A poor letting agent?

Hello, a large London letting agent found and gave a glowing reference for a tenant, so we took her on. They stated that she was in a £90,000 pa job. It transpired that she was out of work.

They stated that she had only been late paying rent by one day on one occasion. Later, the previous landlord confirmed that he had evicted her for rent arrears.

They produced an employer reference. It transpired that this was a dummy reference from a one man band who was a friend of hers.

She got 2 months behind with the rent so I then investigated and found the truth.

We eventually get her evicted after 11 months and the court awarded us £21K in lost rent.

As the tenant has little assets I would like to make a claim on the letting agent but he says that they got a referencing company to do the reference so it has nothing to do with them and they will fight it through the courts if I pursue it.

My solicitor has been in touch with their solicitor and says it could well cost me £10,000 in legal fees and there is no guarantee that I will win.

Is it worth me risking this sum?

What else can I do to try and recoup the £21,000?

The letting/estate agent has mostly terrible reviews on Trust Pilot but this doesn’t concern them.

Thank you,

Trevor