Deposit back if change your mind?

delpino

Hi all,
We were interested in flat to rent, so we paid 500 GBP to Martin & Co. (Canterbury) for deposit and referencing. We were accepted but after we've seen the tenancy agree and found out about plenty of hidden costs we changed our mind. Now the letting agency doesn't seem to be willing to pay us back the deposit of 250 GBP, which doesn't seem right to me. After all the deposit is not a fee. Any opinions?

teaspoon1

I have personal experience of this company. I wouldn't be too optimistic (sorry) but contact CAB and see what your rights are. You may be entitled to it if you can prove that they hid the other costs from you. Good luck.

Judith_W

did you sign anything, does it state if the deposit is refundable or not?

delpino

We signed something but not sure if it said something of the deposit being refundable or not.

@Teaspoon1: I think its very difficult to pove that. Which branch did you go to?

bryanb

delpino wrote: »

We signed something but not sure if it said something of the deposit being refundable or not.

Only sign things after you have read and understood in future.

alohahawaii

we put our deposit down on the weekend and they are doing the reference checks at the moment. But we haven't heard from them (apart from getting a call telling us they were taking one of the white goods items out of the house)
so we dont know when we'll get the keys or how long the agreement is for.

delpino

I think the best way is to ask for the tenancy agreement before paying or signing anything. But that doesn't protect me from them changing the tenancy agreement afterwards I think. I think the fact that this is an unregulated industry is really a problem.

By the way there are some reviews about Martin & Co. here (and other sites):
reviewcentre.com/reviews105260.html

tbs624

Anyone who has problems with LAs can post up their experiences at https://www.allagents.co.uk

Martins is a franchise set up : you may find this interesting http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=22025161&highlight=#post22025161

How long did you leave it before changing your mind about the property? An LA should only retain a reasonable amount from a holding deposit, sufficient to cover actual costs incurred. You say "we were accepted" which suggests that Martins had completed all the referencing/credit checks?

No T should ever pay any deposit without (a) having read through the tenancy agreement beforehand ( & keeping a copy, so that you are certain this is what you will be signing up to) and (b) getting written confirmation of *exactly* what the deposit is for and under what circumstances it will or won't be retained by the LA.

Geenie

delpino wrote: »

We signed something but not sure if it said something of the deposit being refundable or not.

My first but obvious suggestion is to read very carefully what you have signed so far, and see what it says about the deposit given. If you don't have a copy I would query this with the LA, as I would imagine you should have one by law if you have given money over.

jayss

They shouldnt have asked for your deposit prior to the reference checks being done.

Be insistant.

Martin&Co were my letting agent but (local office) went bust a month after I moved in :rolleyes: leaving me with a different agency that I would never have gone with given the choice.