Letting Agent did not secure bond

[mongoose]

Hi

Advice please.

I used a letting agent to find tenants for my flat 9 months ago, The LA managed the flat these and T used to live in, and had control of bond, the bond was transfered from the old rental address to my rental address by LA.

My T gave one months written notice and requested the return of Bond, I told them to contact the LA as they held this bond and wrote a letter to LA confirming this.

At this stage I understood the LA and T were in contact to arrange the release of bond from a dps and no dispute was lodged because we received no letter of dispute from the dps over deductions.

Some deductions had to be made for damage which the tenants agreed and the bond was returned to me via a personal cheque from LA not DPS, following deductions I returned deposit to ex T, end of contract.

Now nine weeks later the mother of Tenants, not the tenants themselves, has disputed the deductions and is looking into legal action. I have called the LA requesting the DPS ref number and they are unable to provide one.

At this stage my gut feeling is telling me this will get messy and I have never been in this situation before and need the right advice on how to deal with it professionally, whos going to get sued... me or LA for not securing bond in a dps.

Regards

[mongoose]

Hi

Does anyone have any opintions about this

Regards

[Melboy]

Well, the Mother has no right to take legal action against you......only the tenant.

The tenant did not make any argument against you regarding the deductions that you made so that was accepted.

The LA is resposible for your deposit protection as your agent managing the money so any try-on by anybody to blame you will be thrown out of any court......remind the Mother of this fact if she wants to go down the legal route.

Hope this helps........but you should be sending registered letters to your LA outlining the hassle you are receiving and tell them to deal with it and for them to respond to the Mother of the tenant explaining to her that they have fulfilled all their obligations on behalf of you, the landlord.

Mel.

[cbosleeds]

And if they don't beleive you tell them to go get themselves half an hours free legal advice - that should clear it up and let them know what their position is and they'll be more likely to beleive it when they hear it from a solicitor.