I am a Landlord (L) and have a problem with my Agent (A). I rented my property under AST in Dec 2009. The tenant (T) paid the deposit directly to the Agent who said he would register it under the "government deposit scheme" and advise us (both L & T) of its details. It is now over 1 year and A has failed to disclose any details and has been giving both of us (L & T) the run around. I have formally instructed the Agent to release the deposit to the tenant stating clearly that I no longer require a deposit from the tenant. However, he has to-date failed to respond. What is the best course of action? Should I advise the tenant to pursue the Agent himself to recover his deposit money as he paid it directly to the Agent? I would be most grateful for any advice.

Hi This is my first post so please be gentle. I need to find out who my landlord was in order to claim unprotected deposit and compensation in the County Courts. This is not as simple as it sounds so let me explain. I and two other housemates recently finished a years Assured Shorthold Tenancy on a property however the person I am dealing with is piling up spurious claims that happen to amount to our deposit. We signed the AST in the presence of the man claiming to be our landlord. This is the person we dealt with before and during our tenancy so as far as we were aware he was the landlord. I have his name, address for service and phone number and have already sent him a Letter Before Action which he signed for but never responded to so I know these details are legitimate. The problem is it was not his name on the AST we signed and I foolishly let him take our signed agreement in exchange for his promise to get me a copy which he never did. He claimed the name belonged to his solicitor and that he indeed was the landlord. This was over a year ago and I cannot remember the name on the AST. Before the LBA he danced around any questions I asked relating to which scheme our deposit was protected by and just wanted to talk about his carpets. After receiving it he is very aggressive and rude, swearing at me and saying his solicitor will send me deposit protection details by the end of the week along with the bill for the carpets and then hanging up on me. He has had the LBA for 2 weeks already with no response so while this may sound like progress if he were going to send this information he would have already. I checked the Land Registry to see if I could confirm his ownership and again the supposed landlord is not the owner of the property. So to summarise I find myself with this problem. I have all details needed to take the man I thought was our landlord to court but this may not be the right person. He has never formally responded so I don't have a physical record of him claiming to be our landlord. Unfortunately I don't remember the name on my AST but I know it's not this man. I have bank statements showing the bank account my deposit and rent payments went into but don't know who this belongs to. I have the owners name but he may not be the person who was renting me the property and therefor wouldn't be responsible. 10 smileys for anyone who can suggest a workable solution for getting my deposit back that doesn't involve paying a solicitor loads of money I don't have. And I'll buy you a beer if you live anywhere near central London.

My query is whether my landlord is obliged to bring (6 week tenancy) deposit in TDS. If so how that should it be administered and what implications if he won't? How will I know he has? NB. very recently he has indicated that he wishes to take back house (probably sell it) but hasn't served notice yet. Background: Sep 2007: 2 year private tenancy agreement with private landlord (rental £42k pa, promptly payed monthly) Sep 2007: 6wk deposit paid into acct of landlord. Landlord did not wished to pay for and therefore no inventarisation was made. Since Sep 2009: tenancy has been rolling over. While my contract was not an Assured Shorthold Tenancy, I understand (from estate agency) that from 1st October it should be eligible as rent is considerably below £100k pa. Would the fact that contract is rolling over exclude it? If we find a new home, do we need to give notice and assuming so, what would be notice period? one month? Given LL has been dragging his feed for past 3 years about repairs, spending any money on maintenance (it took 2 yrs to repair leaks and other repairs), I am concerned that he will withhold a considerable part of the deposit (neighbours claim that he unreasonably did so with tenants before us), whart steps should I take to ensure full return of deposit. It should be noted that we have looked immaculately after this house (as if our own). There is is just wear and tear (carpets) and cracks in paint which are structural. In advance thanks for any advice or suggestions.