Hi All, I moved to UK last year and entered into an assured short term tenancy. My Rent was fixed at 1150 PM. I have paid a deposit of 1725 (six weeks rent) which was kept by the agent. Since I was new to the country therefore I was not aware of the TDS at the time of signing the rent contract. There is no mention of TDS in my rent agreement which I guess is mandaory. I have checked with all the three TDS provides and they have no record of my deposit with them. I have moved out of the property on Aug 4 2012 after 11 months giving due notice to my landlord. My land lord submitted a bill of 310 pounds towards cleaning, etc.. on Aug 16, 2012 which I agree to and have no dispute regarding it. While submitting the bill to the agent (via email) my land lord has clearly told that there are no unpaid rent and to release my deposit amount after deducting the cleaning charges and deposit the deducted amount to my land lords account. Since then both my land lord and me are trying to chase the agent but there is no response. I have talked on phone, emailed many times and even met the agent personally to sort out the issue but I am only getting excuses that she was out of the country or was un-well and even that she had transferred the amount to my account but somehow it failed. I have already sent mails that I will be taking legal action ( on Aug 31 and on Nov 3 ) but agent is just not ready to even acknowledge this. 1. I want to know what should I do ? 2. Can I go directly to court as I have already sent emails where I have mentioned that if I do not receive my money back by a date I will go to court (31 Aug)? 3. If I want to hire a lawyer .. will his cost be eligible to be paid by the agent ? 4. If my agent pays me the amount say within a week.. am I still eligible for compensation for failure to deposit in TDS? If yes then what is the process? 5. What are the chances of my winning the compensation if I chose to go to court and what will be the cost? 6. What is the normal duration of such court cases as if it takes quiet long to get judgments then it is not worth it? 7. Can I go to small claims court for compensation and return of the deposit amount as it will be more than 5000 pounds (1725 X 3) plus my deposit amount and interest and legal cost? Hope I have not asked my too many questions but as I am fairly new in UK I am not aware of my legal rights in such cases. Thanks for all the help. Thanks, RR

Hi Sorry about the length of this post. I've rented the house I live in for over 36 years. When my first wife and I first moved in, 1976, I asked the landlord for an agreement/contract. He said "we won't bother with that". We did get a proper rent book. So I have a Protected Tenancy. The years passed and I always kept the property in an excellent state of decoration and have promptly reported any structural/repair problems. It's a large house with large garden, was built in 1825 and I've always been happy living here. The original landlord died over 25 years ago and his son took over. He lives in another part of the country. Everything was OK, no problems, we paid the rent and considered ourselves to be first rate tenants, who looked after the property and kept it in a good state. In 1995 when my first marriage broke down and I got into short term financial difficulties, the landlord was understanding. In July 2011 a woman knocked at the door and said she was from the landlords agents, a local estate agent, that she was with the owner of the agents and they were inspecting the property next door as it was vacant. They were looking at what renovations/repairs were needed there. The same landlord owns that house as well. She asked whether we had any work that needed doing and I said no. She went away, then returned about 20 minutes later with a man and asked if they could come in to look around so they could "understand the layout of the property next door." I said OK and showed them round. They were very pleasant and went on their way. Then the work started next door. To say we were driven nearly to desperation by the noise is an understatement. It went on for over seven months, finally ending in March this year. I complained many times but the agents told me to complain directly to the company doing the work. I complained to the local council who were useless. In September 2011 we were a couple of days late paying the rent, no more than that, we'd had a family upset and had been away and been otherwise occupied. The agents sent a man round who literally jumped over the front gate and started peering in through the windows. When I opened the door he said he was from the agents, handed me a mobile phone and said they had been trying to contact me. I spoke to them and when they explained what it was about I explained the situation and said the payment had been made, which it had. I asked why they had sent this man round to harrass us about this when they could have written a letter. They ignored me. Then last October, 2011, we got a letter from the landlords agent saying that under the terms of our contract we had to allow them to inspect the property. We were confused at this, I called them and said we'd never had an inspection before and didn't have a contact. They said they'd made a mistake about that, but the landlord had asked them to start these inspections. That they would take place annually in our case. We felt that we were being treated as though we were untrustworthy, but I agreed to the inspection. There were no problems. In May this year the agents called us and said they needed to measure the property as the landlord was distributing some of his property between his children. After the upsets of the last eight months we were getting fed up of these intrusions and I told them so. However I agreed to the visit. The owner of the agents arrived and was pleasant and civil while he carried out his measurements. Now they've sent an email telling us our "three monthly inspection" is due. I sent them an email saying that the inspections are annual and offered a day/time for the inspection. I am prepared to accept that the amail may be a standard one and they've made another mistake. It is almost a year since the last inspection. So far I haven't had a response as they sent the email on Friday tea time. We've nothing hide or be worried about, but I would like to know whether they can just decide to start these inspections out of the blue after so many years without doing any. We haven't received any letters or proper confirmation that these inspections will be required or their frequency. I could seek professional advice but don't want to create any problems unless necessary. I feel torn between thinking there's a hidden agenda to all this and that there's nothing to worry about. After the last 14 months we no longer feel secure or safe here and are making plans to move in April 2013. Are we over reacting?

