Tenancy Deposit Missing between the change of Letting Agents

AdrianC

The agent is not YOUR agent. They are the landlord's agent.

It is the landlord who is legally responsible for your tenancy, including your deposit. He can chase X and Y all he wishes - but that doesn't change the fact it's HIM that owes you that deposit money back... And if it's not protected, it's his problem, not yours.

If you paid it into the protected scheme, that's where it'll be still unless it's been repaid... To whom? When?
If he doesn't repay it sharply after you move out, your next step is to remind him that a small claim court WILL order full repayment from him.

kaboo

The way I understand it, deposit is held by the agent (in this case previous agent) and its insured by TDS. So its still with the previous agent. Now hopefully they can figure it out among themselves... 

RAS

It's completely irrelevant "where the money is", as your landlord is legally responsible for insuring the deposit. So he's responsible for returning it to you, not the current agency.

Since the LL has failed to insure the money for years, you could sue him for a sum £3 x the deposit.

If you are feeling very nice, you might agree to leave with no deductions at all to your deposit as long as it's paid within a week. 

Basically you have him/her by the short and curlies.

teachfast

RAS said:

It's completely irrelevant "where the money is", as your landlord is legally responsible for insuring the deposit. So he's responsible for returning it to you, not the current agency.

Since the LL has failed to insure the money for years, you could sue him for a sum £3 x the deposit.

If you are feeling very nice, you might agree to leave with no deductions at all to your deposit as long as it's paid within a week. 

Basically you have him/her by the short and curlies.

And since you're buying a house you won't need to worry about the reference.

theartfullodger

It's to your advantage if deposit has gone missing.  Means you can sue for unprotected deposit (up to 3x deposit) and landlord has problems evicting you.

kaboo

Thank you, it puts my mind at ease. 

In case there are disputes, like unacceptable deductions, the only recourse I will have is to approach small claims court or the county court. Since there is no deposit scheme to help resolve....

Mahsroh

As others have said, it's basically the LL's problem, not yours. 

I suspect however, it's still being held by Agent X. I'm in the process of selling a BTL property to another LL / Investor with tenants insitu. As such i've given my agent notice. In the paperwork that came back they've confirmed that they will continue to hold the deposit until instructed otherwise. I suspect this is what has happened at the LL never instructed them to transfer it to Agent Y.......In fact, based on the info i've had from my outgoing LA, they cant do this without written agreement from you, so unless you wrote to them or signed something at the time, I'm willing to bet it's still being held by Agent X. 

Ultimately, it's the LL's problem, not yours. If it genuinely is "lost" then it should be down to the LL to reimburse you. 

kaboo

I checked all the paperwork from 3 years back. AgentX was instructed to transfer the deposit, they confirmed in a signed agreement for transfer of tenancy to new agent that deposit will be transferred. They took it out of TDS. New agent, AgentY drafted his agreement and confirmed that he has received my deposit and protected under DPS. AgentX never transferred and AgentY never bothered to check. We renewed contract with Agent Y 3 times and all times he confiemd in the agreement that he has the deposit under DPS.

Came the time of end of tenancy notice, he checked and realized it never got transferred....

I just heard from them, AgentX accepts they messed up and will transfer the deposit to agentY asap... so this parts looks ok.

But from my experience of dealing with this agentY, he is likely to cause issues. Now I am only thinking what happens if they make any unacceptable deductions. There is absolutely no damage to property but agentY is absolutely insisting on professional deep cleaning and professional laundry of curtains, etc. When I offered to do it with my Vax carpet washer and wash the curtains myself like have been doing every year anyway, his response is its not likely to be satisfactory and we will have to hire a professional causing deductions from deposit....

Mahsroh

kaboo said:

But from my experience of dealing with this agentY, he is likely to cause issues. Now I am only thinking what happens if they make any unacceptable deductions. There is absolutely no damage to property but agentY is absolutely insisting on professional deep cleaning and professional laundry of curtains, etc. When I offered to do it with my Vax carpet washer and wash the curtains myself like have been doing every year anyway, his response is its not likely to be satisfactory and we will have to hire a professional causing deductions from deposit....

Was the property professionally cleaned when you moved in? Irrespective of what the agent says, the expectation is that you hand the property back in the same condition as it was at the start of the tenancy (allowing for fair wear and tear). If a professional clean had been done prior to you moving in it's reasonable to expect it to be handed back the same way (this doesn't necessarily  mean you have to pay for a professional cleaner, just that you have to hand it back cleaned to a professional standard). If it wasn't professionally cleaned when you moved in then there is absolutely no requirement for you to hand it back to a professional standard whatsoever. 

If they attempt to make unacceptable deductions then you raise a dispute with TDS, and the onus is very much on the LL / LA to prove that the deductions are fair. 

newsgroupmonkey_

kaboo said:

I checked all the paperwork from 3 years back. AgentX was instructed to transfer the deposit, they confirmed in a signed agreement for transfer of tenancy to new agent that deposit will be transferred. They took it out of TDS. New agent, AgentY drafted his agreement and confirmed that he has received my deposit and protected under DPS. AgentX never transferred and AgentY never bothered to check. We renewed contract with Agent Y 3 times and all times he confiemd in the agreement that he has the deposit under DPS.

Came the time of end of tenancy notice, he checked and realized it never got transferred....

I just heard from them, AgentX accepts they messed up and will transfer the deposit to agentY asap... so this parts looks ok.

But from my experience of dealing with this agentY, he is likely to cause issues. Now I am only thinking what happens if they make any unacceptable deductions. There is absolutely no damage to property but agentY is absolutely insisting on professional deep cleaning and professional laundry of curtains, etc. When I offered to do it with my Vax carpet washer and wash the curtains myself like have been doing every year anyway, his response is its not likely to be satisfactory and we will have to hire a professional causing deductions from deposit....

Everyone in this thread has told you, but I'll reiterate.

The agency is not your landlord. Your landlord is. Is the professional clean in your contract? (and even then, IIRC, it's not legal unless they can prove they had a professional clean before you moved in, which of course they can't, because it was Agency X)