Paid Reservation Fee To Reserve Property But Agency Refunding It!!!

[Deleted User]

Hi Everyone,

I'm after some advice really as I'm really annoyed.

I went to view a property to rent on Sunday, the lady who is renting out the property also works at the letting agency which it was advertised through.

Viewed it, liked it, liked her, she gave me an application form along with info on what documents I would need etc.

After looking at a different house on the Monday and realizing that for my budget I probably wasn't going to find a better one that I looked at on the Sunday I decided to apply for it.

I called the letting agency yesterday (Mon) and paid a £200 reservation fee to RESERVE the house - well that's what I think it's for?!

I told them I would go along today to give them my application form along with all the documents I needed etc, id, bank statements etc.

Today I got a phone call from the lady who owns the house, calling from the letting agency saying basically the reservation fee I paid yesterday is going to be refunded to me as she has now taken someone else's reservation fee and they have given their application form and have been accepted.

I thought my fee was for me to reserve the property?! I only paid it yesterday and was going along today with the paperwork I needed!

Can they do that?

I'm very annoyed I feel like I have been duped! They haven't even giving me a chance to get in the car and drive down the road to the letting agency! Also taking another reservation fee! Argh!

Advice appreciated

G_M

Have you got a receipt?

What does it say?

[Deleted User]

Hi

I don't have a receipt as I only paid it yesterday over the phone with my debit card which I think they were then going to send me one out in the post, or then again I could have collected it today when I went in with my application form etc.

She just said she would refund the £200 back onto my card (I gave my card details over the phone again) and send me some sort of receipt out in the post for that to say I had been refunded.

princeofpounds

If you want to sue, you will need some kind of quantifiable evidence of the contract that was breached and the loss or damaged you incurred.

Do you have that?

Agree this is dishonest practice, but unfortunately it may not be possible to do anything about it.

outofmoney

Not sure if acceptable but some agents seem to make their own rules up.

We fell in love with a property once. It was a conversion so we visited a few times during the process. We kept asking to put a holding deposit on it but was told it wasn't necessary.

A couple of weeks before it would have been ready we bumped into another couple whilst looking round. They had paid a holding deposit and believed they were moving in (as did we). The agents said we should sort it between us. They gave us a sob story so we let them have it. About 8 weeks later we got a call from the agent saying the couple had changed their mind 3 weeks after moving in so did we want it! But so the couple did not lose any money we had to move straight away. Sadly we couldn't and they refused to wait so we lost the property for a second time!

[Deleted User]

princeofpounds - I havn't lost any money as the £200 I paid yesterday is being refunded today. Nothing had been signed or anything it was just the reservation fee which I assumed would hold the property for me whilst I went thorugh the application process. I'm just really annoyed at them for taking another reservation fee when I got there first with mine! Certainly sounds like bad practice to me!

outofmoney - that sounds terrible what happened to you
Why can't people just be honest!
Yes seems they are making up their own rules. - Maybe it's a blessing in disguise, I did feel really comfortable with the lady and I thought I'd be in safe hands with her knowing what she was doing (working at the letting agents etc) however it may be the case that it could of gone against me in the future, maybe she could have turned out to be the ladylady from hell that knew all the sneaky loopholes and dodgy ways of doing things through a letting agency to make sure things went her way at all times! I don't know this for sure of course just maybe I have had an escape lol - still fuming though!