I left a flat in June last year. 3 months later instead of transferring the deposit directly to me the landlord forwarded the deposit to the estate agent who was supposed to send it to me immediately but didn't! I've called this person many times to get my deposit back and he is always promising to send it in the next following days but is never doing so! 6 months later, after putting some pressure on the landlord and sending a letter before action the estate agent has finally sent me half of my deposit back, promising to send the second half one week later but has done nothing more during the last 3 months... Now 9 months later I think I have been patient enough! I know that the deposit was not protected through any tenancy deposit scheme so I’ve decided to sue the landlord but I have some questions: 1, The estate agency doesn’t exist anymore but the estate agent is working on his own. Should I sue him as well as the landlord as he is holding the deposit? 2, On my tenancy agreement there is no address for the landlord. The landlord has always asked me to send mails to her accountant but I’ve never received any response to them. Should I pay to make an inquiry about the real address of the landlord? 3, I’m currently living outside the UK so I’m planning to use the address of a friend in the UK for my UK address but do I need to be present during the court’s hearing? Any help would be appreciated

Thank you for the reply again. Unfortunately I don't know anybody in the city where the accountant lives and I don't want to travel back to the UK only for this. I'm trying to put pression on the estate agency and hope it will work out.

Thank you for the reply Daniel, My first concern is that the only address the landlord gave me is the one from her UK accoutant and everytime I send him a letter or give him a phone call I have no reply so I don't know if he has moved or if he is purposely ignoring me. If I'm using this address on the money claim form I suspect they will never reply to it... My second concern is that on the money claim online website it's written that you need to have an address in England or Wales where documents can be delivered which is not my case anymore.

Hello, I've found some useful informations regarding the Tenancy Deposit Scheme on this website but I still have some questions. I left the UK 6 moths ago at the end of June and I haven't received my deposit back yet. I've found out that my deposit was not registered in the UK deposit scheme as it should have been so I think now it's time for me to take action. During the first 6 months I had a short term lease contract through an estate agency but after 6 months the landlord contacted me and told me that she was in a dispute with the estate agency and wanted to do a new short term lease contract directly between her accountant and me and that's what we did for an other 6 months. 1, Given that I am now in Germany, if I open a case for non compliance with the UK deposit scheme do I need to be physically present in the UK to go to court? 2, I have big issues to find the address of my landlord. I realised that her address was not written on my lease agreement. The landlord is english but apparently live in Greece and told me to send her any letter to her accountant who is in the UK but I haven't been able to get in touch with this person since I left the UK. 3, The only person who I have been able to get in touch with is the estate agent who apparently is not in dispute anymore with the landlord as he found her a new tenant! Over the last 4 moths everytime I' contacting him he is promising me to sort out this and promised me to pay me the deposit back in the next few days but this never happens. He has also never given me the real landlord address and tell me they only have the accountant address. Any advice is welcomed.