Lettings agency is ignoring me

[blondie_trolleydolly]

Hello,

I moved into a property in the Birmingham area in 2005 under an AST contract. The branch that I signed my contract with was then closed in 2006 and the operation of the lettings department was run from another branch (obviously with a different address to the one I had on my contract but with the same name). I moved out of the property in March 2007 and shortly afterwards I received a voicemail message from the lettings agency saying that my deposit "was ready for collection from the branch or can be sent to the forwarding address". I sent a letter to them confirming the forwarding address and got nothing back. I then sent several more letters, and still nothing. I made several phone calls and left several voicemail messages, and still nothing.

Well, two weeks ago I made the 200 mile round trip to Birmingham to visit the branch and was told that in September the lettings department of the estate agency had been sold to another lettings agents and that the branch had "nothing to do with residential lettings". I then chased up the new lettings agency who told me that they have "nothing to do with my deposit because I vacated the property before they bought the lettings department from the estate agency".

Both the estate agent and the new lettings agency are now ignoring all communications from me despite the fact that I have sent them both a letter telling them that I will be taking them to court in the next 14 days if they don't return the deposit, or at the very least tell me what has happened to it.

I am now very confused and frustrated. Who is it that now has my deposit, the estate agent that was controlling the property when I ended the contract or the lettings agent that bought the lettings department of the estate agents several months after I moved out?

Anybody got any advice, its driving me crazy!

[Joa]

Go back to the source- your landlord and the tenancy agreement. How was the deposit held?
Next, find out whether the old and new agencies belong to any professional bodies like National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) , Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA), National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS), UK Association of Letting Agents (UKALA), Ombudsman for Estate Agents (OEA)
Check this article for links:
Agents, Letting Agents and Property Managing Agents - LandlordZONE

Write to the professional bodies of your ex-agents and the new one. Ask them to help you negotiate this maze- these bodies have no powers to make decisions but they could help in establishing who you should chase for your deposit.

And of course, the old chestnut of bad publicity- in a very competitive market, the estate agents are very anxious about bad publicity. Run your imagination wild- Watchdog, local papers, lettings forums, etc.