UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello
My first time on here.     I own one property which has been successfully rented out for several years but the last tenants have just done a runner.   The letting agent told me at the beginning of the tenancy they let the tenants pay a lower deposit of £850 (one month's rent) instead of the usual £1275 as the tenants claimed they could not afford the whole deposit in one go, and would pay the remainder with the following months rent, which of course they never did..    The lettings agent  never told me the tenants didn't pay the full deposit required and I never gave permission for them to pay the reduced amount.
The agent was able to use their deposit to pay the final month's rent, but as they did not pay more deposit, there is nothing left to pay for cleaning, rubbish removal, repairs etc.
As this is the fault of the lettings agent, can I do anything about the unpaid £425 by making the agent pay it to me?    Has anyone else been in such a situation?
Thanks
G

If you've got it in writing that these were your explicit instructions then I guess you could try a small claims court claim against them, although it may be argued that the T owes the money and you should be making a claim against them?