Hi, I have paid a £410 admin fee over the phone using my credit card on the 2nd of October to a letting agent On the 9th of October I informed them that I could not proceed with the rental due to personal reasons. The agent refused to return any of the monies to me. My Question is; at no time did they say it was non refundable and nothing was signed by myself or any one on my behalf. The house was still being marketed and all they had done was to send me 2 email forms to fill in which I had not got around to doing. Have they the right to keep it all? I would be happy to let them have something for their very small amount of admin. The agent had informed me that there was no rush as I couldn't move into the property until the middle of November. The agent has informed me that my £410 has already been given to the landlord so the agency cannot return it to me as they don't have it anymore. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Help needed .... brief summary below We (the tenants) signed a three year lease with no break clauses. The lease was signed by ourselves (the tenants) and the agents (on behalf of the landlord). The landlord and the agents have subsequently fallen out and we are now having to deal directly with the landlord (we are now 4 months into the tenancy) The landlord has phoned us today to say that the lease that we signed is null and void as it is not the lease that they agreed to as they wanted a six month rolling (so basically the flexibility to get rid of us when they want - I have a feeling they now want to move backto the uk) They have now proposed a new lease - six months rolling We are not happy about this as we moved here for three years as we have 2 young babies and are looking at buying land to build on to move out into the new home after three years and this has made me feel very unsettled! We have paid £3000 on decoration as we did plan on staying for the three years So my question is - is the lease now null and void? Any help would be gratefully received - with 2 babies you can imagine how I feel! Thank you!

I am in disppute with my landlady and the state agent that is holding my deposit. The quibble is over what amount of heating oil should have been left by me. My landlady says that the tank holds 1350 litres and that she personally filled this up before we moved in [Nov 2008]. On the not very detailed inventory all it states i 'Oil reading = Full'. Neither her nor I have a photograph or any proof at what level the tank was full to when we moved in. She did however give me a receipt that clearly shows that 1100 litres was delivered to the property in July 2008. My argument is that I should only have to fill it to 1100 litres as this is the only evidence available to confirm an amount of oil that was in the tank when we moved in. My other argument is that me contract clearly states that i should have been notified within 10 working days of any deductions that were going to be made from my deposit - i did not receive anything in writing or in fact even verbally from her until after the 10 days. Not sure where i stand with this. Some advice would be appreciated on where i stand. Thank you

