Deposit for venue hire not returned

Hintza

MamaMoo wrote: »

Although two months in advance the venue are unlikely to have paid much out.

The venue will have the rent, rates and ongoing maintenance that will be spread pro-rata on each event through the course of the year. I'm sure any decent accountant could get a figure in excess of the deposit without trying too hard.

bod1467

Haven't the venue already breached the previous contracts by not returning the deposit for either of the previous events? (Assuming they didn't discount either event by the amount of the deposit).

ThumbRemote

bod1467 wrote: »

Haven't the venue already breached the previous contracts by not returning the deposit for either of the previous events? (Assuming they didn't discount either event by the amount of the deposit).

I agree. The venue haven't been paid a deposit for the event in June. They have simply held onto a deposit from an event last November. This is a seperate event, a seperate contract, and unless the OP has specifically given permission for them to withhold the previous deposit and use it as the new deposit, the venue are holding the money unlawfully.

Hintza

The two posts above could have a point. But that could be superseded by the fact that the OP booked again?

I would have ensured when paying the previous bills that the final cheque I wrote would take in to account the deposit.

bris

MamaMoo wrote: »

Not at all. Providing the venue has suffered no actual loss (loss of profits not included) then OP is entitled to a full refund.

If there have been any expenses incurred (eg food specifically bought for an event etc.) then the venue may be able to retain some or all of the deposit to cover these costs. However, the venue would have to mitigate their losses, so they could try selling the food to someone else (eg another booking) or something similar.

Although two months in advance the venue are unlikely to have paid much out.

Also, if the venue did retain some deposit (eg to cover food costs) then OP would be entitled to said food otherwise the venue is benefitting unfairly (eg they have food and money)
However if they sold the food at a discount they could claim the difference in cost between the price they bought it for and the price they sold it at. OP wouldn't be entitled to the food in this case.

You still have absolutely no idea how deposits really work, if your going to read the sticky then make sure you follow the links that explain the sellers rights. Just reading the top page in the stick is misleading to say the least.

MamaMoo_2

bris wrote: »

You still have absolutely no idea how deposits really work, if your going to read the sticky then make sure you follow the links that explain the sellers rights. Just reading the top page in the stick is misleading to say the least.

Actually, I was more going on personal experience of my mom & step-dad taking a wedding venue to court and winning as there were no provable losses as they cancelled far enough in advance.

timbstoke

MamaMoo wrote: »

Not at all. Providing the venue has suffered no actual loss (loss of profits not included) then OP is entitled to a full refund.

This might be the case if the OP was a consumer, but they hired it as a business, which means consumer protection laws dont apply, and it comes entirely down to the terms of the contract.

As I understand it, the deposit was for an event in November, and was refundable if the event went ahead. The event went ahead, and the deposit was applied to the June event, presumably under the same conditions. That event is not going ahead, and therefore the deposit is not refundable.

Commandante

Just to clarify some things ...

- No food/drinks etc is involved. Its just a room in a bar, we have to pay for drinks etc on top. There are no expenses for them other than the physical space
- On the rare occasions that we've got through to a human being there on the phone, they have not questioned the fact that they should return the money and have said they would do. But they never have, no matter how much we call them.