Holding Deposit for Student House

Diddidi

Hoping someone can help. My son recently looked at a property with a group of fellow students. They were told that in order to secure it, they should pay a holding deposit there and then (well, via the agent's office) - this was at the end of the day. My son paid £200 on behalf of all the students as he was the only one with a card at the time and he signed the paperwork. Unfortunately, one of the other lads decided to pull out of the deal the following morning and rather than try to find another student, they all decided to pull out of the deal. The agent offered to transfer the deposit to another property and although they had a look, there was nothing suitable (some pretty horrible houses).


So the deposit was only with the agent for less than a day - they didn't suffer any loss and although contractually I guess they have every right to retain the funds, it seems disproportionate.


Is there anything my son can do to get his money back or should we just write it off as one of life's hard lessons?

Pixie5740

It depends where the property is located. In Scotland it's unlawful for LA to charge a holding deposit. In England & Wales a holding deposit is paid to hold the property which the LA did, it was the T who backed out of the deal.

If anyone should be refunding money to your son it's the ones who pulled out. It's a lesson for your son not to pay for everyone on his card again without first seeing the colour of their money.