We gave our 2 months notice at the end of Feb to move out of our flat that we rent. Our landlady asked us not to speak to the agents until she spoke to her. A week went past and she came round to say she was maybe going to sell the flat as we had mentioned moving. She then said she would prefer to have someone in the flat until she sold and why were we moving? We said to save money so we could buy somewhere. So she said well how much were you wanting to pay - we said about half so she went off and then said that she would agree for us to stay until she sold it at almost half price rent. Since then (April 28 past when we were meant to have moved out) nothing has happened - the letting agents still haven't been sorted in terms of getting the lower rent paid - so we haven't paid any rent for 3 months. We have been asking and asking and asking for it to be sorted out - but still nothing. Now she is saying that the letting agents are being taken over and we need to sign a new contract - giving another 2 month notice period which we don't want to have to do as we are ready to buy our own flat. The letting agents sent things through with the old amount of rent on there and it's getting really confusing what the legal situation is. We haven't paid rent and our notice was given and has come and gone. We have been ready and able to pay the rent but she has kept putting it off for one reason or another and now we don't want to sign ourselves down for another 2 months but I'm not sure whether we are actually in a contract or not... Any advice as to where we stand much appreciated!

I have posted on here previously (thanks everyone for helping me to keep mildly sane...although I now have high blood pressure thanks to the stress!!) but thankfully have moved on from there... Previously the landlord tried to say they wouldn't protect the deposit - finally the agent protected it about 4 and a half months into the 6 month tenancy. We handed our notice in (went down like a lead balloon with landlord) but finally got checked out exactly 6 months after we moved in (if you could call it that - elderly dad came in looked around for 30 seconds and said ok) then we had to prove we had paid the bills which we did - took another week to collate final bills then we eventually got an email from the landlord to the agent to say release the deposit without deduction. We told the agent when we had checked out - we also emailed and said looking forward to getting our 2400 quid in 10 days as per the mydeposits website. We didn't get it. We followed it up - they said they'd never been sent the date of moving out and that their policy according to statute law (and claimed it was an industry standard) was to pay back the deposit 4 weeks after the check out date...that would have been today....but still no cheque...they are now saying that we didn't tell them about the date so it will be another 10 days.... So...we ring mydeposits who say oh - yes - they're probably doing that as they know they would have 10 days anyway if we contacted them - and if they then opened a dispute you might not get the money for 3 months... The fact mydeposits even said this made me angry!! Surely the tenancy deposit schemes are meant to lay down conditions??? Why say oh put your money in this mandatory scheme when agents claim that they don't have to follow the rules?! I am so angry that this supposedly simple process is still able to be 'amended' and the scheme providers couldn't even help other than to confirm what we had thought. Would be grateful to hear if anyone else has had similar problems?

Still confused...after asking agent on Tuesday for deposit proof of protection - they said they had it and would be dug out of files and I would receive email of certificate maybe by Wednesday...have chased every day and then received a call this morning saying that again - it was protected - and i would receive a "Tenants Pack" by - get this - THE END OF NEXT WEEK - so almost two weeks since asking for it with proof of protection. Am I being a mug - was my landlord right to want us to sue the agent with him?? The agreement said that the deposit was to be held with the agent - but I do have an email from the LA after teh agreement was signed - to his sister saying the deposit was meant to be held with them not the agent... But the agent is implying they have it.... So who do I complain to!? If I send to the landlord, I end up possibly annoying him as he is also alleging it is the agents... I also chased up the inventory...and quel surprise - the sister who was dealing with it (who initially promised it after xmas) says she's on hols til the 26th and will send - the tenancy agreement - I had to remind her about the inventory - after she gets back... I wish I was losing weight with all this stress..but think it's just brain cells that are diminishing with this mess of a tenancy!!

Sorry - should have mentioned that our tenancy agreement says that the deposit is to be held with the letting agent, but then the landlord (with the dodgy letter he wanted us to sign) also sent a copy of an email showing their account with the agent saying that the deposit was with the agent, but then asking his sister who also deals with their properties to contact the agent to get the deposit back as the agent weren't supposed to be holding the deposit... This was from November about a week after we'd paid the deposit - so it does make me wonder why the landlord hasn't queried not having the deposit since then.... Although I did query with the agent as to the landlord not protecting the deposit - and can't remember what date this was - as it might have been agreed that they did keep it...but we never had it confirmed... Off to have a headache...

Oh I've not done anything now...am waiting to see if Agents send proof of deposit being protected...although just chased them up as they said they would email it....(despite moneydeposits.co.uk who they claimed to have used having no record of my deposit being registered...). In terms of the extra fees etc...it is a bit daunting...so hoping that we get a certificate / proof that everything is in place!! But if we don't...I'm getting confused now...as I just read on another old thread that if the agent has been instructed to hold the deposit, then it is them we should be looking to claim against...not the landlord... Then another horrible thought was suggested to me...what if the letting agents go broke - and take the deposit with them!? Oh if there isn't a problem I'm imagining one!!!

Sorry...incidentally - if your claim is over £5000 - who would it go to? And would it be a N208 still?? Sorry - I feel like I'm asking a million questions - if I could send everyone cakes from the lovely bakery opposite my flat I would!!

