UK Landlord Forum / Life

New to the forum and would welcome some help. 

Can I instruct and force the letting agent to retain the security deposit until a dispute with the tenant (who is due to vacate the premises the end of the month) is resolved.  The agent has poorly managed the tenancy and I will be glad to get rid of both the agent and the tenant.  However the agent is totally self-serving and I need to ensure the security deposit is held over until the dispute is resolved.

Would really appreciate any guidance on this.

Thanks

mrhw

Put that in writing to agent

If deposit is disputed it will go through the dispute procedure but be warned that you need to be very well prepared for that at start of tenancy

The dispute procedure is weighted in favour of tenants unless you have cast iron photographic evidence pre-tenancy, inventory, etc

If you have a poor agent I hope they did not let you down on that as well