Shared flat, deposit not protected - claim compensation only?

[Daftvader]

England. I moved into a shared flat and paid a tenancy deposit in January '19. Flat was shared with 3 other tenants and we each have an individual bedroom and share the kitchen/bathroom facilities. The other 3 tenants were already part of a tenancy agreement, an AST. I signed an AST agreement which names us all when I moved in; although I do not have a copy of this being counter-signed by the landlord, or all the other tenants. We made all the payments directly to the landlord, not as a single payment/group. When I moved in I paid my deposit directly to the landlord at her request.

During my tenancy, the tenants of one of the rooms were replaced twice over. Each time we signed a new agreement. The wording of any of the agreements did not change, other than the names of tenants. It specifies the deposit which is held under the tenancy which is Y amount. It also goes onto say that tenants will be notified of the deposit protection arrangements.

I have checked with the deposit protection companies (searching for the Y-amount, the date of the most recent agreement, the property post code and all of the tenants' surnames) but it didn't yield any results.

After recently sending a pre-action letter template, the landlord confirmed it was never protected.

The landlord has also said that as I don't have the consent of all the other tenants, they see 'no reason to negotiate with me', so there's no offer of a settlement. They also suggest there were arrears racked up by the other tenants, which they kindly have not pursued me for. They say my individual contribution to the deposit was repaid (referring to the partial X amount which I paid), which is correct.

However I'm conscious time is running out to launch a claim now.

The questions

The tenancy began on 01.01.2019, and so the entire deposit should have been protected by 31.01.2019. As (if I move quickly) this would be within 6 years, my claim is still in time. Is this correct?

If I want to make a claim - the non-protection has been confirmed by the landlord in response to my pre-action letter - do I need to carry out some sort of pre-action notifications to the other tenants (I assume all now former tenants)?

I don't have forwarding addresses for the other tenants. Do i have to 'track them down', or would it be sufficient to send to their last known address?

[atticus]

Surely your claim will only relate to your deposit, in which case only your first question is relevant. And yes, get on with it.

[Daftvader]

Thanks Atticus. That's reassuring - I have spoken to two law centres and drawn blank faces about this. The first told me they think this is a breach of contract and I can't prove a loss (which I dont think is right) and the second told me I'm out of time.

In terms of what I would be claiming for, I understood that the tenancy defines a deposit (the larger Y amount) and this is what Section 214 of the Housing Act is looking at.

I also looked at Sturgiss & Anor v Boddy & Ors [2021] EW Misc 10 and this seems to point to the 'whole' deposit being what is in issue.

What I paid to the landlord was my smaller contribution - the x amount. But the tenancy deposit was the Y amount. I would be fine just pursuing the compensation in respect of what I paid myself, but I didn't think this was the right course of action. Hence why I'm asking about the other tenants, because they would have an interest in that case as well.