Hi there,

Our landlord keeps delaying the return of our deposit, it's been almost 2 weeks since we moved out. We didn't sign anything except the contract when we moved in. There was no inventory agreement or anything and now he claims he had a professional cleaning beforehand (which he didn't) and other stuff but he has not provided us with any figures about how much he intends to pay us back even after all this time.

Also, despite paying a hefty deposit (as per contract) he did not inform us of any deposit protection scheme he might have used and I can't find information about our deposit in any of the 3 approved ones so we are considering taking him to court for this. Before we do that, I would like to write and ask him to return the deposit so I was wondering if there is a standard model for that. I quote from the findlaw article:
If you’re outside a statutory protection scheme, you should write to yourlandlord or letting agent and ask them to return your deposit within 14 days.You should also say that if your landlord does not return your deposit, you willrecover it in the Small Claims Court.
Any suggestions, please? I'm also open to free advice from solicitors who might want to take up the case.