Hi there I resonantly agreed to use a letting agent to manage my property. I received an email from the agent 4 days later after new tenants moved in that a contractor has already completed maintenance in respect of cleaning for removal of rubble and received an invoice of £220 which will be deducted from the next rental collection. When I instructed the agent to handle the rental of the above property I was not given any details or phone call of other charges. As per the ingoing inspection & photographs...the property was left in a terrible condition by the outgoing tenants (unfortunately I didn't use a letting agent with previous tenants and let down, but that's a separate issue) The new tenants could not take occupation of the property prior to cleaning & rubble removal. Therefore the office proceeded with the cleaning & rubble removal as a matter of urgency, in order for the new tenant to take occupation. The agent states there was no alternative but to have the property professionally cleaned & for the rubble to be removed. (I agree, it need to be cleaned but the agent should have notified me by email/phone as per the agreement to give my consent) The agent states that under the circumstances they were acting on the landlords best interest & to accommodate the waiting tenant had to act quickly. Therefore this is an exception but the contract does not allow for any exceptions. I believe the agent is liable for the cost, however there are two clause stating 1) Attend to do repairs and general maintenance of the premises as authorised by the landlord from time to time 2) The Landlord authorises agent to incur reasonable expenses relating to the general upkeep of the PREMISES for which the LANDLORD may be liable in terms of the LEASE AGREEMENT, and to set such expenses off against monies collected by agent on behalf of the LANDLORD from time to time. It is expressly agreed that the reasonable maintenance expenses referred to above shall be limited to £100.00 (plus VAT) per occurrence. If any repairs are reasonably expected to exceed this amount, payment of such expense must be authorised by the LANDLORD. My concern is after indicating these two clause to the agent they now are treating this agreement unfairly. The agent confirmed that they will not hold the landlord liable for the entire cleaning & rubble removal invoice, £220.00...but only for £100.00 as per clause of the authorization. I am concerned about this as the agent treated this issue unfairly; the agent did not follow protocols and have breach the contract. By all these acts, what will the future hold for their next defence when dealing with any issues in a prompt and professional manner if they already acted dishonest and caused me severe problems?

after two years of inefficiency,unreturned calls and ignored emails i have had enough.i tried going through their complaints procedure but only received a whining reply from the person i complained about! i am considering picketing their local branch to make them take my complaints seriously.is there a way to do this legally?

Hi, Received a letter from the estate agent asking us to pay our rent into a different account. Verified this was genuine and had confirmation from Estate Agent and Landlord. Reason given below: The 2 guys who own the estate agents (Neil & Gabriel) are having problems. Neil is trying to buy out Gabriel to solve the dispute. In the meantime Gabriel is refusing to co-sign the bank transfers from the company account and Neil claims that he is unable to transfer any rent paid into this account. Neil has setup a sole trader account so he is able to transfer the money to the landlord. My concerns: - I'm breaking the terms in the tenancy agreement as i'm paying money into an account different to the one on the contract. - Neil and Gabriel aren't getting on, Gabriel could claim Neil is trying to fraudulently do him out of money - Is Neil telling the truth, do you actually need both parties present in order to transfer the money? Thanks.

