Student housing brochures often portray a very neat workout on possible tenancy arrangements and precautionary measures to take into account in considering a contract. In reality many estate agents don’t offer seriousness on all the aspects. I had a bizarre incident last year. The estate agent gave me a very casual receipt for the deposit I made and promised to send me a formal receipt once the funds were deposited in the government sponsored third party. That never occurred and the government sponsored scheme on having the deposits in a third party account was not followed by the agent. A month into my tenancy the landlady transferred the house management to another estate agent. When my agreement came to an end, neither of the agents were agreeing to refund my deposit and I had to take some stern measures. I decided to write a letter, which I in fact did. The letter was well received and I had my deposits returned within 5 days.

In case you, as a reader, are in a similar situation, please feel free to copy this letter and use it as it falls fit. By sharing my letter to my landlady, I accept no responsibility whatsoever for anyone else’s financial wellbeing.  The facts of each case is usually very different and proper legal advice must be sought to plan one own cause of actions.

Mrs. E*** H****,
21 K**** Road,
H****,
Birmingham B** 8**,

21 October 2008

Dear Mrs. E*** H****,

I, the former tenant of 3 B***** Terrace, K** Road, Selly Oak am contacting you regarding the return of my deposit.

I paid a deposit of £ 695 on the 28th September 2007 to be held by W*** Estates Ltd, which as my tenancy agreement points out, would be returned by the landlord after the end of the tenancy.

I vacated the property and returned the keys to B**g**** as of 1 October 2008 at 1130hrs (Ref. your letter dated 29 October 2007 notifying me of your instruction to B**g**** to manage the property on your behalf) after it was inspected by B*** J H**** of B*g**** on the 29th September 2008. I have paid all the rent that is due, have left the property in a clean and tidy state of repairs and all utility bills have been paid.

I would therefore request that you return my deposit of £ 695 by cheque at the address provided.

Please could you respond within 7 working days.

Yours Sincerely

Abdulla Yasir
M*** Hall, Flat ** – Room *,
Edgbaston Park Road,
Edgbaston
Birmingham B15 2RL

Cc: B*g**** Chartered Suveyors, 5/2 C****** Road, Birmingham B** 1**.