Deposit insurance claim

[Milzee]

The arbitrator for a dispute on a conventional deposit would normally be the company protecting the deposit.

I'd be very interested in who else provides a service like that - demand must be tiny.
And I don't see any benefit to the tenant in agreeing to arbitration.

Yes I'll keep you posted. Probably why it's taken 7 months to get this far.

[jpucng62]

I would suggest a pre-action protocol letter before a MCOL against the agent might get things moving.

[jpucng62]

il.

"How will this package for tenants benefit me as a landlord?
• Without having to collect a deposit from your tenant upfront
we can move tenants into your property quicker, minimising
void periods and tenants may pay higher rent
• We can attract a wider range of prospective tenants as more
people will be able to afford to rent if they don’t have to find
a deposit and more will be attracted to renting through us to
access this unique no deposit option
"

If you can't afford the deposit your finances are too precarious to rent my property - especially in this post Covid world!

[Milzee]

I would suggest a pre-action protocol letter before a MCOL against the agent might get things moving.

On what grounds would I sue the agent? Breach of contract or is there a consumer law I can say they are in breach of?

[jpkeates]

On what grounds would I sue the agent? Breach of contract or is there a consumer law I can say they are in breach of?

I wouldn't specify on what basis you are making the claim.

But basically the claim is in Tort.
The agent owed you a duty of care in advising you to use an insurance product that they sold the tenant.
The duty of care has been breached, because you don't seem able to access the service you were told would replace a conventional deposit, and you have, consequently suffered a loss.

It's possible that the agent is also in breach of contract, but as I don't know what the contract says, it's impossible to know.

It's hard to make a claim in consumer law because, while it is probably true that the agent is a trader and you are a consumer, the law would cover your arrangements with the agent, and I think that here, the insurance is actually a service the agent sold the tenant.

I think the letter is more something to get them to pull their finger out than anything else.