UK Landlord Forum / Life

A Brazilian tenant moved into my rental property in April 2007. After 3-years as more-or-less a model tenant, he came on hard times and began behaving very erratically. To cut a long story short, he stopped paying rent in January of this year, claimed housing benefit, sub-letted and left the country in February (I found an invoice for a one-way ticket to Sao Paolo). Eventually all the sub-letters moved out, although no-one informed myself or the managing agent, until we gained entry in early July, suspecting that the property had been abandoned. This was clearly the case and the last few weeks have been spent clearing the mess and filth out of the flat. Section 21 had been served months before and I was only waiting for the local magistrates court to approve an Order for Possession, in order not to leave any loose ends etc. Having waited for 3-months for the court to address the case (they were 'delayed' by the seemingly unexpected Jubilee, and then lost the paperwork they had received), the magistrate refused to award possession when he/she found that the TDS certificate was dated April 2012, when the tenant had moved in in April 2007 i.e. the agent has been sitting on the deposit (GBP 1,620) for 5-years, earning interest and in clear breach of the TDS legislation. As a result, although I am now in possession, I have paid for a time consuming and very expensive case to be taken to the court, with the assistance of a solicitor, only to have it thrown out because of the Estate Agent's dubious actions. My question is, am I entitled to sue the Agent for all of my legal costs, which were wasted because of their negligence/dishonesty? In addition, I am told that the alternative is to issue Default Proceedings, which of course will cost more money as well as an additional delay to putting this sorry tale to sleep. What does TDS legislation expect the Agent to do in such a case - should they also pay legal fees/compensation for me being forced to wait even longer and incur additional legal costs? You have to expect some tenants to go off the rails sometimes and act immaturely/dishonestly, but for a Managing Agent to do so - surely there must be some come-back on this? Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

Hello armstrom69,

If your agent offered you a "full service", i.e. including the handling of the deposit then they are legally bound to deal with tat deposit in a manner fitting a competant tradesman in their profession.

In short: Deposits must be protected and agents must make that happen if they hold the money.  Any reasonable consequential damages which the court visits upon you (as the principal) can be subrogated against the letting firm (your agent).  Any ADDITIONAL costs directyly caused by the negligence can also be recovered.  It would probably be easiest to name them as joint defendent, but seeing how you've got a solicitor involved already, I think they can answer the "niggy gritty" questions much easier than I can.

Hope this helps.  Please let us now how you get on.

The agent was providing a full management service. My solicitor asked the agent (Winkworth in Bow, London) to clarify the discrepancy in the dates last Tuesday. After a week there had been no response so I chased them on Monday. Having heard nothing by this Wednesday, I forwarded the request for clarification to the agent's line manager (Winkworth operate a franchise system). The same day I finally received a response. Winkworth Bow just sent a cope of the same TDS certificate (dated April this year) i.e ignoring the content of the question...why was a deposit that was paid in 2007 only paid into TDS in 2012. Would now be an appropriate time to raise this with Winkworth's head-office, or should I go straight to the Ombudsman? I wouldn't be surprised if this sort of chicanery was standard practice at this particular branch of Winkworth, earning interest from various deposits and exposing both tenant and landlord to financial loss.

Hi armstrom69,

I've just been round the Winkworth website.  No evidence of them being in The Property Ombudsman scheme at all.  Nearest to a HO contact I could find was here: http://www.winkworth.co.uk/careers/franchising.

I'd talk with them first of all on the understanding this is Winkworth HO last opportunity to respond sensibly to you and offer a snesible settlement before you take it further.  If they muck you about then see if the Ombudsman will consider it and if not, back to your solicitor for your day in court.

Hope this helps.