Letting Agency/Deposit

[sadbearhandbook]

Hi.

I was renting a room in a shared house through a letting agency. I asked to end my tenancy early (for a £100 early termination fee) and moved out as soon as they found someone to take over the room.

I moved out on the 28th of July. I had paid a month's rent 3 days before on the 25th. It has been 13 days since then and I still have not received my deposit or the month's rent I had paid (minus the three days I had still been living there).

The agency has been ignoring my calls and emails, but I finally got through to someone on the phone today and was told that it takes up to 30 days to return the deposit, because they have to wait for a full month's bill cycle to pass to make sure I haven't taken out an extra phoneline in the house or built up debts. I was also told that they couldn't at least give me back the rent for now, because it all has to be paid together. Obviously that is nonsense.

I asked which deposit protection scheme was holding my money. They said My Deposits. I've checked and there is nothing under my name at that address, perhaps because they've already taken the money back? But there was also no record of the letting agency on My Deposits.

Is the whole 30 days bill thing a massive lie or is it a common thing? From what I've read I'm supposed to get my deposit back after 10 working days.