I've withdrawn the claim...as had made a mistake...the landlord has now just rang and said did I get the paperwork...I said yes but wasnt signing - he said fine...and put the phone down....then he rang again and said did I mention it to the agents - I hadn't specifically mentioned it to them but it's obvious he didn't want me to mention it....I sort of maybe did....now I'm feeling a bit ill....am going to fill in the N208 form (incidentally I queried which form to fill in with the courts and they said N1....?!?!) and take it in person tomorrow... God it gets worse as every minute goes on

Oh dear...well I've jumped the gun and done it now and hope I've done it right....used moneyclaim website and filled in details...cost £210 in the end....hope it's the right thing?!!?

Sorry - I meant that it would be more than £5000...and I read somewhere else that it's only for up to that amount...and can it be done online??

Not entirely sure what we want...if we do file a claim where do we do it as the claim would be for £7200 (3x our £2400 deposit) - and is that all we claim for or do we add the deposit to that?? (Sorry - thanks for all the advice btw!)

Just got the letter and docs from the landlord...and thought I would ring the LA to see what they had to say. What a surprise - they say the landlord was rubbish - landlord says agency were rubbish - both apparantly sacked each other depending on who you speak to. So I ask the LA where is my deposit - and they say - much to my relief - it's protected - and I said - where's my proof then? They say - oh we can email it to you... Oh great - can you email it straight away? No - it might not be today.... Hmm - why not? I really really need it - as if I can see it has been protected then I can ignore stuff from the landlord... Sorry - our admin department has a heavy workload... Oh please send today?? No....might not be today - can't do anything - it's protected by mydeposit.co.uk - go look there. Ok - so I go look there - and search for our deposit and nothing comes up...so I ring them....nothing comes up for our address.... So ring agent back and say this and he says it must be a mistake and they will send the certificate... So now I have no idea who or what to believe - maybe the landlords right but I don't want to sign something that says we'll take legal action against the agent alongside the landlord.... If the agent do send a certificate that's from back in November - I can just show this to the landlord and all is ok....but I doubt this will happen.... If they set it up now - what do we do? It's protected but hasn't been protected soon enough....?? Why is nothing ever simple???

When I spoke to the agent on Friday, the Landlord told me he didn't want me to speak to the LA.... Today when I questioned it - he said I was being awkward and not one of his other tenants (I am a tenant of his brother who only has one flat which he used to live in - the brother has around 20 flats I believe) had questioned it in the way I have...and that he wasn't sure he wanted to represent me... So am I shooting myself in the foot by doing everything directly??

Hi The landlord is saying that the agent was meant to protect the deposit and I have seen that in some cases - this is actually the case if that's what has been agreed between the landlord and the agent... So he's saying it's the agent's fault for not protecting the deposit...and that the agents must be using the money for their own cashflow... Now I don't know whether it is the landlord who is at fault or not...or whether to sign the letter. They re-confirmed the letter was to the agent and said that we wanted to know where our deposit was being held and if they couldn't prove where it was then we wanted the money sent to our landlords solicitors and then it would be held with them. I did ask why it couldn't be in a deposit scheme once it came back from the agents, but he said that as he only had one property he was too small to register for a deposit scheme...I did say that our friends have rented out their house - and they've only got one! But he then said that we should get the money off the agents first - then sort out where it goes... Now I don't know what to do in terms of whether to sign or not as if it is the agents fault...or is it the landlord...or if he has agreed that agent will do it.... Getting a headache

Thanks I really don't know what to do...if we tried taking the LL to court - do we have to tell him we're filling in and sending the form?? I think I could just about cope with this if he wasn't so overbearing and self-assured...makes me wonder whether we're right or wrong no matter what is said

Thank you! I have since made an appointment to speak to a lawyer...at a cost of £120 for an hour...am hoping they tell me something I don't know!! Or maybe I should cancel it...I have no idea...am just so stressed The horrible thing is that I know about the 3x fee...but not sure if we have right to it if my partner signed a page saying he was happy that it would sit in the LL's account... Also - I'm worried the landlord would turn nasty if we filed this report...not sure what he could do - but I know they have keys etc... I've just looked up that form by googling it....is it just a really simple form with big spaces...looks very non-specific?? Or am I looking at the wrong thing?? Sorry for all the q's

Hi I'm at my wits end...can someone let me know what they think of my situation... We rented through an agent and initially asked about tenancy deposit scheme and the landlord said he wasn’t going to do it as my partner (only him not me) had signed a form saying he was happy for landlord to keep deposit with solicitors…. I explained that at the time he didn’t know about tenancy deposit scheme and that I didn’t want to sign it as we wanted the deposit protecting. The landlord had already threatened to make us leave when we first questioned it but we had moved all our stuff in from our old house and I was really stressed so then contacted the agents who said that they would protect the deposit (but they were pretty rubbish and I didnt believe them.) We have not had any protection information from landlord or agent. Then last (we've been in the property since end of November) Friday the landlord rang to say he would be sending me something about the deposit as the agents were meant to have protected the deposit, but they hadn’t so he was sending us a letter saying that we would along with our landlord (him) would be taking legal action against the agents and that we want our deposit paid to landlords solicitors along with any legal costs – and we are meant to sign this and send it back to the landlord…. I don't know whether we should sign this or not - on one hand it sounds like he's concerned about the deposit (it's £2400) but on the other hand I don't know if we want to get involved in a legal battle even if it is about our deposit - shouldn't it be us vs the landlord for the deposit?? I feel sick as I know he has a temper and will be angry no matter what we say we're going to do... Any advice gratefully received...