Deposit back. Landlord or letting agent?

Nari85

I currently have a problem with getting my deposit back. I gave my landlord 4 weeks notice. I rang him during the week asking could i get my deposit back. He said that was the letting agents problem. I rang them and they told me that they gave the deposit back to my landlord and charged him a finders fee. So the last two days i've being going around in circles asking both of them for my deposit with the both of them saying that they don't have it. Legally who is meant to give me my deposit back. I gave the deposit and first months rent to letting agent and signed the contract with them. Any advice would be appreciated.

odds_on

Your contract was with the landlord, so ultimately he is responsible for the return of the deposit. If you have to make a claim with the PRTB, it would be against the landlord.

I'm just a bit curious as to what lease you had to be able to give 4 weeks (28 days notice). Unless there was a specific clause in the lease allowing 28 days notice or if you had a Part 4 tenancy agreement, these are the only two times that 28 days notice would be permitted (unless the landlord was in breach of his obligations, had been advised accordingly and had not remedied the issue).

Perhaps the landlord is actually with-holding the deposit because you have broken a fixed term lease?

The_Conductor

4 weeks notice is the standard notice on the draft fixed term leases on Landlord.ie and other sites. Perhaps they didn't change the template. Regardless- the landlord is legally responsible for returning your lease- if he or she has an issue with the letting agent- this is their issue, not yours.