Misled over application to rent

ashleypride

dohadeer wrote: »

It's still a crazy method to use and completely unfair to go taking £200 off people without explaining the process clearly (or at all) to them.

It is completely unfair and very very dubious, and as you say people could easily come a cropper on this and end up without a roof over their head.

Leew1231

I know it is no help but that is common practice in Western Australia. When you apply for a house you do so with a weeks rent payment. This does stop you applying for others in the meantime, but it also helps the landlord in ensuring you are serious and if you are accepted will be taking it, otherwise if you don't they keep your cash.

debrag

A local flat to us had an open day, I assume they would be using the same system.

LilDevil66

I have just come across this an hour ago!

Beercock, Wiles and Wick in Hull also use this process which is new to me.


I have a viewing on a house this afternoon and at the same time they are also showing another couple - has anyone else come across this before when you book into a time slot for viewing?


They will then charge me £150 application fee, let the landlord pick his favourite applicant, then the LA refund the rest.


It makes you feel slightly uncomfortable about it all.


I also didn't realise that the above fee should come off your rent if you're successful - am I right with this?

dohadeer

Haha, as I had slightly suspected yesterday, this whole story only got worse today.

I had told the letting agents yesterday that we'd try and hand in the documents relating to our application by today. However, overnight we obviously decided we wanted nothing more to do with this company and not to waste our time printing out loads of payslips and bank statements and things which they were requesting.

So I phoned them today saying we weren't able to obtain the necessary documents by today, so did they just want to say our application was unsuccessful and go with the other applicants they had mentioned yesterday. The guy on the phone, (the same guy I had spoken to yesterday) told me that as it was now a week since we had paid the £200 and they hadn't received our forms, we wouldn't be getting our £200 back. He claimed that they were entitled to do this as it explained this one week deadline on the information sheet I was handed at the viewing.

I hate to think how much money they make off vulnerable or naive people through this ridiculous method, but I (correctly, I assume) told him that an information sheet I was handed at a viewing doesn't count as any sort of contract, especially as I hadn't signed it or signed anything to say I'd read it or agreed to it. The only contract here would be the verbal agreement between myself and him when I'd phoned up to pay a 'holding fee' and he'd accepted it. I told him that it would be easier to refund my £200 now, rather than me having to take them to court to get the money back. (I then lied to him and said I'd already spoken to Shelter and Edinburgh City Council and they'd said that I'd get my money back through the courts.)

Anyway, he said he didn't have the authority to refund me and the company director would phone me back to discuss it. Surprise, surprise, within about half an hour of me threatening to take them to court, the guy phoned back and said 'Good news, we've decided to refund your £200.' In the sort of voice that said he was expecting me to be really thankful to them for this amazing gesture.

Thankfully looking back, yesterday when I was in their office, I had the sense to hold on to my application form (which explained to some extent the application process) and not hand over anything with my signature, which they could then use to say I had agreed to all of this. They were very keen to take it off me and it makes sense now why they would want to have something I'd signed to make it look like I was happy to go along with this ridiculous farce.

I WILL now be contacting Shelter and asking their advice as to what to do to stop other people being conned out of their money by this joke of a company. Unfortunately I'll have to wait until Monday at the earliest for a response. Anybody have any suggestions in the mean time?