Advice needed - Landlord ignoring Estate Agent and won't return deposit
Sarah GB
for 6 months through a small Estate Agent. After approximately 3
months into the letting the Estate Agebt we rented the property from
got taken over by a large Well know Estate Agent in the London area,
so for the last few months we were paying rent to the Large Estate
Agent.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, we gave the Estate Agent the
required one month notice to say we were leaving at the end of 6
months. We left the property absolutely spotless, if not cleaner than
it was when we went in.
We were told that once the inventory had been done we would be
receiving back our deposits as is the usual. Well, it is now almost 2
months since we moved out and we still haven't received our deposits.
We have been given lots of different excuses - the first was that the
landlord was disputing the 6 month break clause, even though it is
clearly stated in the tenancy agreement. Then the Large Estate Agent
told us that as the Landlord is Greek and lives in Greece they were
having trouble getting in touch with him.
Now today, the latest is that they haven't been able to get hold of
the Landlord as he is ignoring them, and he has transfered the
properties to a different Estate Agent. I have been told by the Large
Estate Agent that the small Estate Agent we took the agreement out
with was not ARLA associated, so we have no ground, even though the
Estate Agent who took over their company and to whom we paid at least
3 months rent to is.
They have basically told me that they cannot give us our money back
(The Landlord holds the deposit) and it is now nothing to do with them
and we will have to take it up ourselves with the Landlord in Greece!!
I am getting extremely annoyed as I am over £700 out of pocket and
none is taking responsibility. I never had anything at all to do with
the Landlord as the only people I spoke or dealt with during the
letting were at the 2 Estate Agents. I feel that the Estate Agents
are the ones responsible and the fact that the Large Agent took over
the smaller Agent means that they should have taken over the
responsibility for everything the smaller Agent did.
Can someone advise me as to what my rights are in this case. As the
Landlord is Greek, does that mean that if I take him to court I may
not have any standing. I feel like I should be taking action against
the Estate Agent as they are the ones I was dealing with - but do I
have any case against them?
Please help!!! Thanks.
JohnJo
"Sarah GB" <sara...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:dafc4cf8.02061...@posting.google.com...
> none is taking responsibility. I never had anything at all to do with
> the Landlord as the only people I spoke or dealt with during the
> letting were at the 2 Estate Agents. I feel that the Estate Agents
> are the ones responsible and the fact that the Large Agent took over
> the smaller Agent means that they should have taken over the
> responsibility for everything the smaller Agent did.
>
> Can someone advise me as to what my rights are in this case. As the
> Landlord is Greek, does that mean that if I take him to court I may
> not have any standing. I feel like I should be taking action against
> the Estate Agent as they are the ones I was dealing with - but do I
> have any case against them?
>
> Please help!!! Thanks.
Cheer up Sarah! It's not as bad as all that. The landlord may be in Greece
but his house is still here. Your starting point is your tenancy
agreement. This will tell you who the landlord is including an address. It
will almost certainly show that it is the Greek who is the landlord and not
the managing agents.
You should start off by writing to the agents who now act for the landlord
demanding the return of your deposits and insisting that they inform the
landlord. Keep a copy of your letter.
If you don't get a response, you should issue proceedings in the small
claims Court but before doing so you should apply to the Court for an order
that you be permitted to serve the proceedings at the address of the new
agents on the basis that they are acting for him and collecting rent from
the present tenants, assuming that the house is let again.
The Judge will have to be satisfied that the notice would reach the landlord
and assuming that he is, you can go ahead. If the landlord ignores it you
can get judgement and then get an order that the new tenants pay the money
to you instead of the landlord.
If this fails you could get a charging order over the house and ultimately
sell it!
Good luck
John
Anthony Edwards
<john...@netscapenospam.net> wrote:
>The Judge will have to be satisfied that the notice would reach the landlord
>and assuming that he is, you can go ahead. If the landlord ignores it you
>can get judgement and then get an order that the new tenants pay the money
>to you instead of the landlord.
The *new tenants* pay the money? I am not disputing what you say in
view of our undoubted expertise in this area, but I am a little
surprised that, if any third party can be held liable, it is not the
managing agents acting on behalf of the landlords concerned.
>If this fails you could get a charging order over the house and ultimately
>sell it!
