120 deposit returned even tho unreturnable

djc17

hi
can anyone help, i found a property a wanted to rent, filled in forms took in £120 'unrefundable deposit' on tuesday to secure the property while references obtained, last night received a call 'sorry cannot move you into blah blah property, please come and collect your £120 and bank statements' - no reason
i doesnt appear that they have even bothered to get references - can they refuse me 'just because they dont like the look of me -or other reason i.e, single mother' just wanted to know where i stand before i call them. any advice would be appreciated :mad: also they never removed property from available to rent on their website or internet - although they said when i took deposit money in that it would be 'let - subject to references' it appears they had no intention of letting to me

Angelicdevil

It could be any number of reasons. Probably none related to you.

I could understand you being angry if they were refusing to give back your deposit but you're lucky they're playing ball and handing everything back, no quibbling/hassle.

Move on, find another place.

CapJ

Maybe they did decide they didn't like you (for whatever reason) or maybe they didn't. It doesn't make a difference. If they don't want to rent it to you all you could achieve by forcing the issue is for them to spend your 120 on references and turn around and still say "no".

Also consider this: Suppose you are right and it is because you are a single mother and the landlord doesn't "approve" or whatever (though I don't think it is necessarily that) - would you really want to rent from someone like that?

Werdnal

They could have already had several other tenants interested and someone elses checks came back first.

LL could have had a change of circumstances and withdrawn the property.

They may have looked at your details and compared with the same details as other applicants and not proceeded any further with yours.

There could have been several agents marketing it and someone esle got the place first.

Why not ask them?

TBH, if you are getting the money back, sounds like the decision was made over something other than your suitability for the property, as if checks etc had been done, and you did not clear them, your deposit would not have been returned.

You are getting you money back - how often is this not the case here, so just move on ...