Deposit on villa

ajfromuk · 16 March 2017 at 12:08AM

Hi everyone,

Just some advice if that's okay. Back in October I saw someone posting their private villa for rent in Spain on Facebook, they had a link to their website where they advertised it too.

The Villa is their retirement home which they live at between Jan - June and then rent it out the remainder of the year when they are back in the UK.

Anyway I went ahead and requested two weeks September 2017 and paid £150 deposit on 07/10/2016 with the remainder £1,600to be paid in July 2017. I did this as a surprise to my partner but two weeks later it seemed he could not get the time off to I quickly informed the owners so they could advertise it. A day later his annual leave was approved so i asked if they could reinstate the booking which they replied had happened.

Roll forward to Feb 2017 and something happened to the relationship and we decided it best to cancel the holiday so I informed the owners but did not get a reply, although I noticed on their site the dates were available again.

I have since seen that they have managed to have those days booked out again so I contacted them to ask if my deposit would be refunded now and they replied saying as per the terms and conditions it was non-refunable.

Now there are no T&Cs on their site, all pages that mention a deposit don't say it is non refundable and the email I got confirming the dates and asking for the deposit to be sent to them in cheque for does not mention this.

I pointed this out to them in a follow up email and there reply was because i had messed them about and they had to readvertise the dates time and money had been spend so they deem my deposit as non-refunable.

My question is.... Is this right? I mean yes I did mess them about and I feel bad about that, but they have rebooked those dates so no lost out but the crux of the matter is at no stage was is made aware it was non-refunable and by their own admission they are keeping it because they had to change their website dates basically from black to red.

Thoughts and sorry for the long post!

AJ

jonesMUFCforever · 16 March 2017 at 12:20AM

IMO yes they are justified in keeping the deposit.

How did you pay? Bank transfer? If so that is not reversible.

Put it down to experience.

mgdavid · 16 March 2017 at 5:02AM

The whole idea of deposits is that they're non-refundable, this is the norm.
If they were refundable there would be little point in taking them in the first place. Think about it from the seller's / supplier's perspective....

photome · 16 March 2017 at 7:32AM

ajfromuk wrote: »

I pointed this out to them in a follow up email and there reply was because i had messed them about and they had to readvertise the dates time and money had been spend so they deem my deposit as non-refunable.

My question is.... Is this right? I mean yes I did mess them about and I feel bad about that, but they have rebooked those dates so no lost out but the crux of the matter is at no stage was is made aware it was non-refunable and by their own admission they are keeping it because they had to change their website dates basically from black to red.

Thoughts and sorry for the long post!

AJ

I agree with them

you did mess them about twice.

they may not be legally right but look at it from their perspective they did indeed have to keep changing the booking because of you.

and as someone else said what is the point of a deposit if you can get it back as and when you like

Westin · 16 March 2017 at 8:39AM

I would agree with the others who have replied. Not what you may wish to hear but I think you can see a theme developing.

As well as what has been pointed out you have no way of knowing if they resold the dates at a lower rate and therefore lost out. The returning of your deposit would also incur further work from their end and perhaps bank transaction charges. Why should they be out of pocket.

I think you need to write this one off.

leylandsunaddict · 16 March 2017 at 3:13PM

Have you got a link to the website, or can you name it?

A deposit should be taken as non refundable unless it's specifically stated it's refundable (although there would be conditions attached to that as well usually).

You pay a deposit so the villa/room/apartment is held off sale for you. You released it, you then asked for it back, and then released it again. Do you really think you should get your deposit back? Owners don't work for nothing, just like most people.

Following your logic you could have held that villa off until the balance due date, and then released it and still expected your deposit back.

mije1983 · 16 March 2017 at 9:17PM

It is possible they should refund your deposit, especially if they have resold the dates you were going.

However, they are allowed to deduct reasonable costs from dealing with your booking. Given how you have messed them around, it may not be worth pursuing as if they won't play ball you would have to take them to court for it and chances are you wouldn't get back the whole, if any of the, £150 anyway.

Deposit on villa

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