UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi, this is my first post so I apologise if it's a bit lengthy, I'll condense as much as possible.

As a quick side note: The Letting Agency in this sequence of events is NOTORIOUS for being lax and generally awful, their online reviews are horrific. Our current flat is a really good price in a hard-to-rent-in neighbourhood, otherwise we wouldn't use them.


SO ANYWAY... long story as short as possible.

- I moved in with my girlfriend in April this year, before then she had been living with a friend of hers (let's call her Jane for the sake of the post) for some time.

- Last October (2018) there was an issue with a rent payment going missing (will elaborate further down), but the letting agent didn't pursue it until March time.

- The story from the letting agent's side is that they can't locate the payment. In march both my girlfriend and Jane sent off copies of their bank statements proving that the payment left their account.

- My girlfriends bank statement came up clear, Jane's statement came up that the payment had left their account, but they couldn't verify that the payment had arrived at the letting agents account. Suggesting that somehow it had been lost in transit.

- The payment won't have bounced back, Jane would have noticed as it happened back in October. Since then however the account has been closed so the Bank has said that the payment cannot be traced, but they have also said that it would have flagged up when the account was closed if it was missing or outstanding.

- Here's where I come in - When I moved in, it was before the contract ends (it ends in August) so I paid Jane her share of the deposit to move in early and she moved out, with the plan that come August I would sign on for a new tenancy agreement.


TL:DR, FINALLY WE HAVE REACHED THE DISPUTE, I apologise for the lengthy post.


The letting agents can't find the money, so they are saying that we either have to pay that rent payment now (£450), or it will come from the deposit when we resign the contract. Are they allowed to do that?

I'm thinking that either the bank is responsible for the money, or the letting agent is, but I can't see how we are. The agents were presented with evidence that the money was sent, but I don't know where we would stand legally.

At the end of the day it isn't worth us moving out for the sake of £450, but we also don't want to have to fork out money that was already paid.

Anybody got any ideas what to do?

It's not post. Electronic payment don't get lost in transit...

Move out at the end of the tenancy. Dispute the proposed deduction from the deposit.

Personally, I'd go to the bank and ask them to trace what happened to the money.

The Bank appears to be saying that it's not traceable because the account was closed in the meantime. I don't know how true that is, but it adds a complication you'd not usually have. The sender is going to be responsible for proving where the money ended up... it won't be enough to say - "I sent it" - someone will need to be able to say it left account XXXXXXXX on date A and arrived in account XXXXXXXX on date B. The receiver has no valid position to be able to go to a bank and trace anything, so if they say it never arrived you have to take that at face value until you can prove otherwise... either by having a confirmation (not of sending, but of arrival) of which account it landed in. I don't see why the account being closed affects this capability, but it might... Banks are forced to keep pretty good records, after all.

Problem is - if I've read this correctly... the help you need is from Jane... and Jane is long gone, right?

Now, what angle a Dispute with the Deposit Protection Scheme might take... I have no idea. It might be that a statement showing the rent payment leaving is quite enough to be considered proof of arrival... but, yes, payments can actually go missing or to the wrong account (but that'll usually be down to user error, big fingers).

Evidence of sending is considered proof of arrival with something like the Royal Mail... which really does beggar belief, really, like really-really... but, yeah, 2 days after posting First Class something is considered to be served. My Uncle used to work in a sorting office... they played football with some parcels... the parcels may've had footballs in them, but that's not the point...

Civil cases are decided on the balance of probabilities. If the payor can show that the money was sent from their account and that the correct payee information was supplied, then unless the payee can positively show in turn that it never arrived, I would be astonished if the court rule any other way than that the money was paid.

Quote from: Hippogriff on June 27, 2019, 03:29:20 PM
The Bank appears to be saying that it's not traceable because the account was closed in the meantime. I don't know how true that is

I would suggest that's a you're not our customer any more so we can't be bother to trace it.