Hiya all, It's been a while since I posted here so be nice lol! I've had a lot of issues with my previous estate agent and was wondering if anyone can give me any advice. Basically, the responsibility probably lies somewhere between the letting agent and the landlord, but I'd say the letting agent is highly responsible as it was mostly them failing to make any action. The property was let to us (my boyfriend and I) on an AST for 12 months (£425/ month rent, £525 deposit, £150 agent fee). We moved in and noticed a severe condensation mould problem had been painted over. Despite the agent having known about this for a year before we moved in (reported by the previous tenants), they failed to inform us of it on viewing the property or signing the contracts. It was only was we moved in that it came apparent. It had never been treated, just painted over (probably by the previous tenants). Another issue was the fact it was rented and seen as furnished, however, once we moved in, again it became apparent that a lot of the furnishings were not fit for use and the inventory even states this. We were given permission to remove the items, but no compensation of rent or time and had to replace them at our own expense (although we did take them with us when we moved). On the misrepresentation note, I wanted to get my agency fee back and the first year's rent. The mould became very severe and dominated the bedroom, bathroom and much of the kitchen. The only unaffected room was the lounge (well, mildly affected). We were eventually forced to sleep there. It took a year before the agent finally dealt with the problem, telling us often just to clean the mould off ourselves (which wasn't our responsibility and it was too extensive). Finally, after getting Environmental Health in and telling the agent we would charge them for the repairs if they didn't start them in a week (this was on advice I had sought out) they fixed the problem. It was found to be a faulty extractor fan in the bathroom and other faults (poor maintenance- not tenant lifestyle) which caused the mould. During this time, I developed a chronic skin condition called Dermatographic Urticaria and my boyfriend had a bout of excema (he is usually fine). My condition prevails today and I'm basically allergic to touch (that is the disorder), so you can imagine it's very uncomfortable and doesn't look great too. The mould was present for a year but once fixed, we believed our problems were over. We were also in a contract for this period, that is why I want the money back (it was our financial loss at signing a contract which had been misrepresented to us). Also, I want £12.50 / month back for the remainder of the tenancy (we stayed on another 3 years almost where the maintenance was poor but not bad enough to have us move out). This rebate would be for the misrepresentation of the property as furnished and not part-furnished. I also want my time in removing these items reimbursed at min wage for approx. 1 hour per item (8 in total). Our contract had gone on a monthly roll-over at this time, so we did not renew it as such it just continued under the original terms. During the last few months of our tenancy, there was a broken locking mechanism on the front door (the only entry/ exit to the property) and this lasted for 3 months and was only fixed when we moved out. I was advised by the council that they had a maximum of 1 hour to fix the door since it was a fire hazard. We withheld rent during the last month based on the outstanding repair and also because I'd had enough. The agent issued a notice to quit and we were happy to get the hell out of there. As soon as we moved out, they completed all repairs and put the rent up. I wonder if this shows their neglect was an effort to move us out and bump the rent up which would constitute harassment for eviction. I was wondering if anyone knows how much you can claim in compensation for personal injury (mental and physical health- I have mental health problems also which this exasperated). This is in addition to rent rebate etc. Also, how much can you claim for personal inconvenience or stress? I will also be asking for them to compensate my time pursuing the matter which was extensive. I know a lot of people may think why didn't we move out, but originally we were contractually bound to the property and also could not afford to move for a very long time. The problems were less severe without the mould but still present. We stayed on believing the main problem had been resolved but after 3 years I just had enough of their general attitude and lack of maintenance (even if it was just minor things it was lots of them). There was even a period of 1 week where we had no bathroom floor (there was only that bathroom/ toilet in the property as well) because the sub-floor had rotten through. I had asked them a million times to put a new lino down because the current one was very slippery and water stained. I eventually removed it myself to find the problem had been the sub-floor was rotten through and actually had turned to soil. This was when my skin problem really flared up. I am not sure if it was the same time we had mould to be honest, but I know the humidity levels had been very high. Ok, so lots to take in there sorry, hope I've got it all but any questions please ask Thanks for helping!

Just a simple question really: how is a tenant supposed to know that they have to give notice, even though have been sent an S21? There is no information about this amongst the S21 documents, or accompanying letter from the agent. Have researched the net and find plenty of people who say that the tenant must still give notice (if they leave before the date on S21) but cannot find any information for tenants that says one must do this. I now understand that this appears to be the case, but would be helpful if a tenant, worried about having to leave their home, could be given detailed information about what they should do. Thanks for any advice.

I'd like some advice on what people think would be a reasonable compensation amount to request from our Travel Agent, who failed to notify our party of 10 of flight changes, causing us to miss our flights from US to UK. Briefly: The flights were booked in January, the flights were for August. 3 months ago these flights were taken off the airline's schedule. We weren't advised that our flight times were now non-existent. 24 hours before our flight date, our travel agent rebooked the flights to an earlier time, but again failed to inform us. Upshot: we arrive at the airport having unwittingly missed out flights, struggle (due to the party size) but eventually manage to get rescheduled flights, causing us a 7hr delay at the airport, and a whole heap of stress and trauma. I intend in my letter to ask for reimbursementt of food costs during the delay, but feel there should be a good-will compensation for the unnecessary stress their incompetence caused. Our flight costs were around £7500, and we'd previously spend £3000 with the same company last year. What would be a reasonable amount of compensation to request/expect?

