Recovering tenancy deposit

[Wildfire]

My brother moved out of his rented house in Golder's Green end of October last year and is still struggling to get his deposit back. Has and his flatmates have repeatedly emailed, written and phoned the estate agents only to be fobbed off or have no action taken. The offices has taken to giving false names on the phone so when they ask for the same person they say no one by that name works there, even though they know they are talking to the same person.

He is being told to take it up with the deposit scheme holder, but when we checked online, there is no record of the deposit being registered and they won't give him the certificate number.

After doing a bit of research on the estate agents, turns out the directors are under multiple law suits and have also been successfully sued by High Barnet Council for renting non-licensed premises.

As he's got some time off he is going to go down to the offices to ask in person. Aside from making a nuisance of himself, is there anything he can do to try and get his money back? I know they are supposed to return all un-disputed money within 2 weeks, but so far they have just made excuses and moved on to downright ignoring him.

[PurpleMoonlight]

Forget the agent, go direct to the landlord.

[Wildfire]

Tried that. Apparently he is currently suing the agent as they have not been paying him the full rent or carrying out any upkeep on his properties.

Does the ultimate responsibility lie with the agents or the landlord?

[Jasandjules]

Raise a dispute with the TDS. If you have no reference on the tenancy agreement for the TDS, advise them of that fact..

[Wildfire]

Cheers thanks. Seems that the agents may have folded up.

[TooMany2cvs]

Wildfire said:

He is being told to take it up with the deposit scheme holder, but when we checked online, there is no record of the deposit being registered and they won't give him the certificate number.

Then he could sue them for three times the value of the deposit... but...

Wildfire said:

Cheers thanks. Seems that the agents may have folded up.

Ooops. Bye-bye deposit. He's an unprotected creditor, just like a fair few other people will be.

[CoolHands]

The landlord is responsible irrespective of agent going to the wall or not. He can sue the landlord and win.

https://www.depositprotection.com/help/browse/insu...

[Wildfire]

CoolHands said:

The landlord is responsible irrespective of agent going to the wall or not. He can sue the landlord and win.

https://www.depositprotection.com/help/browse/insu...

I found this too. We're looking to get the landlord's details in the event that the agent has shut up. Although they are still listed as actively trading.

[DocSteve]

The landlord is responsible. I can understand the landlord's frustration with the agent (as a former landlord) but ultimately it is their responsibility. If they have used an agent who did not perform as they desired then they need to take that up with them.

[Wildfire]

Thanks! Advice is much appreciated. I'll get on to it this week.

[Red Devil]

Wildfire said:

CoolHands said:

The landlord is responsible irrespective of agent going to the wall or not. He can sue the landlord and win.

https://www.depositprotection.com/help/browse/insu...

I found this too. We're looking to get the landlord's details in the event that the agent has shut up. Although they are still listed as actively trading.

If the deposit hasn't been protected and the agent is bent, you may well not get from them the information you need anyway.
Provided whoever rented the property to you was not sub-letting you can easily find out who the current owner is.
https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-... - it will only cost you a £3 fee to search the Title Register.

[the_lone_wolf]

TooMany2cvs said:

Wildfire said:

He is being told to take it up with the deposit scheme holder, but when we checked online, there is no record of the deposit being registered and they won't give him the certificate number.

Then he could sue them for three times the value of the deposit...

Localism Act 2011 made a change to the law, penalty amount is still mandatory but now equal to between one and three times the deposit value, at the courts' discretion

Point is very valid however - Landlord is responsible for the correct protection of the deposit regardless of whether the agent was supposed to do it, if all of the three schemes all tell him it wasn't protected, or not protected within 30 days of him paying the money for the deposit then the landlord cannot escape the mandatory penalty.

If it were me I'd make certain that none of the schemes are/were holding the deposit, and if they confirm in the negative ask the landlord politely for an amount equal to the deposit back in order that your brother not take him to court. That would be both fair and proportionate, can't see a judge having much against that

Sucks to be a landlord in this situation, but as our ex-landlord has learned, if you want to play buy-to-let but not do things yourself you'd better choose a good agent!!