UK Landlord Forum / Life

After letting property for 20 years and doing it all myself including creating an Assured Short Hold Agreement vetted and confirmed by a solicitor who stated that it far exceeded a normal Agreement I decided to allow a Letting agency find a Tenant; take the Bond and place it in a holding account and after the first months let; their fee as agreed, I took over the let as Landlord and maintenance myself.

The Letting agency sometime after I used them has since shut down; the proprietor was taken to court by the County Council for miss use of Tenants Deposits; i.e. she did not place them in an approved agency holding Bonds; she was let off with a conditional discharge after three tenants took her to court; it does not cost them to do this; the council will do this for them; I am a licensed Bond holder; never having yet used my account which is current.

I have given the Tenant all the necessary information for him to find his Deposit, he is not interested it seems.

The Tenant was off ill, and I supplied him with information and details for him to apply for aid, benefits from the local authority; he did not seem interested.

The Tenant was offered an extended plan and amended agreement to allow him to bring him up to date with his outstanding rents; he has failed to do so.

The Tenant does not communicate at all and cannot be found.

Question: In the event of damage to the let after he has finally gone, I have no leverage; Bond to set against any damage to the property as I did not handle this Bond, so what is the best procedure to follow; do I pursue the Letting agent  ?

The way I read this is that you not only have no leverage, but you are also open to being sued for non / incorrect protection of the bond / deposit. The fact that an Letting Agent was expected to do this on your behalf doesn't absolve you of the legal responsibilities relating to it. How covered are you in that respect? It sounds like the Tenant doesn't really care about much, but was the PI, Ts&Cs, Deposit Guide / Booklet served, in time, as well? I'd not want a savvy Tenant on my case if there were gaping holes in this respect.

The Tenants back in Poland.

Quote from: Hippogriff on April 22, 2014, 03:03:45 PM
The way I read this is that you not only have no leverage, but you are also open to being sued for non / incorrect protection of the bond / deposit. The fact that an Letting Agent was expected to do this on your behalf doesn't absolve you of the legal responsibilities relating to it. How covered are you in that respect? It sounds like the Tenant doesn't really care about much, but was the PI, Ts&Cs, Deposit Guide / Booklet served, in time, as well? I'd not want a savvy Tenant on my case if there were gaping holes in this respect.

The Letting agent accepted the Bond signed as Landlord, signed for it and secured it; operated the tenancy for the first month of tenancy as Landlord including maintenance etc; then as per terms of agreement with the company the Landlord then took over the tenancy in full; hence the Letting agent is responsible for the Deposit. The Deposit belongs the Tenant and not me and was not signed for by me when the payment was taken; signed for by the Letting agent proprietor. So................

The Landlord is solely responsible for protecting the deposit correctly. There is only one Landlord. The Letting Agent is simply that - the Agent of the Landlord, just because an Agent is used by the Landlord doesn't mean the Landlord is absolved of any responsibilities, particularly regarding deposit protection, which always come straight back to the Landlord. Anyway, I hope it works out for you.