Hi all, I posted about this back in April, but figured I still need to deal with this! In short, we agreed for part of the deposit to be kept by the landlord when we moved out of our old house. This was fine, until the agent decided that they would keep amount for a 'renewal fee'. We didn't agree with this, but the agent went ahead and refunded an amount less their 'fee', having told us that they would first call us back to explain on what grounds they were doing so. The additional deduction was not agreed by us or the landlord, and was processed on the last day that we could have possibly filed a dispute. I intend to pursue them on this, as I don't believe they have a lawful reason for keeping the money, but wondered if the following draft letter could be opined upon: Many thanks

Hi. This is probably discussed a lot so I will be brief. We informed our landlord (via agent who has handled all of this) that we wished to leave our (fixed term, no break clause) contract early on the 25th of May. We stated our wish to move out on the 2nd of August and this was agreed to by both parties on the condition a new tenant was found. In the meantime, assuming that 2+ months would be a long enough time to find a new tenant, I and other tenants have found new places to live and entered agreements. The 2nd of August is fast approaching (just over a week away), however, and the agent has failed to find a new tenant. We live in a 3 bed in Highgate, London which is a desirable area so it should really be easy for them to find new tenants - especially over a long period of time. I have seen the flat advertised at a ridiculous £50 more per week than the £400pw we currently pay for it which it is certainly NOT worth, though within the last week they have lowered the asking rent to £425 which is more reasonable but still high. We are also expected to pay a fee to the agent for this 'service' of finding a new tenant. I am interested to know if we can somehow claim that they have failed to effectively search for new tenants, and what my rights are in this situation. It is difficult to find more info on the web and my local CAB is hard to access at times, especially when working. I am really frustrated by this situation. My main bother is that we have given them so much notice and they have failed to find new tenants - it seems ridiculous to me. Thanks in advance for any help, tips, etc. Henry

Hi everyone, I am looking for some guidance on an issue we may have upcoming and would like to go into the situation prepared. We moved into a property in Dec 2009 via a letting agent on a assured shorthold tenancy for 6 months, the deposit was protected in a DPS via the letting agent and we received timely confirmation of this. Prior to the 6 month review, we were asked by the letting agent to release the deposit we provided the letting agent with the letters we had from the DPS and the letting agent used this to release the deposit, their reason for this is that the landlord wanted to store the deposit in his own DPS instead. We then signed a new AST for 6 months, and after that we have been on a statutory periodic tenancy. A year ago we got a cat, as we were told the landlord accepted small pets, although when we told the letting agent they wanted an extra £200 adding to the deposit, we explained we were unwilling to do this unless they were able to prove that our deposit was within a DPS , they tried to contact the landlord but a few days later we were told via the letting agent that they couldn't get the proof from the landlord, and not for us to worry because if they hadn't put it into a DPS we would get 3x the amount, but in any case they said they would not pursue us for the extra £200 for the cat. What I'm wondering is if the deposit is not in a scheme (as we signed a new AST AFTER the deposit had been renewed) can the landlord use the initial dps letter to prove it was in such a scheme? We're less concerned about the 3x the deposit but if the deposit is not in a scheme we do not want any undue hassle getting our deposit back. Thank you in advance for all your advice.

Hi i'm looking for some advice here i was renting a managed propery through a letting agent. at the end of the tennancy the letting agent claimed a large proportion of the (rather large) deposit for repairs to the property. The property was then re-let with a different letting agent. While the property was open for viewings with the other letting agent i viewed the property only to find out that none of the repairs to the property had been carried out. At this point i beleive i should consult with a solicitor, however my finances are somewhat limited. I beleive this is a clear case of fraud. Is there any reason i should think otherwise?

Evening, Is it true that letting agencies cannot do a thorough check like a bank and only see CCJ's and other similar marks on your report? Or Do they only look for those? I read somewhere they cannot access the defaults on an account. Looking to rent but have a few defaults. Hopefully I'll find somewhere.

