AIBU to want my deposit back?

[SpottedGurnard]

I moved out of my house a month ago. I have entered a claim online to get my deposit back over 3 weeks ago and have still had no response from my letting agency.

The deposit protection people have told me that in order to continue I need to start a single claims process, get a solicitor to sign the form (£) and take legal advice (£££!!).

AIBU to be left wondering what the point of deposit protection is? The agency is not responding to my enquiries and now I'm left out of pocket for the deposit (have had to put a new one down for my new flat which is even more money than the previous deposit) and will be out of pocket for legal fees.

I have been a good tenant. Paid all of my rent on time, had made improvements where the landlord agreed I could and the landlord was very happy with the state of the home as I handed it back. I feel like the agent will ensure I am out of money one way or another .

Don't have any experience myself but could you go round to the letting agent in person and demand ask for an explanation as to why your deposit hasn't been returned?

YANBU by the way!

YANBU!

Dawn- Wish I could but I have moved 300 miles away!

YANBU.

Speak to CAB. They helped me sort my last landlord with no solicitor needed.

I think (but other, wiser people will know better) that you should only go to the deposit protection people if you have not received deposit back. OP makes it look as though you've gone to them first. Why did you apply online, why not just go straight to the letting agent?

Apologies if I've got this all wrong but any time I've moved we've dealt directly with letting agent rather than using online forms.

This is insane and unfair. Can you go to the agency in person?

Oops - too slow!

Go on to landlord zone and see if you can get advice on there. I found them incredibly helpful when i had problems with tenants. They are equally as helpful in advising tenants. You might have to pay a solicitor to sign your form, but I would imagine the cost would be very minimal. I have a feeling I had to get a solicitor to sign when I was a landlord, Im sure it wasn't much.

Lurked- The info the letting agents gave me when I first moved in explained that they wanted me to go through the deposit scheme straight away to get it back.

We had a problem getting our deposit back from a rental house a few years ago.

The way I remember, once the final check has been done by the letting agent, they should either pay the deposit back to you or if there are any problems they want you to pay for or if they just don't pay, you then go the the arbitration scheme provided by whoever is running your deposit scheme.

As far as I remember there are a few companies who provide this and they have to run a resolution service - the letting agent let them know why they aren't paying and provide evidence, you say why you think they should pay and provide evidence. The resolution people decide who is right, if you win, the letting agent have to release your deposit.

We won our dispute and the letting agent had to pay out

No solicitors required, didn't cost us anything either

You only go to the deposit scheme if the LA refuse to return your deposit

Sorry to hear you are having trouble, I have some limited experience of the deposit protection scheme, it might be that the solicitor signing business is a statutory declaration at the end of the form claiming the money, I believe the deposit protection people send the form to you. If that is all it is should cost less than £10, more like £5, just call ahead to see if your local high street solicitors can do the statutory declaration swear and ask how much cash to bring, they will not be advising you just formalising your statement. Sounds like you have not got much to loose and just want the money back so probably would be overkill to pay for separate legal advice although they probably have to tell you that you are entitled to do so. Worth finding out if the Landlord is giving any reasons for withholding so that you can address these with them although I assume you have tried to speak to the Landlord already about that as that is the best first step. Hope that helps.

In which case I'd go to CAB for advice - there's no way you should be having to jump through hoops to get your money back.

Might also be worth speaking directly to landlord, especially if you had decent relationship during your tenancy.

It took me 2 months and going into the Estate Agents office. I took my boyfriend (they didn't know ho he was) and made him wear a suit. He looked like a cross between a bouncer and a lawyer. They looked a bit scared and I finally got my money back without any of their previous excuses.

Yes I think it was just a statutory declaration country cob, when I did it. They didn't offer advice, just signed the form. I have a figure of £9 in my head for some reason, although it was a few years back.

I just can't believe how difficult it is to get my money back, I thought the deposit protection scheme was introduced to stop this kind of thing. How many people can be without hundreds of pounds for a few months?

I am going to phone the landlord tonight as I know he will be at work now. I'm hoping he has just forgotten to sign the deposit off, he's a bit useless with these kind of things.

That was what happened with me too Noqontrol, going to a solicitor sounds very expensive and complicated but was not actually that bad in the end, fingers crossed you will get the money back SppotedGurnard goodness knows we all need it at the moment, think a direct approach to the Landlord is the best first step agents can be pretty slow about dealing with things that do not make them money I have found, fingers crossed

OP when this happened to me letting agent hadn't received the dps, they had been emailed it I think. Have you phoned them? Sorry if you've already said you have, can't read properly on phone.