Moved out of rented house after mth Agency held €500 deposit for bills. ESB want €110

I moved into a house last year having being told it was in good shape. After just under a month we moved out due to the fact the heating was broken in the house and we were not informed about this.

We were told that if we moved out before a month was up we could have our deposit back so we did that and the letting agency then refused us our deposit (€500) after saying we could have it back claiming it was for us leaving and for any bills that was left. We thought that fine and moved on.

Now nearly 5 months later we got a legal demand letter from ESB saying we owe €110 euro of a bill. We rang them and explained the situation and they agreed it should have come out of the deposit we didnt get back but said if its not sorted we are liable as our name is on the bill (we didnt even live there long enough to start our esb account so dont no how it happened).

We then went to citizens advice and they too said if our deposit was kept then any bills incurred should have been taken from the deposit.

Then we rang the letting agency in question who refused point blank to to use any of the €500 they kept to pay for the bill and that we should just lump it.

We dont no what to do next considering we have been told it is up to the letting agency/landlord to pay this bill as they kept the deposit according to citizens advice

Any help would be appreciated. thank you

Contact Threshold

and seek their advice you could possible threaten to take the letting agency to the small claims court....others might advise you better on this.

thanks pudds i have just sent off an email to threshold now so here is hoping

if anyone else has any info that might help i would appreciate it too please

I would contact the ESB regarding the account being set up in your name. If you didn't do this then surely there is a fraud issue?