Hi, We are having a really bad experience with a lettings agent at the moment. We are relocating to a new county and have found the perfect place to rent. We travelled to view the property 2 weeks ago, but an hour before the viewing (when we had arrived in the county), we were called by the agent to inform us they had to cancel the appointment as they didn't have the set of keys in the office and the MD had disappeared with them. We were naturally furious - my other half had taken the afternoon off work to view the property and we are in a hurry to move. There are no other properties in the area we want to live that are suitable/available. Finally, a week later we were shown around the property and we filled in the Homelet applications and provided the £120 cheque for the fee. We then made an offer in writing to the agent. There are some sticking issues with the overgrown garden, rubbish to remove, and a bathroom that really needs updating, we are happy to sort the garden etc. and put up with the bathroom but asked for a discount on the rent. It has taken a week (after several calls and emails to the agent) to get any response from the landlord. The property has been on the market for 6 months so we can't understand why they are so slow in getting back to us! Today, I upped the offer to nearer to the asking price and chased up the agent again. I was informed over the phone by the agent that she had discussed our credit application with the landlord and they were unhappy that there were some very old defaults that we honestly placed on the application. 1) Is the agent allowed to discuss our application with the landlord before it is processed? I know that the landlord lives very local to the property and as it is a small village, I don't want my personal finances being known, especially when the offer hasn't been accepted or not and the application hasn't taken place. 2) Is this poor service common? I cannot believe how we are being treated. I have offered to pay 6 months rent upfront to cover any credit worries and now having to wait yet again for a response. I know that we should walk away from the property and find something else but I am concerned that from a data protection point of view, our financial records have been shared with a complete stranger, who I believe currently has no right to that information? Am I right? Many thanks

Hi - I have moved to studio flat and before moving there I had discussed with the Letting Agent on issues with the Property like it had a broken shower and wardrobe was not there. When I signed the contract he said shower is OK and no issues with that, but as I entered the property it was not in much of a hygienic condition, as I told the agent he said he would get that all cleaned but he didn't for a week now, I suspected that and already cleaned everything as can't live in a dirty place, he promised to get a microwave and hoover also, and all he says landlord would provide these and he is discussing, pain is he never updates and calls and says he is discussing with the landlord, there is no SLA for that. I trusted this agent just on words as he was like don't worry we would take care of everything and you would get the house in a good condition but he doesn't seems to know the meaning of word trust. When I call him, he is moreover in a hurry to put down the phone than speak. We are suffering as can't take bath in the shower the water comes with hell of pace and either once hot can't control that and very hot, heating can't be controlled and adjusted. I checked and he is not a member of any official body who governs Letting Agents, any advise would be much appreciated how to complain about these kinds of agents. Thanks.

My partner's house was recently sold by his landlady to a letting agency. The letting agent gave notcie that he was putting up the rent considerably, so my partner gave notice that he was leaving the property before that happens. Since then, the letting agent has sent letters claiming that my partner owes him upward of £400 in utility bills and council tax. The agreement with the previous landlady was that rent covered water and council tax, and gas and electric are paid through meters in the house. My partner has refused to pay, and the letting agent is now threatening bailiff action. We're confident that if the letting agent takes us to court, we have a viable defence; but at this stage we're not sure how this all works. From what we have seen on the bailiff's website, it looks like their solicitors can easily get a court order. Is that the case? Don't we have to have a chance to mount a defence? How does this work?

