Agents not wanting to refund my money to me

Debt2Null

Hi guys,

Please I need some additional advice. I will do my best to keep this brief. if more enquiries are made, I will go into details.

Question:
How can I get my money back from a housing agent who refuses to give me back my first and last month rent paid to her? Considering, I was never given the keys to the property, I never spent a night or even an hour in the property. Why? All because I refuse to pay a 'check-in' fee of £75 she insisted I was made aware of - when in fact, I was not. As a result, she would not give me the keys to the property.

You should know, I already signed the contract on the basis that I thought it was a done deal. Pay the agency fee, the rent and deposit (in this case, last month rent) and get the keys.

The contract does not state anything about a check-in fee and to make matters worse. When i asked for my money back, she had not yet signed the contract. She only singed it almost 2 weeks (after Christmas) after I asked for my money back.

The case is currently with the property Redress Scheme - PRS of which the agency is a member of. But I want back ups, in case of a worst case scenario.

I can't just waste £1500, with nothing to show for it.

Any ideas?

All enquires and feedback will be appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

Finchy2018

if there was a check in feee this would have been available with the list of fees advertised by the agent on their website and in their office, are you sure it wasn't on any paperwork or invoices provided to you?

tacpot12

You can sue the agent in the Small Claims Court.

The deposit is NOT the last months rent and you should never refer to it as such in any court papers -the court will not accept that it is rent when it is a security deposit. Having tried the PRS will stand you in good stead if you go to court, as the court will have expected you to try an alternate dispute resolution mechanism such as the PRS.

Be aware that if you sue in the Small Claims Court the agent is very likely to raise a counter-claim for the lost income caused by you pulling out of the tenancy agreement. The outcome with the PRS and with the Small Claims Court will hinge on whether you were told about the check-in fee. It was very common for tenants to be charged a fee covering the check-in inventory and a check-out inventory, but these fees should have been communicated to you. The letting agent is going to have difficulty convincing a court that you were told about these fees verbally, only the tenancy agreement signed by you is evidence of the fees you have agreed to. Check to see if the tenancy agreement includes an "Entire Agreement" clause. Such clauses are often used to ensure that verbal communications are not part of the contract.

Slithery

Debt2Null wrote: »

Hi guys,

Please I need some additional advice. I will do my best to keep this brief. if more enquiries are made, I will go into details.

Question:
How can I get my money back from a housing agent who refuses to give me back my first and last month rent paid to her? Considering, I was never given the keys to the property, I never spent a night or even an hour in the property. Why? All because I refuse to pay a 'check-in' fee of £75 she insisted I was made aware of - when in fact, I was not. As a result, she would not give me the keys to the property.

You should know, I already signed the contract on the basis that I thought it was a done deal. Pay the agency fee, the rent and deposit (in this case, last month rent) and get the keys.

The contract does not state anything about a check-in fee and to make matters worse. When i asked for my money back, she had not yet signed the contract. She only singed it almost 2 weeks (after Christmas) after I asked for my money back.

The case is currently with the property Redress Scheme - PRS of which the agency is a member of. But I want back ups, in case of a worst case scenario.

I can't just waste £1500, with nothing to show for it.

Any ideas?

All enquires and feedback will be appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

That's the most hilarious post that I've ever read, it reads like the who's who of scammers excuses

Good luck:)

G_M

Debt2Null wrote: »

Question:
How can I get my money back from a housing agent who refuses to give me back my first and last month rent paid to her?

Are you sure this was 2 months rent?Not 1months rent + 1 month deposit?

Considering, I was never given the keys to the property, I never spent a night or even an hour in the property. Why? All because I refuse to pay a 'check-in' fee of £75 she insisted I was made aware of - when in fact, I was not. As a result, she would not give me the keys to the property.
have you checked

* all your paperwork? and
* the agent's website
for any reference to the check-in fee? These fees are not unusual(yet), so on the balance of probability I'd guess it was publicised somewhere.....
If suing, you need to be 100% sure.


