my deposit has been robbed by a letting company, it has magically vanished. They never put it in the deposit protection scheme despite telling me for a year it was, they refused to give me the details of the account. I found out they tried to put the money in a few days before I moved out, but no money was paid so the account was closed.
I had a solocitor but as the letting agent is claiming damages, which is a lie, they are trying to charge me for damp when it had damp anyway haha! My solicitor cant take it to court for me, as he is worrying about the counter claims, he is no win no fee so he doesn't want to end up not getting paid!
So now I am stuck! I have evidence from my solicitor though, an email where he tells me the letting agent has said "she admits she never put the money in the deposit protection scheme, she handed it direct to the landlord herself. Then I have another email that the letting agent has sent to my solicitor of the so called damages, in the email there is a conversation between her and the landlord where she says "I am still trying to get your deposit back, as the tenant is appealing it" so the landlord thinks the money is in the account, so where is it?!
Since my solicitor has been involved, they have shut down and opened up another office.
also the manager of the letting agent uses a different surname wen signing receipts when u would pay your rent, and the actuall owner of the letting office uses a different surname too, weird. What can u do
The landlord is the one who is responsible for the deposit. It is the landlord who protects it. It is the landlord you need to deal with.
If they are claiming damages from your deposit then it becomes a case of one person's word against anothers. You should have a copy of the moving in inventory which will describe the condition when you took the place on.
Damp is something everyone has to deal with. It is usually 99% down to the tenant's way of living. It is up to the tenant to deal with damp, by washing down, ventilating properly, not drying clothing indoors, heating property adequately etc.
You as the tenant and I am sure well aware of (or should be) the deposit protection schemes should have chased this up early in your tenancy. Leaving it to the end of the lease is causing these problems now.
If you can prove that the landlord never put your deposit into the DPS, then congratulations you will now get to stay there for 2 more months rent free.
As for damp, you caused it HAHA as you were living there so you pay for it to be cleaned.
UK
If your deposit has not been protected then you can claim for up to 3 times the deposit from your landlord. It is illegal not to protect a deposit.
Follow the information here:
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice...
and give Shelter/CAB a call for further help and support.
If the landlord didn't protect the deposit, there is no way he can claim damages against it. A court will order that it be repaid to you.