Hi All, We have a pending court case with our LL for the deposit of our old property that we let off him. He and the Agent acting badly during the end of our tenancy and I have proof that the Agent has lied and harassed us to get us to relent the deposit. I am preparing our defense for the court case and sent a letter to the Agent that read this on the 24th of May by recorded delivery: We wish to make a complaint about the conduct of ******. 1. We have found that you are acting on behalf of our previous landlord in recent court procedures in that you have provided services akin to that of a legal representative as detailed in our letter dated 24th of May 2012. 2. On our leaving of the property we received no written guidance from you about the end of tenancy. This led to a confusing time in which we repeatedly requested an exit survey considering our Landlord’s concerns. This was ignored and your employee ****** made it clear than considering ****** did not manage the property you could not be involved. 3. The supply of a previous signed document being sent to us as an original which you later explained to be an office error. We feel that this practice, along with your recent involvement, leads us to believe that you were never impartial during this process. 4. You rang us repeatedly in the evenings during January during a period our baby was only 1 month old and my husband was on paternity leave. We requested that communication needed to be in written form yet you repeatedly ignored this and continued to telephone us. We found this extremely stressful. You stated in your last communication that you have been trying to call us again during April 2012 despite our repeated requests for all correspondence to be in writing. We have not received these calls. We find these allegations of ignored communication to be untruthful. 5. We requested breakdowns and verification of invoices which you have not supplied and you have informed us that we do not have a right to request this. 6. After one month of trying to resolve this matter we escalated this to the T.D.S which is fair and reasonable thing to do as we had been ignored by the LL evident in the e-mail communication. You informed us that we had annoyed and angered our previous landlord in doing this and that you recommended he choose court action over the T.D.S. This was after allowing the T.D.S five weeks of involvement. This has subsequently delayed and increased costs to all parties involved. 7. You have supplied and worked as an adviser to our previous LL in that you have served the court papers, personally visited the courts and served his Particulars on his behalf. We feel that your involvement in this matter is a conflict of interest. 8. You stated in your last e-mail that you had already supplied the Particulars on his behalf and along with this had contacted us to make sure we had received this. We ask for proof of this as the method of service of this document must either be by recorded delivery or hand delivered according to CPR Part 7.5. We consider this to be an attempt to ‘blacken’ our character in front of the courts and that you are acting without integrity. 9. We feel that your involvement and actions have compromised your duty of care toward us as previous tenants. By acting on behalf of the LL we have consistently felt pressurized into giving up our deposit without clarified reason on 219 Seymour Avenue. 10. We never had a response to our last communication dated 18th of January 2012. Could you please process this complaint via your internal complaints procedure along with confirming which membership you hold either with the Members of The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme or the Members of the Surveyors Ombudsman Service (SOS). Yours Sincerely This, although signed for, has been totally ignored which to be honest is in keeping with the poor practice of this small Agent. I know through my own research that they are part of the S.O.S and wondered where I could take this complaint from here. Do I have an option to take them to court for malpractice or negligence?

Hello All. My first post and I hoped it wouldn't be a cry for help but that's life. Not an easy one this so any help much appreciated. I received a letter stating that I as a guarantor for my ex-wife should contact my ex-wife who rented a property some months ago to make arrangements to pay for outstanding arrears and repair charges as soon as possible. They included a list of all the charges. On the same day my ex-wife received an almost identical letter asking when will payments be made? The questions I have are these: 1. Should the letting agency have first contacted the ex-tenant to see what payment arrangements they were going to make before contacting me? 2. Can the letting agent demand the money in full either from my ex-wife or from myself or be required to accept monthly payments due to the former tenant not having the full amount to pay in one go? 3. Would 2. discharge any responsibility of the guarantor if such an offer was made by the tenant and payments were made? 4. Should I as guarantor have been given a copy of the original agreement? 5. Is a guarantor liable for letting agent fees such as charges being made to the tenant for correspondence relating to the arrears? 6. If the tenant did not pay the arrears or if the letting agency declined any part payment who would the agency take to court in the first instance - the ex-tenant or the guarantor? 7. Should not the letting agent have had insurance to cover any damage allegedly done by the tenant? Any suggestions as to the next steps to take? Sincere thanks for any advice.

Hi guys, I took out a loan with toothfairy finance almost a year ago for £100 and after being unable to pay on the agreed date due to a change in circumstances I have been threatened and mentally tortured by this company. I've tried emailing them countless times to work out some sort of payment plan but I get the generic response. I currently have no job as i have just finished college and i literally have no money so I cant even make token payments. Yesterday a ground collection Muscle Man from marshall hoares came to my door and tried to pressure me into repaying even after telling him I had no money. I have send 3 letters to toothfairy in the past stating that I would not accept a door visit but they just dont seem to listen. I live in Scotland and I was under the impression that the laws are different up here but they wont stop harassing me 7 calls a day, 2 letters a week and constant emails and now this. I appreciate any advice you can give I just want to know what my rights are or what i can do?

