Agency fee paid but no flat offered

firespire

What you need to think about is if they find out you have now purchased the property they might claim that they introduced you to the property and may try to claim that they are due some proceeds from the sale. It all depends on the contract that the landlord now vendor signed with them but is a common section of the agreement when a contract is set up for a property for sale.
It may be best to decide to chalk up the £300 as an unfortunate loss and have least dealings with this estate agency as possible.

pigeonpie

I remember in the 80s there was a plague of central London agencies behaving like this. They made you register and pay a fee in order to 'show you rentals' - which never materialised. If I remember right, they were finally shut down. Clearly the idea has not gone away as so many chase so few properties in London. It's also really difficult when you are new in an area & need somewhere to live to know who is reputable and who is a shark.
Glad it sounds like you had a happy ending.

Is there an association of EAs which has teeth that you can complain to btw, or isn't it worth the effort?

Tassotti

" Two days before i was meant to move in, the agency called to inform me that because i was self employed, i needed to provide more information, which i again provided. Later that day, the agency called again to inform me that my references were not good enough.
My references were good enough for the larger agencies which i have used in the past."

Herein lies the problem.As a self-employed person, you would need a guarantor to pass the checks.

Is this the extra information you were asked for?

Whilst renting previously, were you also self-employed?Could be the agency pulling a fast one. However, could be that your guarantor didn't pass the checks.

clutton_2

are you able to name the agency ?