Trying to claim rent overpayment back!

[pigeonsteps]

hi all, this is my first ever post so please bear with me

basically, my tenancy ended March 1st 2008, it was rented through an agency but towards the end we were in direct contact with the owner of the property as we were all frustrated with the agency! we ended up moving the last few bits of rubbish out by the following week, the owner was fine about it as she was selling and wasn't planning on charging any more rent past the 1st. We were receiving partial housing benefit, which was being paid direct to the agency, and it was irregular amounts, so we ended up overpaying our final months rent by about £83. when i found our mistake (whilst still in the property) i asked if they could repay it, they said no, not until we had moved out.

we had to badger them to get our deposit back (minus £95 for "cleaning", even though they didn't tell us when the property would be inspected and the estate agents who were selling the property were satisfied with the state of the property, but anyway, that's another matter!), and when we asked about the overpayment, they showed us the rent account and said that a weeks worth of rent had been sent to the owner for March 1st to 7th (it stated £103 had been sent which would mean we still owed £20, they haven't asked us for it?), on checking with the owner she said she had not received anything, and she emailed them asking why they had deducted this from us. they then told her it was an overpayment from housing benefit that they were waiting to be reclaimed by the council (there was an overpayment of housing benefit, but i am currently paying this off, the council would not claim it back from the agency as my overpayment of rent had come later).

i finally managed to find time to email them this week, twice, before i had the rather vague answer of "thank you for your recent emails, we are looking into the matter".

i would really appreciate some advice on what to do next! thanks!

and sorry for such a long post!

[MrShed]

I fail to understand any basis for them not repaying this. Send them a LBA and threaten court action.

[pigeonsteps]

thanks, do you have any templates?
or are they somewhere on the site?

where do i stand with the £95 "cleaning and rubbish removal" fee, i have been given an invoice but the work was done by their handyman with his address on the invoice...not sure if he works directly for them or if he is just sub-contracted. i don't remember if we signed an inventory when moving in, and we weren't asked to attend an inspection.

so should i claim for both the £83 and £95 together?

thanks again!