Renting agent not returning rent deposit.

[SueEllen]

You may not end up going to court normally the threat of it makes people pay up especially if you remember to put "I will pay you when I get my loan" with the date in the letter.

I've only ever had 2 landlords - well an agent and a landlord- try that on me.

The agent paid up when I threatened them with the landlord. The agent tried to accuse me of not paying the bills even when they had seen them all.

The second landlord paid up after they received the court documents. They even put in a defence claiming I had done loads of damage. I knew the landlord was trying to get me to cover their void period as I found out that they had tried to dodge paying council tax before during a void period. However due to my document keeping habits I would have shown in court they had a strange grasp on reality.

[SallyAnne]

I got stung for a £1000 deposit a couple of years ago - swore I'd never rent again.

There's **** all you can do about it. Send him a letter and hope he pays, but accept that he probably wont.

[M_B]

I have been through this process when a landlord refused to return the deposit after falsely claiming I had damaged his flat. It is relatively straight forward although it does take time.

Initially write a letter stating the amount owed. State that if he has trouble repaying the deposit that you will consider a structured repayment plan. Don't be confrontational, but state that if no reply or acceptance is received then you'll be forced to go through the small claims court as much as you don't want to go down that route etc etc.

Send all correspondence recorded delivery and keep copies of everything (and receipts).

As for the small claims court you will win so don't be afraid. Just takes time thats all. You will be entitled to the deposit + interest + expenses of getting to the court.

Worked for me.

[Churchill]

The Agent has broken the law by using the deposit as his own money!

FFS!

[Sockpuppet]

I had an landlord tell me that he wasn't returning our bond (all £600 of it) as the back garden grass hadn't been cut.

We still has a week in the property so just did well over £1000 worth of damage to it.

Well we were students in our last year. He was also the arse that said we were not allowed to stay in the property over the summer as we were only paying "half rent"....wtf. Half or full rent I expect to be able to stay in it.