This "withholding deposit" scenario is scandalous, it seems to me.
No-one begrudges a legitimate landlord the right to withhold
reasonable sums for actual damage to fixtures and fittings, but I
believe all too many landlords simply attempt to retain these deposits
as a matter of course, without good reason in all too many cases.
--
Anthony Edwards
ant...@catfish.nildram.co.uk
R. Mark Clayton
> none is taking responsibility. I never had anything at all to do with
> the Landlord as the only people I spoke or dealt with during the
> letting were at the 2 Estate Agents. I feel that the Estate Agents
> are the ones responsible and the fact that the Large Agent took over
> the smaller Agent means that they should have taken over the
> responsibility for everything the smaller Agent did.
>
> Can someone advise me as to what my rights are in this case. As the
> Landlord is Greek, does that mean that if I take him to court I may
> not have any standing. I feel like I should be taking action against
> the Estate Agent as they are the ones I was dealing with - but do I
> have any case against them?
>
> Please help!!! Thanks.
Do a Land Registry search on where you rented and sue that person (in the
small claims court) for the deposit money - whoever you did deal with must
have been their agent. If you don't get it have made a charge on the
property. If you still don't get it go for enforced sale. They should wake
up fairly quickly.
tim
"Anthony Edwards" <ant...@catfish.nildram.co.uk> wrote in message
news:2j5iguketdj1g6554...@4ax.com...
Hum, I must be being too too honest to be a real landlord :-)
>
> --
> Anthony Edwards
> ant...@catfish.nildram.co.uk
JohnJo
-----------------------------------------------
"tim" <52006149590...@t-online.de> wrote in message
news:aedh8g$3vk$01$1...@news.t-online.com...
crooked tenants who don';t pay rent and trash the place
Anthony Edwards
<john...@netscapenospam.net> wrote:
>> There are undoubtedly some crooked landlords but there are plenty of
>crooked tenants who don';t pay rent and trash the place
Undoubtedly, but my experience is somewhat different. On two
occasions, I have rented property from private landlords and left the
property in somewhat better condition in terms of cleanliness and
general condition than I found it. On both occasions, said landlords
claimed the opposite to be the case. On both occasions, I was able to
obtain the refund of my deposit by the threat of County Court action.
All too many landlords regard the retention of these deposits as their
legitimate right, regardless of circumstance. All too many people who
rent on the private market are impecunious, without my rather
extensive experience of (successful) civil litigation. All too often,
tenants regard the unjustified loss of their deposit as the
unfortunate yet unavoidable consequence of being a tenant in the
private market.
Perhaps many landlords regard the forfeiture of a deposit as a "tax"
which all tenants should pay, to compensate them for the losses
suffered as a result of that smaller proportion of tenants that do
damage their property. I can empathise, to an extent, with those
landlords' position; a tenant could easily do damage within the period
of a six month Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement greatly in excess
of the value of a security deposit, even one of three months rental.
--
Anthony Edwards
ant...@catfish.nildram.co.uk
Tony Bryer
> Undoubtedly, but my experience is somewhat different. On two
> occasions, I have rented property from private landlords and
> left the property in somewhat better condition in terms of
> cleanliness and general condition than I found it.
We have had tenants who have left places as they found them: clean
enough for someone else to move straight in, but it only happens
50% of the time if that. In the other 50% we would be quite
justified in withholding part of the deposit as a cleaning charge,
but usually don't so as to save argument. The one time we did hold
back money was when a helpful tenant defrosted a fridge that was
new when he moved in a few months earlier ... using a sharp
screwdriver which he put through the coolant pipe.
One thing we have found is that those you might expect to leave a
place in good order very often do not do so, and vice versa.
--
Tony Bryer
tim
"Tony Bryer" <to...@sda.co.uk> wrote in message
news:VA.000019c...@sda.co.uk...
Yep that's my experience too.
Most strange!
Tim
>
> --
> Tony Bryer
>
>
JohnJo
that a full inventory is drawn up at the start and the tenants notify the
landlord (or agent) of any required repairs, or damaged or dirty items AND
that it is thoroughly checked over BEFORE the tenants move out.
Often the landlord/agent is "too busy" to check it out but unless an
agreement is reached at the time it is difficult to resolve later.
Oxford is particularly bad for landlords who keep deposits unreasonably