Hello Friends,
I have a situation to share and seek your inputs based upon which I intend to take informed actions to get out of the mess.
I rented a flat end of Sep 2018 in London in with one year AST contract with a 6 months breakage clause. I was required to move out of UK due to change in my work conditions in the month of May 2019 (8 months of tenancy). I gave one month notice to the Agency that’s when I was informed that since I’m in 1st year of contract I have an obligation of 2 months notice. At my request and with a condition to find a new tenant to avoid any void period of rent, Agency gave a consent that I’m not liable to June month rent (I believe this means no fine). Also, in later follow ups for my deposit refund, Agency confirmed that Landlord agreed to refund my deposit and requested my bank account details. I have both these emails viz; ‘not liable to June rent’ and ‘landlord confirmed to refund my deposit’.
Strangely after this Agency all of a sudden took a U turn and denied to refund my deposit on the grounds of I have not served 2 months notice as per contract.
Recently I discovered few things:
Contract no where mentions that I’m bound to server 2 months notice though it mentions “Where the tenancy becomes a periodic tenancy at the end of the fixed term period the tenant is required to give at least 28 days’ notice”. This implies if tenancy ends before the contract notice has to be more than 28 days but no where it explicitly mentions 2 months notice to be served to end tenancy before 1 year contract ends.
Agency unprotected the deposit in Jan 2019 to transfer it to other scheme. Agency never seeked my consent to do so (just shared an email of the intent to transfer deposit to other scheme) and neither provided me with the deposit certificate till date. My recent follow-ups for deposit details irked the agency rather. I went ahead and checked with all the 3 Deposit schemes and none has protected my deposit post Jan 2019.
To avoid any legal actions, I reached out to landlord to resolve the issue with Agency. He reached out to Agency for 3-4 times with no response. He finally gave it up saying he changed the Agency and now those guys are not responding to him.
I feel cheated and has suffered lot of agony on this issue for last 11 months now.
I’m just trying to figure out what are my options here?
If I have to serve a notice it has to be to the Agency or the Landlord (as the agreement states at several places ‘contract between the Landlord and tenant’. Though Agency is mentioned as Landlords agent at one place in the contract and all this while I have been communicating with Agency and they are the ones who denied to return my deposit.)
Can this notice be on email or it has to be a physical post only? (I don’t have landlord’s physical address though I have Agency address)
I have moved to Eurpoe and no more in UK. Does this makes any difference? Though I have trusted friends to support me if time arrives in due course.
Looking forward for your responses. Hope I can get some pointers from the forum and get myself stronger to teach a good lesson to the con agency !!
The agency acts on behalf of the landlord, so notifying either is acceptable unless the contract states otherwise. The landlord is ultimately responsible for sorting this out, so suing the landlord is your last resort. Sadly, I believe if the law has been broken by the agency, the landlord is responsible! That does not mean that you can’t sue the agency, but you need legal advice to sort this out.
Being overseas should not make a difference, apart from practical issues like bank account for the refund and having to chase for payment.
The break clause should state the notice period and may state how the notice is to be given (letter or email) and to whom (agent probably). If it does not state how and to whom the notice is to be given, it should be stated elsewhere. For example, only the final notice to leave, in my case, has to be by letter: all other communication is by email. I suspect the Housing Act 1988 may give default notice periods when these are not stated in the contract. However, as you have email proof of an agreement, then looking into this does not seem warranted.
Try and get all three deposit scheme companies to confirm in writing that they do not hold your deposit, before going further: emails should do.
I suspect that if you have the proof you claim then a court will support you.
I suggest you first write to the agency requesting a deposit refund, quoting the email dates you have as your agreement with them, with two weeks to respond, otherwise legal action will be taken, and point out that they are liable to a fine for failure to protect the deposit and to notify you as to who holds it. While waiting for the reply, prepare your case for an on-line application to the (county?) court to get your refund and to penalise them for non-compliance to the law.
A UK friend may have access to free legal advice and may be able to get advice on your behalf. Worth asking.
Sincere thanks for an elaborated response. I’m in the midst of preparing my letter before action to be sent out to Agency, just as you mentioned in your response.
While I was talking to one of my friend I got an advice that I can raise a dispute with myDeposits as they initially protected it and released it to Agency without my consent, register second complaint with a Property agents union with which my Agent is registered with and a 3rd complaint with the property ombudsman provided this Agent is registered with them.
I’m now in a bit of dilemma if I should continue with my path of Legal action by serving Letter before Action or I first resort to registering complaints with myDeposits and other 2 agencies (ombudsman)?
I suggest you issue all the complaints and the letter before action. The complaints serve a different purpose but may trigger action.
As you have waited so long, my personality is such that I would not go ahead with paying court fees until I had one or more complaint responses as the bodies concerned may have interacted with the agent and triggered a response from them, or might even give useful advice.
For my education, and that of others, keep us informed and possibly include a model “letter before action”. I would be interested in contact details of the ombudsman and reactions to your complaints!