Surely this is illegal

Tenancy Types and Management

Hi,

I have a tenant keen to move in to one of my flats, but the previous landlord is not releasing the deposit. I wonder if you could help me, help her.

Her tenancy agreement does not mention that it is an assured tenancy, but is for a fixed 12 months with a break half way through and has a fixed rent; they call it a contractual tenancy. The contract states that the deposit will be held by the estate agent (Chase Evans). As they are not a legitimate agent for this, they supplied none of the prescribed notices and have do not seem to have a process for dealing with the dispute over the deposit (needless to say that there are significant sums being withheld).

Is there any way that this can be legal?

Thanks,

Michael.