Holding fee for accommodation ?

jonty1970

Hello. I'm asking for help for my nephew. I don't know everything that has been said, just have been given the general story.

He is currently in student halls and needs to rent a property for his 2nd year. A fellow student told him there was a room available in the house he rents. There are 6 rooms and 5 occupied.

He shouldn't have done it, but he payed a holding fee of £250 without seeing the property.
He has seen it now with his parents and there is black mould on the walls and it's generally a mess.

He hasn't signed a contract, just handed over the holding fee to the agent and got a receipt.

He paid on the 31st of Jan, I think, but could only view the property on the 2nd with his parents.

Can he get the money back? I know he's been daft to hand it over.
The other student is hassling him to move in and sign as they have been told they will all get thrown out if he doesn't move in. And they will all lose their holding fees.

Thanks for any help.

atypical

This won't be a simple issue to solve. He may not have signed a written contract but there was probably a verbal one. It's clear from the fact that he paid the money that he intended to receive something in return i.e. the house would be taken off the market. I don't think the fact that he hadn't seen the house matters.

Your best bet would probably be to challenge the fact that £250 is too much to cover the short period the house was off the market/admin fees.

edit: This is probably best posted in the House Buying, Renting & Selling Board instead:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16

This thread might be useful:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2662071

jonty1970

Thank you so much for the advice
I have now been told it's not a holding fee, it's a summer retainer!

From what he has been told, the landlord has the money now and it's up to him if he refunds it.

The letting agent also signed the contract to witness his parents signature, when it hasn't even been signed by them yet!

His parents aren't happy that he just handed over the money without talking to them about it first

he might have to learn a very expensive lesson