Reception deposit - can they hold onto it?

Christabel

My daughter has paid a deposit on a reception venue for next year which is going to cost a lot of money, more than she can save up for I suspect.

I think there is some law that says that if she cancels and the venue manage to re-let the venue for that date, is she then entitled to her deposit back as they have not lost out financially? I seem to think that there is and would be grateful if someone could confirm it.

Many thanks.

nat82

What does it say in her contract? Generally they hold on to the deposit and if it's cancelled close to the time they ask for the balance in full.

Hopefully someone else can confirm this or else give you the correct info! She should check her contract though as it will be in there.

HTH.

clearing_out_my_pockets

Alternatively, if it is her dream venue, she can ask them to move the booking to a later date. She may find the deposit is transferreable between dates, depending on how much notice is given.

Horace

I am not aware of any law saying that if a person cancels the venue and the venue can re-sell the date then the deposit will be returned. The cancellation fees will be written in the contract that was signed at the time the deposit was paid and these will be a proportion of the total cost to be paid.

Maybe the wedding could be cut down in other areas to enable the fee to be paid e.g. cutting back drastically on the guest list, etc.

daleigha

i had originally booked a venue that we then decided to cancel. we had paid a deposit of £750 which i knew we would lose. i phoned them to tell them, and they asked me to put it in writing.

in between me telling them i didnt want it and putting it in writing another couple wanted to book the date for their wedding. they phoned me to check that i definitely didnt want it and to remind me to put it in writing (this was only a day or two after i had phoned them to let them know i wanted to cancel) and while on the phone i then asked if there was any chance of us getting back the deposit as someone else was booking the day and they therefore werent losing out. i was told they would have to speak to the manager.

i wrote a lovely letter, hoping it would encourage them to give me the deposit back. they said no!! :mad: i was really annoyed - i know its a deposit and its non-refundable, but under the circumstances where they had another couple lined up and were practically stalking me to get the confirmation in writing it would have been a nice gesture!!

anyway OP, sorry for waffling on, but basically what im trying to say is that there is no legal obligation to pay the deposit back if its in the contract that its non-refunable, unfortunately. but you never know, they may do it as a gesture of goodwill - fingers crossed.

HTH xx

sal-ad_daze

Christabel wrote: »

My daughter has paid a deposit on a reception venue for next year which is going to cost a lot of money, more than she can save up for I suspect.

I think there is some law that says that if she cancels and the venue manage to re-let the venue for that date, is she then entitled to her deposit back as they have not lost out financially? I seem to think that there is and would be grateful if someone could confirm it.

Many thanks.

Just been through the exact same thing, my daughter finally decided to bite the bullet and cancel, losing her very large deposit. She really can't afford to lose it but she knew that the stress and worry about money would take the shine of the planning for the wedding so decided to bear the loss.
We canceled just before the period when other charges would come into effect. They only got the letter cancelling this week so we haven't heard from them yet.
She's so much happier now that this weight has been lifted.
We think it was worth it.

Christabel

Thanks all for your thoughts. It seems that there is no law then. She could transfer it to the next year but the cost by then will be £6,000 more! I am now looking for extra work to pay towards it!