Hi! I had a quick look, and there seems to be no posts about my precise problem with these and even CK Edrupt. I took out a Provident loan of roughly £1000 a year or two ago and was paying it off as agreed. In spring last year i went to China for 3 months, so i set-up a direct debit with a 'friend's' account so he could pay the agent on my behalf (a bit silly i know). Basically the whole thing fell-through, the money had problems sending and when i came back i was 3 months behind my payments. That's when CK Edrupt got in on the action, saying i had to pay them instead, and the rest of the letter saying about court and full amounts.I asked the agent that came to our house if i could just pay through him still and he said that the head honchos at the Swindon office had already decided, and that now CKE were in on it there was no going back. I thought 'fair enough' and agreed a payment of £100 a month to them (roughly the same amount i was paying the Provident agent) . The existing balance was £800 when it got switched to them. I figured that if I'm giving them £100 every four weeks, then it would be payed-off by February of this year, so i set the last payment as sometime in February. I forgot all about it, thinking everything was all done and dusted, but Provident had sent me a letter the other day of my existing balance saying it was still at roughly £500. Seeing the 'Bankers order payments' coming in at only £69.57. So it seems to me that CKE had been siphoning-off £30 here and there, and had it not been for that, i would have the loan already payed-off. So my questions are as follows: Do CKE take some sort of percentage of what i pay? (never remember reading about this) and what's the minimum amount i can pay them back now? i.e. £25 a month, £10 a month. As i am trying to save money right now and that would make it a hundred times harder. Thanks in advance! I'll be keeping my eyes glued to this thread! haha

I decided to make a separate thread for the deposit issue (my other thread was more about the landlords property being in the garage) The house I am currently living in was let to me through an agent, they had been managing the property for the landlord at least through the previous tennancy, and I paid my deposit to them on 21/05/2010. I moved into the property on 01/07/2010 and within a week of being there (I'm unsure of the exact date) I was informed by the agent that the landlord was moving back into the area and was assuming responsibility for the property again. After having problems with the landlord dragging his feet over removing his property from the garage I found myself at these forums and read up on what they should have done with the deposit, until this point I had not really thought about it. I checked with the agents yesterday (13/08/2010) and they said they had passed on the deposit to the landlord, they did not give a date when this happened, but also told me that he had requested information from them about myself in order to be able to put the deposit into a scheme. I checked with the 3 schemes that are avaliable and non of them have any record of a deposit being registered for my address. The question I have is: who is responsible for the deposit being put into a scheme, as I paid it to the agent on 21st may, as they were managing the property at the time, should they have put it into an account and informed me before 4th June? Due to the way in which I leased the house from the agent I also currently have no address for my landlord, will I need his address if I need to take the matter to court or can I quote the agencies address as they were responsible for managing the property, and took the deposit from me? I am quite worried about this as I also have numerous letters addressed to the landlord from Baliffs/collection agencies/banks/inland revenue (judging from the return addresses, I have not opened any) and a brief check of his records on companies house indicate he has been involved in at least one dissolved company, nothing conclusive..but erring on the paranoid side one might guess he has some financial troubles! In which case if my deposit is not protected it may be hard to recover when we leave. Thanks for the help

My friend angel_1 introduced me to this forum and advised i might be able to get some help. Went to court on 25 March 2009 and Judge granted possession to the claimant adding at the end if we come into a lump sum of money or a buyer to purchase the property that would be our saving grace. The eviction date is on 24th April 2009 @ 12.30 and was hand delivered yesterday. Is there a min/max amount of notice that should be given prior to the eviction date by the baliffs as this turnaround seems pretty quick. I am in the process of typing a letter to send to the mortgage company asking for arrears to be added to capital as Norgan Law also incorporating PAP as well. Property has been on market for a couple of weeks so will add this to letter including relevant court law. What do you think? My friend has also mentioned Ell-enn for advice as she is pretty hot with cases as such. I would kindly appreciate some help please. Looking forward to your response. Thanks - survivor 13