Deposit Withheld Because of Items the Letting Agent Removed

gremilex

£500 of our deposit has been withheld because items in the property are no longer there. (The items were certainly not worth that amount of money)

The letting agent removed them as they were additional to our needs.
The original inventory noted that they would be removed.
We sent a letter to the letting agent thanking them for their removal at the time.

Where do I stand on this?

Any ideas on the quickest way to remedy this situation would be appreciated.

poppysarah

Court.
Info on Shelter's website.

bobby-boy_2

Hi Gremelex if you are in England or Wales and your tenancy started after 6th April 2007 your deposit should be in A TDS Tenants deposit scheme. This is your first step to getting your deposit back before going to court. Your landlord / LA should have provided details of the scheme within 14 days of the deposit being lodged and if they have failed to do this you can claim 3 x the deposit back.

hjb123

when did you move in/out?

are they giving you some of your deposit back?

have you told the LL/LA what the situation was?

gremilex

Thank you all for your input.

Some answers as requested.
This is in England
There is a TDS
>when did you move in/out?
In August 2007
Out May 21 2008


>are they giving you some of your deposit back?
Gave us back the deposit minus the £500.


>have you told the LL/LA what the situation was?
Explained to the LA, but now they are not taking calls, I am going to pay them a visit in person.
I suspect they may not have informed the LL what the scenario was. I have not yet contacted the LL directly.

MissMoneypenny

Gremilex wrote: »

Explained to the LA, but now they are not taking calls, I am going to pay them a visit in person.
I suspect they may not have informed the LL what the scenario was. I have not yet contacted the LL directly.

No, keep it in all in writing and keep a copy for yourself. Lucky you have a copy of the letter thanking the LA for removing those items.

I assumed that a deduction had to be agreed by you with the TDS?? If that is the case, how come you received your deposit back minus £500?

gremilex

I am not that familiar with the TDS, but I certainly have the paperwork that I signed to be in it.
The cheque has come from the LA.
Should I cash it or hold off?

hjb123

If you have the paperwork to do with your tenancy deposit scheme thing, you may be able to contact the scheme and find out what is happening and explain the situation - they may be able to tell you if the deposit has been released etc

real1314

I'd go in to see them, taking a prepared letter in case you get no joy

iirc some LA's have an in-house TDScheme (?) so there may be no other body to write to.

include a 14 day period for return of the £500 in your letter or you will take further steps to recover the money from them. Include a request for details of how the deposit has been protected.

Incisor

gremilex wrote: »

I am not that familiar with the TDS, but I certainly have the paperwork that I signed to be in it.
The cheque has come from the LA.
Should I cash it or hold off?

If you don't have paper work to show that the TDS actually accepted the deposit from the LL, then I doubt that the deposit was put with them. Please post whether your deposit was accepted by the TDS.

gremilex

Only evidence of the TDS was the paperwork we signed when entering into the tenancy agreement.
All funds were given to the LA.
No acknowledgement was provided beyond that point.