation of legal stuff write to your LL and ask for the deposit to be returned directly from the LL and have the back up of the legal route available if you get no luck.