Okay, bit of a strange one. I need some help tracking someone down - don't have the first clue how to go about it! Here's the story:
When I met my DH about six years ago he was renting a flat in London with a mate. We got together, his mate moved out and I moved in. DH and his friend had paid a deposit directly to the owner of the flat. This was before the deposit protection scheme came into being. I think it was one month's rent, which would have been £1200. When I moved in we changed the lease to have my name on it rather than DH's friend's, and I paid the friend £600. A few months before our lease was due to run out the flat was put up for sale. The owner told us that if we wanted to leave before our lease was up then that would be okay. We found a new flat and moved out. Our rent was paid up to date.
Although the flat was initially rented through an estate agent, who did all the credit checks etc., we always communicated directly through the owner, who seemed like an easy-going guy. He was happy with the state of the flat when we left. We provided him with our bank account details for him to refund the deposit. He never did. We chased him about it for a few weeks, but he never paid it back, and eventually stopped answering our emails. Now I know this seems like the height of stupidity, but we never did anything about it! At the time we were both earning incredible London money, having a wonderful time, and we just let it slip. I bitterly regret this now, six years and one baby later. We've moved out of London, DH's salary has halved, I'm a SAHM, we're not rolling in it and I find myself thinking about that £1200 and wondering how to get it back.
I know the former landlord's name, obviously. It's very common, and googling gets me nowhere. The email address we used to communicate with him was his work one. He worked for a very large bank. I'm not sure if I could phone the bank's central reception and ask if anyone of that name works there? There has been a global economic crash since those heady days; he may not still be in banking, let alone at the same bank. Does anyone have any idea how to track him down?