Letting Agent Refusing To Return Deposit

whomy5

Hi,


I hope someone may be able to offer some advise with my predicament.


For personal reasons although I jointly own my home, for sometime I had been looking to move into a rented property. I found a flat in December and was very keen on it, so after viewing it I told the letting agent I would like to take it on even though it was not available till mid Feb.


In order for them to take it off their To Let list and not have anymore viewings I was asked to pay a deposit of over £900, this included the admin & credit check cost of £140.00, which I paid and signed a document confirming the same.


However after giving it a lot of thought and weighing up the pros and cons I decided that I am better off staying where I am, so advised them this week that I no longer wished to take on the flat and that I knew they wouldn't refund the admin & credit check costs but requested the remaining amount of my deposit back.


However they have emailed me back saying they will not be paying me back anything as I knew that if I didn't take on the tenancy I would lose my deposit... but I didn't?


I knew I wouldn't get the admin & credit check fees back but I didn't know I wouldn't get any of my money back, I feel totally ripped off and over £900 worse off.


Am I being unreasonable? I haven't replied to their email yet as I'm too gobsmacked!


Apart from responding that I think this is wrong and unfair is there anything else I can do?


Any advise would be appreciated as I can ill afford to lose this money.


Many thanks

G_M

What does the receipt that you received for the deposit say?

What do the terms of business, or other documents you received relating to the deposit, say?

Were you told it was refundable? Was there a witness?

If the landlord has lost potential rent by taking the property off the market and holding it for you, thus losing other potential tenants, it is reasonable to retain the deposit to cver this loss.

kinger101

What did you sign?

If it was an AST with a fixed term, you could be liable for the rent for the full term, and the LL is under no obligation to find another tenant during that period (though cannot charge you rent if they do).

Or some other agreement that took the property off the market before the tenancy commenced? If this is the case, read the terms. There is probably a holding deposit. You can't say you didn't know if it's on the contract you signed.

jamie11

With no disrespect to the OP but what did you expect when you paid a holding deposit in the first place?

The landlord has lost the opportunity to market the property for a whole month because of your dithering.

Somebody needs to pay for the extra expense and in this case it's you.

Summer-Sunshine_2

I have a feeling u won't get the deposit back as it's called a deposit. Sorry but I ain't sure on where u stand here...

Guest101

It depends on what the terms were, but I agree unlikely to get it back

Perelandra

whomy5 wrote: »

Hi,
For personal reasons although I jointly own my home, for sometime I had been looking to move into a rented property. I found a flat in December and was very keen on it, so after viewing it I told the letting agent I would like to take it on even though it was not available till mid Feb.
Many thanks

What does this part mean "even though it was not available until mid Feb"?


If the landlord has lost potential rent by your actions, then as the others have said your deposit may be forfeit. But I would have thought that if the property is already let out to someone else (or is un-lettable in its current state) then you may have more of an argument for getting some returned?