This is a question to the blog clinic from Frances (not his real name), who is a tenant in England.
My house burned down in London. The fire report could not determine the cause and so it is recorded as accidental. The House was an MHO but there were no fire doors, fire blankets or any fire extinguishers.
The fire subsequently left me homeless and although the fire started last month I have only just moved into my new accommodation.
The issue I have is that my previous letting agent is withholding my deposit from the old property even though the landlord has said both myself and the other 3 people from the house should be given our deposits back.
Where do I stand with getting the letting agents to pay my deposit back?
Answer
First, you need to find out where your deposit is protected. Either your landlord or his agents should have protected the deposit with one of the three tenancy deposit schemes. You should have been served a notice informing you of this and telling you which scheme had been used.
If this was not done, you can check all the scheme’s websites yourself:
Then get in touch with the scheme and ask them about the return of your deposit – they all have a telephone advice service. They will explain what you need to do.
If your landlord is wrongly withholding your deposit, the scheme can pay you direct and then reclaim the money from your landlord.
If your deposit was not protected, then you should contact the scheme’s Property Redress Scheme and complain. The agents should have the name of their property redress scheme on their website and in the footer of their emails.
The property redress scheme can order the agents to pay the money back to you.
Curiously you didn’t mention in the article that if the deposit was not protected the tenant can sue the landlord in the civil court for a penalty of up to three times the amount of the deposit on top of having the deposit itself returned.