help with holding deposit return

ashpan

my son is moving to london to work on saturday and has been under pressure to find somewhere to rent. we found somewhere with Radley Stone letting agents and his friend went along to look at the room, when he arrive (friend) he was told the desired room had gone but another was available (smaller, grottier and cheaper) which he declined. the agent then contacted my son to say if he paid 3 months deposit up front he could have the room, he then was told that the landlord had not decided which tennant to rent to and that if he paid a holding deposit of £420 he would be on an equal footing with the other potential tennant
i paid this for him (debit card) and he was then told that he had to pay rent from the 6th of June instead of the 13th in order to secure the room which he wasnt prepared to do, he was never actually told that the room was his so we were in limbo for several days with the clock ticking!
we lost faith in this company due to all the above and asked for our holding deposit back which they have declined as they said they could have let the room on several occasions
where do we stand and is it worth going to small claims court over this or are we unlikely to be successful?

HappyMJ

ashpan wrote: »

my son is moving to london to work on saturday and has been under pressure to find somewhere to rent. we found somewhere with Radley Stone letting agents and his friend went along to look at the room, when he arrive (friend) he was told the desired room had gone but another was available (smaller, grottier and cheaper) which he declined. the agent then contacted my son to say if he paid 3 months deposit up front he could have the room, he then was told that the landlord had not decided which tennant to rent to and that if he paid a holding deposit of £420 he would be on an equal footing with the other potential tennant
i paid this for him (debit card) and he was then told that he had to pay rent from the 6th of June instead of the 13th in order to secure the room which he wasnt prepared to do, he was never actually told that the room was his so we were in limbo for several days with the clock ticking!
we lost faith in this company due to all the above and asked for our holding deposit back which they have declined as they said they could have let the room on several occasions
where do we stand and is it worth going to small claims court over this or are we unlikely to be successful?

It depends what the contract states would happen when you handed over the holding deposit.

The company Radley Stone was only incorporated last March 2015.

https://www.companieslist.co.uk/09488551-radley-stone-ltd

http://www.radleystone.com/

The website is rubbish. I can't find anything on it. All I can see is just a picture. It's a GoDaddy site created by the owner/director of Radley Stone.

See - https://who.godaddy.com/whoisstd.aspx?domain=radleystone.com&prog_id=GoDaddy

You can always try raising a court claim against the company but as the company is so young and hasn't filed any reports yet I can't see that it has any money worth chasing.

If they have an office (which I can't find) my bet is they are renting the office space and have no assets.

Cakeguts

How on earth did you find these agents? What was wrong with all the properties offered by all the other letting agents in London? Are you trying to find something that is cheap?

I don't understand the bit about paying the rent from the 6th June. Has your son actually seen this room? Has he signed any form of contract?

The whole thing sounds extremely odd to me including how you found agents with no website to speak of from outside London.

There is nothing to rent in London that is cheap. If something is cheap it is cheap for a reason.

Why have you left it all so late?

MeesterLeRoy

This also raises an eyebrow for me, I'd also like to ask if he signed a contract because there should be a clear contract of some sort that states everything along with signature from both parties ESPECIALLY if you are dealing with money. I wouldn't believe an agent if they said those sorts of things. If the landlord didn't know which tenant to choose but you weren't 100% satisfied with the room in the first place, why rush to put a deposit. A lot of times landlords will say those kinds of rubbish to get the highest offer, quick.

I would probably threaten to put a court claim with them anyways

Guest101

You paid by credit card, just get a charge back done from your credit provider.

ashpan

i paid by debit card
My son was offered the job only recently to had to find somewhere fast
Radley Stone have been told that if the £ not refunded within 48 hours (now passed) we would go to small claims and their response 'you must do what is right for you'
I phone to ask what Redress Scheme they are members of and the woman there speaks very poor english and didnt have a clue what i was saying so i dont think they are members of any scheme as we have checked all 3 and no sign of them
no contract has been signed
is it worth us going to court and will the hearing be held in london where they are based?

ashpan

Cakeguts wrote: »

How on earth did you find these agents? What was wrong with all the properties offered by all the other letting agents in London? Are you trying to find something that is cheap?

I don't understand the bit about paying the rent from the 6th June. Has your son actually seen this room? Has he signed any form of contract?

The whole thing sounds extremely odd to me including how you found agents with no website to speak of from outside London.
we went online as most people do to find a place - Radley Stone advertise on spare-rooms.com as do many others
we were not looking for a particularly 'cheap deal' more something close to his workplace
no contract has been signed


There is nothing to rent in London that is cheap. If something is cheap it is cheap for a reason.

Why have you left it all so late?

Re 6th June, they wanted to charge him from the 6th rather than the 11th (the weekend bef he starts work) i suppose for their own greedy gains - my son refused and he has texts saying ok etc but the woman he dealt with speaks very poor english so i think much has been lost in transllation

fishpond

Take them through the courts.
Hopefully, you have learnt a valuable lesson.

marksoton

WTFF are these people not properly regulated....

Pixie5740

It's a criminal offence in England for a letting agency not to signed up with one of the three redress schemes. You should report this shower of tits to the local council.

Send a letter before action giving them 7 days to return your money and if they don't then start a Money Claim Online.

If your son is new to London he might be better off spending the first couple of weeks staying somewhere through Air BnB until he gets his bearings.

ashpan

when i phoned up to ask them if they were registered with a redress scheme the lady there didnt understand what i was talking about, no change there then! Would this stand up in a small claims court as i really dont think she has understood all along - she kept saying 'yes ok' to my sons refusal to pay for the week he wouldnt be there but then in the next breath she said 'but you have to pay from the 6th' - im pretty tenacious so am prepared to take this 'to the wire', have also contacted trading standards but will definitely report them to their local council and send a letter before action. my son has contacted his bank and explained and they said they will do what they can but no guarrantee