Where the hell has the estate agent gone?

[pompncircumstance]

My husband has a 3 bed house up in Manchester which we rented out last year because we were coming down south for his job.

We found an estate agent online who came out to see and valuate the property, got us tenants within a week and all seemed ok. The estate agents has the deposit in a holding scheme. Looking back I asked OH last night if we ever went to the office and he reluctantly said no so we dont even know where their office is. The guy who came out seemed pretty professional and talked us through everything but have we been really stupid?

Now the tenants want to move out and My husband cannot contact the agents. They seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth. He has rung,left messages (phone and email) with no reply. He has also told them he would like them to sell for us to tempt them but to no avail.

What do we do now?

I just called her again and she said they paid the deposit when they signed the contract but she cant remember a receipt! She is going to have a look though.

I think we have all been really stupid and naive and its lesson learnt!

If they paid the deposit by cheque or credit card, then they could ask the bank for the recieving bank details. Equally, when your DH paid the estate agents fees or commission, Your DH can ask his bank for the bank details of the account into which it was deposited.

Just had another thought. I wonder if the "estate agent" has gone bankrupt.

There is a government web site which lists names and addresses of people who are bankrupt. Google his name.

Yes thats true Lucinda. That was my first thought tbh that they had gone bankrupt or something. I will defo get onto OH about his details. But if they have gone BC does that mean there is no way of getting the money back>?