Letting Agent left me homeless - HELP!

kymmie_2

thepinkladez wrote: »

maybe the l/a had no idea there was an issue until her phone call to the l/l, i have had it before sent letters left a/p msgs to say i have let property and all of a sudden been informed the l/l has let it, like i say it does happen! i dont think seeing the l/a will resolve much they will i imagine put full blame on l/l and say they did eveything in their power to help you, but if the property is gone its gone.i doubt they will even provide any of his details for you to do anything as that would be breach of dpa.(i think!)unless you have his details anyway?

i totally sympathise with you, you shouldn't have had this happen to you but i just can't see that you have a case, i am sorry. sometimes it just is better to just move on rather than waste all your time and effort and stressing yourself out futher.believe in karma! l/l will get some bad bits soon! good luck

No offence or nothing thepinkladez but at the end of the day you dont look at it as the LL's point of view or the LA at the end of the day he was notified in the morning of his ''apparent'' move that the keys would be handed over by lunch time. this man has been left homeless because of lack of communication between LL and LA that is always vitial when a tenant becomes involved because paperwork has to be signned and dates of when the tenant wishes to move in, if the property is and will still be available at the date of the tenants move all of these processes need to be completed between both the LA and LL before anything can go on. Which obviously means that there was a breakdown of communication somewhere and the LA didnt find out until it was too late but ALSO on top of that they knew that he was going to be homeless because he informed them/ they informed him that the LL wanted the property back so he could move in. But at the end of it he does certinly have a case... unless you are of course stating that you would like to be made out of pocket and be sleeping on your mates sofa while you try to find a place??

kymmie_2

Phatmouse wrote: »

hope you get sorted soon, i would hate this to happen to us, i would be furious i thought a holding fee was just that, the second you paid it you had taken the flat subject to credit checks but nothing else.

i agree and it is. A holding fee of course self explanitry... well until this LA came along that is! at least he got it back... but unfortunatly he is now out of pocket with no where to live, sleeping on a mates sofa while another keeps all of his personal property! I just wish him every bit of luck that he gets the compensation he needs and deserves!

Northern_girl_2

Like other people have suggested I would recommend going to the CAB and getting some advice about this. I've been in the same position and know how horrible it is.

I know it won't help but you may have got off lightly. When it happened to us we had already paid the deposit and signed the lease - an hour before picking up the keys they rang to say the landlord had already moved tenants in.
With hindsight we should have cut and run then but we were moving 300 miles and were starting new jobs 3 days later. With no friends nearby to stay with and a van full of stuff (and a cat already less than impressed by the journey) we tried to make the best of a bad job and accepted an inferior flat from the LA. 1 month later we still hadn't got the furniture they had promised when we signed the lease (like any kind of sofa) and 6 months down the line the furnishing/decorating promised still hadn't appeared.
We ended the lease as soon as we could and found a much better flat and LA. Our old one avoided returning the substantial deposit for 6 months, were impossible to track down and disappered completely just as the new laws came in about deposits needed to held independently. Other tenants using the same LA had successfully taken them to the small claims court but had the judgement ignored. The LA has now gone into receivership.

In the end all anyone could do was report it the police as fraud - it wasn't a deposit dispute they simply had no intention of paying them back to anyone.

See, it could always be worse!

Paddy_Charlie

Thanks for all the help and advice

I went to see letting agent on Friday and unsurprisingly she was out so I just left a letter stating that I want to be compensated for my costs and asking for a letter detailing exactly what happened. So i will wait and see what the response is before doing anything.