Tenancy deposit problem (landlord + estate agent)

[Spanish89]

Heya i have what could be quite a big problem, and so i was wondering if anyone could help me,
since the landlord is being rather evasive, and the estate agents like most are just total idiots!!


I moved into my studio flat back in late August 2008,
and paid 6weeks rent (£1,012) as the tenancy deposit.


The estage agents were extremely unhelpful and didnt seem to have a clue what they were doing,
but i paid that deposit to them, alone with 3months rent in-advance,
and got the tenancy registration and tds documents as proof.

(Although on it it says that its an 'insurance based' scheme, however i paid the money to the estate agents and so it should be a custodial one)


Now over 1year later ive decided that i like this flat and area alot, and so want to stay here permenantly basically,
and so emailed my landlord at end of tenancy notifying him that id like to keep renting, and would like to take out a 4year tenancy though, but for a cheaper rent as the flats no longer a new build, and he was already advertising the identical one nextdoor for cheaper.
(Still has 2months break clause i the 4year contract though)

He said ok, and that he would have the new tenancy drawn up,
and he was in the area in september so brought the new agreement around for me to look at and sign,
and told me that he would send me a copy of it too.

He also said that as he trusted me and i had been a good tenant that he was fine for me to have my tenancy deposit returned now,
as this tenancy would be direct between me and his company, not through the estate agents (as he didnt want to pay them % of the next 4years of rent),
and so told me to just to write to them and notify them to return my full deposit as that tenancy had now ended.



On the tenancy documents too it said that the tenancy wa sonly protected till august 2009.



I contacted the estate agents and asked them what the procedure of getting the deposit returned was.

They told me that me and the landlord has to both wrote to them confirming the return and the amount,
and they would then release it back to me.
However they told me we had to write to their head office for it, and gave me that address.

And so i emailed the landlord notifying him of this and gave him that address.


2weeks later i phoned the head office, foundout that they didnt deal with that, given another address.

2weeks more no reply, phoned, wrong address again!
was told by them that id have to write to the local agents where i paid to money to as they would be the 1s dealing with it.


I wrote to them, phoned 1week later, but was told that even though they had recieved my letter,
they hadnt got the landlords one,
and until they got that they couldnt return my money.

I said that im not in contact with landlord anymore, and so could they just wrote to him,
but they just said ''no we dont deal on exits, only entries''...!!


So i again emailed him and told him that address and that they needed him to write to them,
and he wrote back saying ''he knows them well and so will take care of it''.



This p****ed me off quite abit more, as its now been 2 months since he said i could have it back,
and yet i dont think hes written a single letter even though i gave him the addresses,
and now he hasn't even given me any sort of timeline as to when or even if he will write to them,
has merely said ''he will take care of it''.

And so i have no way of knowing when to next phone the estate agents up and tell them that now we have both written to them that i want my money back!



Ive already emailed him 3x about this, and hes been polite and kept saying thats its all 'under way', and that hes 'taking care of it',
and so im not sure how i could phrase ANOTHER email to him about it basically saying;
''you told me 2months ago i could have it back, all you have to do is write a ****ing letter to them, so whats causing this huge delay still??!''.


If i had moved out i then wouldnt care about maintaining good relationship with him,
and so would simply have gone straight to doing the TDS dispute to get my cash back.

But as im still living there, and plan to stay living there, i cant afford to annoy or hassle him even more,
however i feel extremely unhappy with the way things are going.



And my bigger worry is that the deposit documents were from august 2008 to august 2009.

And what will happen to my depsoit if months or even years pass and the deposit is still unclaimed as im still living there,
but then i try to get that money back when i eventually move out.

Could they legally say ''sorry but its been too long since august 09 now''??!



Thanks