9 months later! Time to go to court!

[blacksou]

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

[Planner]

1) You normally the estate agent compmay rather than an individual estate agent. So will depending on the type of estate agents, in business terms, it was. You may just be suing the landlord.

 

2) A bit late now, but you can alwys try. An online land registery search may tell you there address, failing that send to the accountant.

 

3) Yes you will need to be present. Assuming the property was in England/Wales, you need to use a England/Wales address.