Who do I claim my deposit back from??

[Nunski]

Hi everyone,

I'm in a bit of a tricky situation- can anyone please help?

History:

I signed a tenancy agreement on 27th July 2006 with a letting agent for a flat and agreed to pay £625 Deposit and one months rent in advance of £625. This was for an intial term of 6 months.

An inventory had already been taken by the agents which I checked and made any amendments as necessary.

In early January 2007 I was contacted by a new letting firm saying that the landlord was no longer using the old letting agents to manage his properties as he'd fallen out with them and that he has now instructed the new firm to collect his rent for him.

Out of courtesy I rang up the old letting agents to say I would be ending my standing order payments for rent but they told me I had to give one months notice as stated in the tenancy agreement...I was then told by the new firm that I didnt need to give notice as I wasn't ending the tenancy with the landlord and they assured me that the deposit would be sorted out and reclaimed from the other agent.

At the end of 12months I gave 1 month's notice and moved out on 31st July 2007 (&paid for extra 3 days rent!)

When I went to hand my keys in the letting firm told me that the landlord didn't have our deposit as the old letting agents failed to hand it over to them and he was taking them to court to reclaim our deposit back amongst other things (I even gave them copies of my deposit receipt and old tenancy agreement).

A month later and after many messages left I managed to get hold of the landlord via phone and he said he didn't have my deposit and he never received a penny of it so he couldn't help me. He also told me once he reclaims if from the old agents via the courts he would return it to me.

Over the next couple of months i sent out 2 letters to the landlord and 1 to the old letting agents asking for my deposit. I got no replies from either.

A letter before action was sent to the landlord last week and a reply I got today from him says his court case against the letting agent failed and he was not responsible for my deposit. He also said if i went ahead with court proceedings he's defend his case AND counterclaim for the deposit and one months rent which he didn't recieve because the old letting agents didnt pass it on to him when we switched agents in january as instructed.

He is now also saying I owe him for cleaning and redecorating costs (never mentioned in the past 5 motnhs since i vacated the flat).

I'm sorry it's a lot to read through but i thought its better i gave the whole story with all the information needed.

Should i continue with court action against the landlord to reclaim my deposit?

[GlasweJen]

I think that this is something you take up with the landlord so keep on suing. He's the one you have the contract with, he made the decision to change letting agent and it doesn't take this long to sort small claims out. I'd continue with your court action.

I'd also write in your claim that the landlord has taken 5 months to say that money was to be deducted from the deposit and you feel this is too late because (presumably) other people have occupied the property for the last 5 months and so there is no evidence that you caused this damage.

[MrShed]

Your landlord is a moron if he thinks he can counterclaim against you.

Sue the landlord. You have a cast iron case.

[Nunski]

Thanks Jenschnifer and MrShed.

He says that he can use receipts and bank statements to prove to the courts that he never received payment of the deposit, the period of my stay at the flat and will seek compensation for the one months rent the old letting agents didn't pass on to him when he left them.

I just want to make sure that i definately have a case against the landlord and not the letting agents as he's so crafty he'll try anything to get out of paying.

[GlasweJen]

Do you have a reciept for the payment of your deposit? You are entitled by your contract to get your deposit back and your contract is with the landlord so he's the one who has to pay it out and then he can sue the letting agency for the balance of it if they still hold the deposit.

[Nunski]

Yes I have a receipt for the deposit but it's from the letting agents as they dealt with everything and i have never even met the landlord. My tenancy agreement was also done with the letting agent but i assumed it was on his behalf and they're just the 3rd party.

The landlord has already taken the letting agents to court to try and reclaim the money from them but he said he was unsuccessful and that's why i need to take the agents to court and not him.

I'm stuck in the middle of something that is totally not my fault!!

[MrShed]

It doesnt matter if he hasnt received it. He is responsible for it.

[Nunski]

I'm gonna continue suing the landlord and ill update the thread as things progress...thanks for the advice!!

[Da8thMonth]

I was in exactly the same situation as you. The landlord changed letting agents. The landlord and the former letting agent could not agree on the letting agent's fees. The landlord refused to pay the letting agent, the letting agent then kept our deposit to cover the landlord's unpaid fees.

We just got our judgement today agains the LANDLORD. The judge informed us we had NO CASE agains the agent.

Go for the landlord. It should be very straight forward, as ours was.

[Joa]

very helpful post da8th. congratulations on your case!

[Nunski]

Very reassuring to know Da8thMonth!! Hope you don't end up having to enforce judgement, let me know how it goes.

[Aequitas]

Originally Posted by Da8thMonth

We just got our judgement today agains the LANDLORD. The judge informed us we had NO CASE agains the agent.

On what basis was the deposit held by the agent?

[Da8thMonth]

Hi Aequitas,

My tenancy agreement did not specifically state whether the deposit was held as "stakeholder" or "landlord's agent".

The judge however told us she did not feel there was enough "information" showing that the agent was liable and would not have been able to give us a judgment against the agent. She gave us judgement against the landlord.

We originally included the Agent in our court claim, but withdrew it against them 2 days before our hearing. The agent never even filed a defense, so the judge made this decision based only on information provided by us.

Da8thMonth

[Da8thMonth]

Oh Aequitas, one more thing.

We had email evidence which showed that the Agent keep the deposit to offset fee owed to them by Landlord.

Apparently, this didn't matter, although there was no email which told us they were witholding our deposit 100%.

The only email from the Agent, said that they were not doing anything more about this and to get our deposit back we had to talk with the Landlord.

[Nunski]

Hi all, an update on my case against Ex-landlord:

I filed a small claim against him for unreturned deposit which he has defended fully and is counterclaiming for 'damages to property, redecorating costs and unpaid rent'.

Last week I got a notice of allocation to small claims track hearing and I'm in the process of submitting my evidence.

Do I need to include a statement from myself even though I will be at the hearing? Apart from letters between the parties, tenancy agreement with agents and an opening inventory is there anything else i need to include?

I tried to contact the initial letting agents we took the contract with today and they've closed down! I then called the other letting agents he switched to during our tenancy and they said they weren't dealing with him anymore! They're going to check their files on the property to see if there were any damages/repairs when we left.

[Nunski]

UPDATE:

Court case is set for next week and I have only just recieved the Landlord's evidence for defence on 13th June. The directions ordered by the judge stated that the evidence should be sent by the 14th April (which i complied with).

Is it too late to send a non-compliance letter?

Also, LL has sent invoices for new locks and new keys for front door which was 2 weeks after we moved out. All sets of keys were handed back to the agents when we vacated the flat.

He has also included a couple of other invoices:

1- for re-pair and re-paint of damaged walls and skirting- 3 days at £100 each!!

2-to clean 2 bed flat through out- £110 (the date on this invoice is when we were still living in the flat? lol)

None of the invoices are stamped/signed or have any form of business logo. To be honest I can make them up myself using the templates on microsoft word. Can all of this be pointed out to the judge at the hearing or do i need to write a letter?

[Nunski]

got a judgement in my favour ordering landlord to pay me back the deposit plus interest and costs!!