Thanks. This sounds as if the agent is delaying payment on purpose and is possibly a worrying sign as this can be an indicator of an agent in financial difficulties. If the tenant has paid him and the agent goes bankrupt you will potentially be left out of pocket and with a tenant that you must legally honour nevertheless.

Accordingly I would suggest you consider giving the agent a short leash at this stage. Consider writing to him advising him that he has 3 working days to transfer funds to your account failing which you will issue a statutory demand and/or issue proceedings against him to recover the funds.

A statutory demand can be an effective way in recovering money as it costs nothing and is the first step to bankruptcy. It can scare a debtor into paying what is owed for the fear that he may be made bankrupt if he does not. You do not have to go on to issue bankruptcy proceedings though you can if you wish. This is the form you need:

http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/insolvency/docs/forms/ew/form6-01.doc

The alternative or in addition is to issue proceedings in the county court to recover the money. This will take several months if he defends so you may wish to consider the above statutory demand route as well or instead initially at least.

To issue proceedings against the agent you can use www.moneyclaim.gov.uk.

Ask the tenant for evidence she has paid the agent as you will need this to pursue the agent in court. If she cannot provide it consider suing her too because if you find she has not paid it then the agent will not be liable.

Is there anything else I can help you with or clarify above? If you have no further questions for now I should be very grateful if you would kindly remember to RATE my answer with 3 STARS *** or above as appropriate. Your feedback is important to me. If you intend to click less than 3 STARS please reply back to me so I can help with any further questions of clarifications first.

Kind regards