Dispute with privately owned estate agent - where can I go next?

[Chooster]

I rent out my flat on London (am based about 300 miles away). As I live so far away I've had a local estate agency to manage the property for me - a service for which I pay 12% of my rent. I've had the same tenant for 7 years and have had no issues. I've had my doubts in the past about whether the estate agent actually does the checks they are contractually obliged to do, but its never caused me concern.

I've try to keep this brief, but in oct last year the estate agency stopped paying my rent into my bank account. I have to confess I didn't realise until after the November payment has been missed as I had a lot going on and I run my flat rent / mortgage from a seperate account. As soon as I relised 2 months were missing I complained and so began a huge time-consuming exercise in getting my money. To cut a very long stort I've had numerous excuses / promises under the sun and have spoken with the owner several times (its a privately owned agency with 3 offices in East London) and I've occasionally had the odd payment.

Following advise from a solicitor I've contacted the tenant and he now pays me directly but the agency still owes me 4 months rent - about £3,200.

I've since done a search on the owners and both the father and son (who are directors) have been charged in past with fraud. The father was in prison for a year. There is no doubt that they are deliberately with-holding the money, so a softly softly approach wont work.

So if anyone has got this far I'd like some advise about what I could do next.

1. Small claims court - Without doubt they wont turn up and even if the ruling is in my favour, I can't see getting the momey any time soon.

2. Debt recovery agency - I've approached a couple and both said they would charge me about £400 to serve a winding up order on the company. Are the - no win / no fee types any good?

3. Solicitor. I spoke with a solicitor who said it would cost me quite a lot of money to chase this down and that I would be better getting a barrister involved? This seemed odd to me - does it sound right.

Ultimately I just want to try the best approach to get the money. As mentioned, I dont think threats / legal letters will do much good as they are basically cowboy estate agents.

Any advise?

Were they members of ARLA, NAEA et al ? If so they should have a grievance procedure

Gulp - sorry about the typos! Was rushing to type it out...

As LIZS has said, are they a member of something?

Your best bet is to take them to the small claims court, you can do this yourself. If the judgment is made in your favour then the court can issue a bailiffs warrent for the outstanding sum. Have you been incontact with trading standards aswell?

Hi, no they are not a member of any professional body. I feel stupid for not checking things like this before I started this process but I'd bought the flat from them originally and it seemed an obvious choice. I've reported to trading standards but not had a reply so I may chase that up.

Perhaps I should try small claims first - I'd just heard from others (perhaps incorrectly) that it is a very slow process if the other party is not participating in any way - i.e ignoring everything. I just want it all sorted - DC3 is due later in the year and not only do we need the money but I know I'll take my eye of the ball with a new little one here.

Forgive my ignorance, but is this a civil matter? This seems like fraud/theft to me... Can you not contact the police?

Otherwise the debt recovery agency seems a good idea, better to pay a few hundred pounds to get a greater sum from these thieves.