How to evict a tenant in England
2 years ago
Tenant’s deposit not registered by agent?
9:36 AM, 5th December 2023, 2 years ago
4
Hello, Where does the landlord stand from the legal point on the following scenario?
Tenant paid deposit when he moved in but apparently the letting agent didn’t register the deposit with any of the government backed schemes. Tenant had signed his AST tenancy agreement which stated that his deposit will be deposited with DPS.
The letting agent did sign this tenancy agreement on the landlord’s behalf.
The tenant has now left the tenancy but is pursuing his deposit. The letting agent is claiming that part of deposit was used to offset tenant’s last rent which wasn’t paid when he left.
My question is, who is liable here?
Is it the landlord or letting agent?
Thank you,
Prideha
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Member Since August 2015 - Comments: 342
11:42 AM, 5th December 2023, About 2 years ago
If I were you I would pay back the deposit in full even if you have to pay from your own money. The buck as always stops with the Landlord. Your ex tenant could, as the deposit is not protected, claim back three times the amount of the deposit from you. The only address you have is to sue the agent. But in my opinion it’s not worth it, and I myself would use the experience as a learning curve.
Member Since October 2020 - Comments: 1134
11:48 AM, 5th December 2023, About 2 years ago
Its the landlords responsibility and they should never let agents handle the deposit or assume that its been done. The tenant can sue either you or the agent for a penalty and if you have evidence that the agent contracted to protect the deposit and failed, you can sue them in return.
Member Since January 2022 - Comments: 97
2:01 PM, 5th December 2023, About 2 years ago
If you really want to play it safe, pay the tenant their deposit back , get a receipt, then take action for the rent, I was lucky, I showed the tenant they owned rent, they agreed to use some of the deposit to pay the short fall, I handed them the full deposit had them sign, then took the outstanding amount of rent due and gave them a receipt.
This was early on in the scheme, now I do not take deposits, simple, not worth the hassle imo.
Hope you get sorted, as x3 deposit would really hurt and most agents have in the t&c’s you cannot take action against them
Member Since September 2023 - Comments: 335
3:22 PM, 5th December 2023, About 2 years ago
You want to hope they don’t go and seek legal advice has you will be financially clobbered.