Caught in the middle of war - ring estate agent and Landlord.

[tim2969]

.. we sold our property in december and decided to invest the fairly substantial equity for a year and rent.Praying for a property crash.

We signed a 6 month contract with an Estate/letting Agent on 1st December however in March made himself know to us and suggested if we wanted to continue past our intial areggement we would have to do it privatly through him no problems so that's what we did. However it appears the Lndlord and agent have been a loggerheads for some time and the agents refuse to release our deposit eve though the landdord instructed them to on the last day of the previous contract, they say it is because we have not supplied final utlily bills however a director of the firm tells me he is unoffically withhold it as a leveridge to extract a servrance payment from the landlord re the property we rent an other dealings.

Surly though this is our money advice please.

[buildersmate]

Isn't the surest way to get the money by supplying final bills? - you can ask the utilities to do this, irrespective of whether you are remaining as a tenant. And/or write to agent demanded return of your deposit. Then contact ARLA - assuming the agency is a member (most are) and complain.

http://www.arla.co.uk/

[themas]

If the above fails, you may have to take out a County Court claim. Assuming you have all the necessary documents to prove the money is owed this should be successful.