School deposits

Schoolmummy1978

I am looking for advice please regarding the legality of retaining deposits for places at independent schools? My two children were given places at the school nursery as long as we paid £350 deposit which would ensure they had places in Reception, and the deposit would be taken off the first terms fees once they started school properly. The school has undergone significant negative changes since we first signed up almost 3 years ago, with new headmasters and has recently struggled with negative publicity following the tragic death of a pupil. It is obviously not a place I want to send my children too. I have given one terms notice for my eldest and 2 1/2 years notice for my second child. The bursar has said the deposits are non refundable and that my decision to leave therefore forfeits any right to the £700.
Is this right?
Any help greatly appreciated.
Ps: we are a normal familyin a bad state catchment

Valli

What you need to do is look at the contract you signed when you paid your deposit but chances are the deposits are non-refundable and you have lost your money.

bod1467

On what grounds? I can't see how this is any different to any other contract - only provable losses can be retained from a deposit if the consumer breaks the contract, regardless of what the T&Cs say. (As I understand it).

As this was a holding deposit (for a place at the school) then no service has yet been provided, so any losses will be minimal and probably restricted to administration charges. IMO £50 per child is more than enough, so OP should be getting back at least £600 of the deposits.

arcon5

So was the deposit taken off the first terms fee or not?

A 2 1/2 year notice period for the second child? That can't be right, surely?

As above, I can't see them having grounds for withholding £700.

bod1467

I read it as OP has given 1 term's notice prior to eldest child starting at the school, not that the child has already started.

Schoolmummy1978

Thanks so much for your replies. My eldest was due to start in September 2012. I can understand if they could not fill this place but the one for 2 1/2 years time seems crazy. The response from the Bursar is that I signed a non-refundable clause and therefore I cannot get anything back!

halibut2209

You cannot sign away your legal rights. They are either ignorant of the law, or are trying it on.

System

Personally I think if you reserve a place at school that far in advance and pay a deposit to reserve the place, then if you cancel you should lose your deposit. Its the risk you pay for reserving a place at the school so far in advance and ahead of other parents.

If they refund the deposit then the deposit means nothing as all parents could do the same, meaning the school will have no way of knowing each years intakes until the last minute. Private schools can't run like that. They need to ensure each year has a high enough intake. They may have turned students away because of your reserved places, especially if the catchment area is as bad as you say.

If the reasons for breaking were good then that's a different matter, however a new headmaster was always a danger when you book in advance. The tragic death of a pupil is obviously awful but unless the school was directly responsible for the death I am not sure how good a reason that is?

Anyway hopefully you will get it back!

System

halibut2209 wrote: »

You cannot sign away your legal rights. They are either ignorant of the law, or are trying it on.

I think they can easily make up £350's worth of expenses. Its not a huge sum of money and I think they could easily justify it. Especially for September

arcon5

goater78 wrote: »

Personally I think if you reserve a place at school that far in advance and pay a deposit to reserve the place, then if you cancel you should lose your deposit. Its the risk you pay for reserving a place at the school so far in advance and ahead of other parents.

If they refund the deposit then the deposit means nothing as all parents could do the same, meaning the school will have no way of knowing each years intakes until the last minute. Private schools can't run like that. They need to ensure each year has a high enough intake. They may have turned students away because of your reserved places, especially if the catchment area is as bad as you say.

If the reasons for breaking were good then that's a different matter, however a new headmaster was always a danger when you book in advance. The tragic death of a pupil is obviously awful but unless the school was directly responsible for the death I am not sure how good a reason that is?

Anyway hopefully you will get it back!

I agree to some extent. If a deposit truly represents the loss they will incur as a result of a breach of contract then yes, but this protects consumers in more extreme cases. For example, if a garage insists on a £2k deposit of a £4k car - it wouldn't be fair for the consumer to loose this whole sum whilst the garage get to resell the car. It would be fair though to charge any additional advertising costs, any difference in sale price, admin fee etc.

In this case, they should be able to fill the spot.

They can't have their cake and eat it too

System

arcon5 wrote: »

I agree to some extent. If a deposit truly represents the loss they will incur as a result of a breach of contract then yes, but this protects consumers in more extreme cases. For example, if a garage insists on a £2k deposit of a £4k car - it wouldn't be fair for the consumer to loose this whole sum whilst the garage get to resell the car. It would be fair though to charge any additional advertising costs, any difference in sale price, admin fee etc.

In this case, they should be able to fill the spot.

They can't have their cake and eat it too

Yes I accept that, it's just if I was a parent and had tried to get a place at this school for my kid. It would annoy me if I was told no places were available, especially if I then found out at a later date that some parents had cancelled their place and not suffered a financial penalty. If you book that far in advance it seems fair you should be financially penalised if you change your mind.

However what's fair is not the law so I could see the school losing out here!