I'm so pi$$ed off and I haven't got anyone to moan to. Can I rant here please?
We moved out of our rented property on 27th July. We waited ages for the landlord to send us through details of how much of our £1440 deposit we'd be getting back. After a couple of queries, the landlord and I sent written confirmation to the agent (who is responsible for organising release of the deposit from the DPS) that we had agreed a split of £200 to the landlord and £1240 to H and me. This was sent on 19th August.
On 21st August the agent e-mailed me asking for a forwarding address (which we had already provided when we moved out) as they need to give this to the DPS for them to send the paperwork to us. I checked the DPS website and discovered you can do it online, although you still need the forwarding address, so I e-mailed the agent back giving her the forwarding address and asking her to do it online as it would be much quicker than waiting for paperwork to be sent backwards and forwards and we really need the money. I also asked her to provide us with the Deposit ID and Repayment ID, which I just found out we were supposed to get when they first put the deposit into the DPS fund in July 2007 but which we have never been given. I have not received a reply from the agent.
Today H gets a letter with DPS on the envelope, so I e-mail him at work and say should I open it and he says yes. I open it and it's paperwork to fill in to confirm our acceptance of the deposit split, so our request to do it online has clearly been ignored. My name is not on the paperwork anywhere. The paperwork gives us the Deposit ID but requires us to provide the Repayment ID before they will release the deposit. Which we don't have as we were never sent it. I tried to call the helpline number but they won't talk to me because a) H is listed as the lead tenant and b) although they have a second tenant on their system, they have my maiden name and as I gave them my married name when they asked for my name they won't believe I am Miss MyMaidenName. The agency were supposed to change my name when we got married. We had to fill in all sorts of documents for my name to be changed on the tenancy agreement and the DPS paperwork and it seems they never actioned this, despite us doing everything they asked. The DPS said we should have been asked who we wanted as the lead tenant (we weren't) and that we could have requested a change when it was first done, but can't now. We couldn't have requested the change as we didn't know until today that H had been listed as lead tenant. H can't call them from work (the area code is blocked) and their offices aren't open outside his working hours.
Legally, you're supposed to have confirmation of the money you're getting back within 10 days and then the money within another 10 days after that. We're way past that and it feels like we're no nearer getting our money back. This, added to the fact that my work underpaid me by £1300 last month and still haven't sent me my July payslip, is making me want to kill someone!
Thanks for letting me rant. No need to reply, I just needed to let off some steam. ?
