The estate agents are really co operative. they wont give me the landlord details, because they have a managed let or something so any problems goes thru them. i have written to them again today to say that as we didnt have an inventory they have no right to deduct anything from our deposit, when we moved out in feb the weather had been to bad to mow the grass. if we had, we would have done more damage to the garden, which they know about. The house was cleaned after we had moved out, and when it came to handing the keys back, i was told that it wouldnt be a problem for us to have my deposit back. They are now blaming the landlord saying he is not happy with the state of the house, so surely if they had agreed verbally to give me back our deposit they should honor that?

I have received an invoice from my previous estate agents, showing the breakdown of the costs involved. They are quoting £10 for replacing 5 lightbulbs, £90 for garden maintenance, £76 to have the carpets cleaned and £9 bank charges. I think these figures are hugely inflated, the garden wasnt that big, and only the grass needed cutting. Due to the size of the garden this would of taken an hour at most. Lightbulbs do not cost £2 each, i have looked around and they cost on average £1 each. When we moved in, we hired a carpet cleaner which cost us £20 for the machine. The house wasnt very big, and so it wouldnt have taken them very long to clean the carpets, approx 2-3 hours. Also they are charging me £9 in bank charges. We paid the rent by various methods, but none would of cost the agents money. Does anyone have a rough idea of whether these charges are accurate? Thanks

OK . . . Quick update. After writing 2 letters and not getting a response i phoned the LA. They had decided i wasnt etitled to know any of the LL details until i read out the statement from John howell above. I was told it would be with me by the end of the week. 18 days later and i'm still waiting. I tried ringing them again and cant get a response now. How do i go about getting them fined etc as stated above? Also, what happens now? They wont send me the LL details or a breakdown of the costs "incurred"to him no recepits or invoices?

Sorry, forgot to ask, can the estate agent withhold receipts and invoices which i have asked for to prove that the money is going on the house? I wrote and asked them but have got no reply. Ignorant twerps

Thanks John the above info is very useful. They have 10 days with which to respond to my previous letter (i'm not holding my breath). Then i will write to them again stating that i know they have to tell me and if they refuse i will list them as co-defendeants as Planner did. Quick Question tho, Planner did you have to go to court or did you settle? All information much appriciated

So HOW do i sue the landlord we only dealt with the agent, and they wont respond to my letters asking for the landlords details?!

I moved out of my previous property in feb07, and on the day of the check out the estate agent said that we would have no problem getting the deposit back. However, a cheque arrived and they have deducted £185 for: not keeping the garden to an acceptable standard Not paying rent by standing order Stain the carpets lightbulbs missing. I have written to the estate agents who have ignored my letter in which i explained that the dis repairs were there when we moved in and as they failed to provide an inventory, to dispute that. I have written to them again and asked for the landlords details as it is him who is with holding the money, and also a breakdown and invoices showing that the deposit is being used for the stuff he alleges i damaged. If i take him to court, and i dont have the landlords details, do i take the landlord to court, as they are his agents? Also, do i add on 8%interest or is that just with banks? Much Appriciated

BIG thanks for all the advice, i sent a letter to the estate agents and gave them 21 days to respond, they have til Monday 13th May. I am going to citizens advice tom, i will show them all the paperwork i have got from the estate agents, also all the info on this page . . . will keep you posted!

No inventorys were taken when we left the property, all the agent did was go into the house, took the keys off us, looked round, said it was fine and gave us a checkout form which just says our forwarding address, and that we returned 2 sets of keys. The rent was paid on time every month with no arrears. I paid by different methods tho, cash, thru internet banking, cheque, but i made sure that the time taken for them to clear was ample for them to have the money by the due date. No breakdown was given, just the reasons why they felt the need to take the money, which i mentioned above.

Ummm.... No we never mentioned it at the time, as we were trying to get settled before the baby came. My Mother In Law and Sister in law helped us move, and have said they are prepared to write a letter which will back up our claims regarding the state of the house, as we didnt think to take photos. We had repairs which needed doing and it took them 6 weeks to sort that out, and before we left there was a leak under the sink which they hadnt fixed when we moved out despite us reporting it several times.

My partner and I moved into our previous address in June 2006. At the time, I was heavily pregnant. When we moved in, due to my state, and the fact that it was the first time we had rented, we didnt receive an inventory from the estate agents, or know that we should have had one. On the day we moved in, there were stains on the carpet, (black, possibly ink or oil), we had hired a carpet cleaner and they wouldnt come off. There were light bulbs missing and the garden was very unkept. We moved out beginning March 2007, and when we checked out the estate agent looked round the house and said he had no problems with us having our deposit back (£475), and that we would receive it within 28 days. After about 40 days we got a cheque for £290, with the remaining £185 being deducted due to: - lightbulbs missing - the garden being unkept - stains on the carpet - us not paying the rent by direct debit. I have written them a letter explaining this, but have so far not received a reply. Would I havee a legto stand on if i took them to court?

i got the letter about the 20th feb. im not sure of the exact date, and i dont have the letter anymore, it got lost when we moved house. Also, if i no longer have any accounts open with HSBC would they have updated their records? i filled a form out but if the account is closed they may not update them. is it worth writing to the local branch who told me it has been written off and getting something from them in writing? What have other peoples experiences with this metropolitan company been?

I received a letter from a dca called metropolitan something, back in feb. I rang them and advised that a large sum of money would be going towards the debt very soon (the money which i reclaimed from HSBC). they seemed ok with this, and then like i say, the branch told me it had been written off. I have to deal with write offs at my work (im a travel agent), and generally a write off is paid by the branch where the debt was incurred. Woul the same rule not apply here?

Hi to everyone Long story short, I claimed back £1186 from bank charges. Whilst i was waiting for the cheque to come, i moved house. I went to my new local branch, to notify them of the change to my address and the banker said that my current account has been closed, despite it being about £700 overdrawn from bank charges alone, and that a managed loan which had about 7k owing, (which had been passed to a recovery agency) has also been closed. The accounts, according to the man at HSBC who i was speaking to have been "written off". Does anyone know what this actually means in HSBC terms? Has this happened to anyone else?

Hi to everyone. Iam in the process of claiming back just over £1000 from HSBC from my current accounts. However i am wondering if there is anything i can claim back from a managed loan which i took out with HSBC.Any help/suggestions greatly appriciated