Problem letting agent took deposit for non-existant flat

JayneDoa

Hi
I'm having a massive problem with a letting agent whom I shan't name just yet

We paid a deposit for a property we were due to move into today, £4500 including the fee to take it off the market. Last week, after the deposit was pay, they informed us that the property was no longer available but they could give us somewhere else at a slightly higher cost.

Thsi is not acceptable so we've requested our money back, after initially not been given a time frame as to when this would be recieved for those of us who had not paid by card, they finally agreed to make a bank transfer.

1. The one person who recieved their money back, was charged £5
2. They are claiming it will cost myself and the other party involved £40 to recieve the transfer.


They say it's a fee imposed by their bank (HSBC) but when I enquired in a branch they seemed to think this was bogus.

My questions are.
1. Are either of these two charges even close to legal, it sounds like one of the commonly used internet scams.

2. Due to the short time scale. I don't believe they put our money into a TDS, will this count for us, against us or is it irrelevant

3. I should have checked before anything happened, but having done so now, I cant find them on the FSA register, should they be registered if they are taking deposits?


Thanks

sooz

If the deposit was that high, was the annual rent over £25,000? If so the TDS does not apply.

Letting agents don't need to be registered or qualified. It helps to go with one who is a member of ARLA, but it's no guarantee that they are any better.

Do you have a signed contract? Do you have anywhere else to stay tonight?

Can they repay all the money to one person?

JayneDoa

Do indeed have somewhere to stay, we've got a new place sorted out

The annual rent is under £25,000 so I guess the TDS does apply?

Can't believe they don't have to be registered if they are taking a deposit, that's crazy

We don't have a final contract.

They've said they'll return the money, my annoyance apart from them dragging their feet is how they are trying to charge us for the refund.

sooz

What date did you pay them?
How was the money paid?
How much was the deposit?
How much was the monthly rent?
What agency fees did you pay?

SouthCoast

They say it's a fee imposed by their bank (HSBC)

£40 seems about right for a HSBC CHAPS transfer

http://www.apacs.org.uk/payment_options/chaps.html

PasturesNew

Any fee due is irrelevant to you. You were missold a booking on a flat. Fees are down to them to pay for incompetence imho.

benjo

Ewwww what a horrible shower this lot sound - goodluck getting your cash back in a speedy fashion, personnally I would go sit in there offices and make a noise until they either payed or kicked me out and I would let them know I would tell everyone who would listen just how shoddy they are.

Fire_Fox

Name and shame.

JayneDoa

I payed htem last Tuesday
Internet bank transfer
£1733 first month
£41 for 1st months water (this seemed odd to me, never had that before)
£2000 deposit
£400 to take it off the market,
£400 in referencing fees,

Suffice to say, another trip up there. I've just checked my account
Nearly all the money has been returned. It is £40 short.

Would the bank take this out automatically or would I be correct in thinking that they've just decided to not return the last £40? So as it stands, I'm out of pocket by £40 still because of this flat that wasn't available and because we weren't happy accepting a more expensive flat.

If everything they've done is all fair an not at all suspect I'm happy to leave it at that, but tbh I can't really see how they aren't just trying to grab as much money as possible.

Name: Loft Lets

princeofpounds

They have just decided to take out the £40. I have done a similar transfer in the past and you pay on top.

You should be due the £40 as well - costs are only payable if you have agreed to pay them prior to handing over the deposit if they & LL are the party at fault.

If you want to take them to court for the £40 it's up to you. Threatening it might produce a result. You can probably get costs as well but the amount of time involved will be several hours so up to you whether it's worth it.

kalaika

SouthCoast wrote: »

£40 seems about right for a HSBC CHAPS transfer

http://www.apacs.org.uk/payment_options/chaps.html

I agree. Sounds about right. Why couldn't they just do a BACS transfer? Takes three days, but no fees...

It'd think it's probably not worth going to court over £40, but I would go back into their office and kick up a fuss about it until they cough up. As it was their fault that they couldn't let you have the flat you paid the deposit for, then it's them that should cover any additional costs (but had they done a BACS transfer then they wouldn't have had any costs anyway...)

Out of interest, you say you paid £400 to have it "taken off the market" - what was this charge actually for? I don't see why it should cost you that much for them not to advertise it any more. Sounds like money for old rope to me...