UK Landlord Forum / Life

The management agent (Martin & XX, Chelsea and Riverside, London) of my flat had raised the rent with my tenant for two consecutive years( 2012 and 2013) without notifying me. They paid me the old rent and kept the raised amount for the whole 2012 -2013 rental year, this fraudulent fact was only made known to me by my tenant in a recent contact. This is the first contact of us as I am now reside in Hong Kong and, therefore, hired the agent to take care of my property. Besides, the tenant emailed me an addendum about the details of rent raise for this rental year (2013 -2014) which was not known to and signed by me. Someone signed on it as " SIGNED, the Landlord" with a staff of the agent signed as witness - the document is a forgery. After I confronted the case with them they paid me back the rent shortfall but I cannot trust them anymore and wanted the contract to be terminated.
The agent stated that they will only pay me back the tenant deposit when I paid them an extra three months management fee and a placement fee of one month rent. This is absolutely ridiculous, they had breach the contract, to banking-in the rent with detailed statements, which led to the contract termination but I have to pay for their fault. I had reported to the police but without any further assistance. I had contacted Properties Ombudsman a week ago to see if the agent is a member but without a reply till then.  Please advise what can be done to take back the Tenancy Deposit and the management fee as they had not delivered the service promised in the agency agreement. Thank you very much.

Its not their deposit to hold onto and they cannot deduct your fee's from it.  Get the tenant to check where it is being held and get them to speak to the company (I don't think you can) to ensure its safety and for advice.   

You will need to gather evidence and claim via the small claims for your fee's etc.  However, I would thoroughly check your contract first to ensure they are in breach.   
I take it they state you have to give 3 months notice?  However, if they have breached the T&C then the contract is voided.

The fact that they forged your signature on a document is fraud by misrepresentation.  If you reported it to the Police and received a crime number, they will investigate.  It could take a few years but they do investigate, so keep hold of those documents.

Thank you very much your for advice. Will ask tenant to help retrieving the deposit.