Hi
Apologies in advance for the long post!
We had let out our house to a group of five people on an AST and was managed by a letting agent. They were due to move out at the end of July 2012. They approached the LA shortly before they were due to move out and asked to stay an additional two weeks. The LA checked with us and we agreed.
It was only after they had moved out that the LA told us (verbally) that the previous tenants were in rent arrears (the LA had been paying us on time and so we were unaware of the outstanding rent). They also had caused considerable damage - totalling £1200.
We asked the LA to contact the tenants requesting that they pay the outstanding rent and reimburse us for damages. However the agent said that the tenants had been paying rent on an individual and ad-hoc basis - as a reslut, they didn't know what was actually outstanding. Also they told us that they were waiting for the tenants to provide proof that all utiliy bills had been settled.
It wasn't until February 2013 that the agent could provide the actual sum outstanding (£3000 of rent). Since then there has been no progress in getting the rent or damages. The lead tennant had instructed a solicitor to write to the agency demanding the release of the deposit (held with theDPS) - the agent wrote back to the solicitor stating that they owed us more than the sum that had been deposited. Since then there has been no progress in terms of getting any money back. The agent doesn't seem interested in pursuing the debt (even though they have not charged me the £1200 damages) - their advice is that it is pointless trying to take the tennants to court and that if we try to release the deposit, the previous tennants will object. The deposit is in the agents name and so the DPS can't talk to me. I keep leaving messages and sending emails to the agent to call me to discuss what to do but never hear back.
This has become really frustrating and I don't know what to do.
Any advice from the experienced forum members would be greatly received.
Apologies in advance for the long post!
We had let out our house to a group of five people on an AST and was managed by a letting agent. They were due to move out at the end of July 2012. They approached the LA shortly before they were due to move out and asked to stay an additional two weeks. The LA checked with us and we agreed.
It was only after they had moved out that the LA told us (verbally) that the previous tenants were in rent arrears (the LA had been paying us on time and so we were unaware of the outstanding rent). They also had caused considerable damage - totalling £1200.
We asked the LA to contact the tenants requesting that they pay the outstanding rent and reimburse us for damages. However the agent said that the tenants had been paying rent on an individual and ad-hoc basis - as a reslut, they didn't know what was actually outstanding. Also they told us that they were waiting for the tenants to provide proof that all utiliy bills had been settled.
It wasn't until February 2013 that the agent could provide the actual sum outstanding (£3000 of rent). Since then there has been no progress in getting the rent or damages. The lead tennant had instructed a solicitor to write to the agency demanding the release of the deposit (held with theDPS) - the agent wrote back to the solicitor stating that they owed us more than the sum that had been deposited. Since then there has been no progress in terms of getting any money back. The agent doesn't seem interested in pursuing the debt (even though they have not charged me the £1200 damages) - their advice is that it is pointless trying to take the tennants to court and that if we try to release the deposit, the previous tennants will object. The deposit is in the agents name and so the DPS can't talk to me. I keep leaving messages and sending emails to the agent to call me to discuss what to do but never hear back.
This has become really frustrating and I don't know what to do.
Any advice from the experienced forum members would be greatly received.