You should know, I already signed the contract on the basis that I thought it was a done deal. Pay the agency fee, the rent and deposit (in this case, last month rent) and get the keys.
Ah! so it was NOT 2 months rent. The deposit is NOT the lastmonths rent so donot refer to it as such.


However, if you have a (dual-signed) tenancy agreement, and the landlord/agent denied you access, you could sue for your consequential costs eg
* did you have to book into a hotel due toinability to acces the property? How many nights?
* have to eat out as you could not cook?
* taxi/removal van for abortive attempt tomove in?


Have you got full costings with receipts?


The contract does not state anything about a check-in fee and to make matters worse. When i asked for my money back, she had not yet signed the contract. She only singed it almost 2 weeks (after Christmas) after I asked for my money back.
I hope the fire was not serious. Is the contract still legible?


Do you or do you not have a dual-signed contract?


The case is currently with the property Redress Scheme - PRS of which the agency is a member of. But I want back ups, in case of a worst case scenario.
On what date did you pay the deposit?
Has it been registered with a deposit scheme and if so on what date?
Have you been given the PI? On what date?
Depending on the answers you may be able to claim the penalty (se blow0


.

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

Debt2Null

Finchy2018 wrote: »

if there was a check in feee this would have been available with the list of fees advertised by the agent on their website and in their office, are you sure it wasn't on any paperwork or invoices provided to you?

There is now a page on the website that mentions this fee. But I am certain it was not there before. Issue is, I can't prove this.

I've also checked the 'wayback machine' website. The agency website was not cached.

Thing is, I found the advert for the room on the 'spare room' website and on there, there was no mention of the check-in fee. It was after I paid the agency fee that I was directed to fill a form on their own website. Looking at their site, I had to know what I was looking for i.e. 'fees' to know I needed to look for any applicable fees. Which I did not.

Debt2Null

tacpot12 wrote: »

You can sue the agent in the Small Claims Court.

The deposit is NOT the last months rent and you should never refer to it as such in any court papers -the court will not accept that it is rent when it is a security deposit. Having tried the PRS will stand you in good stead if you go to court, as the court will have expected you to try an alternate dispute resolution mechanism such as the PRS.

Be aware that if you sue in the Small Claims Court the agent is very likely to raise a counter-claim for the lost income caused by you pulling out of the tenancy agreement. The outcome with the PRS and with the Small Claims Court will hinge on whether you were told about the check-in fee. It was very common for tenants to be charged a fee covering the check-in inventory and a check-out inventory, but these fees should have been communicated to you. The letting agent is going to have difficulty convincing a court that you were told about these fees verbally, only the tenancy agreement signed by you is evidence of the fees you have agreed to. Check to see if the tenancy agreement includes an "Entire Agreement" clause. Such clauses are often used to ensure that verbal communications are not part of the contract.

Thank you everyone for your response.

I referred to it as deposit because in all my years of renting, the amount paid in addition to the rent is usually the deposit. So this is what I thought it was. But the contract states no deposit paid and does refer to the additional £650 I paid as 'last month rent'.

With regards pulling out of the agreement
But I pulled or tried to pull out of the agreement before the contract was due to be in effect. The contract was signed by myself on Dec 16 2018 and the contract was due to start on the 30th December. The agency signed the contract 8th January 2019. Now, I've asked for my money back before the contract even started, since they made it clear I was not getting the keys if they did not receive the £75. And I was not going to pay something I was not fully aware of.

With regards if I was told about the check -in fee.
I was not told at all. In fact, this has been the source of the blame game. Weeks later, when I brought this issue to them, they directed me to a page on their website that state the fee.
Now, when I saw the advert for the room on a different website, there was no mention of this check-in fee. Also, I am pretty sure this page was not there before - but there is no way I can prove this. All I know is that it is not obvious at all.
I am of the belief that if I am required to pay this fee, it should be in the contract or any form of documentation at least. Nothing!

Entire agreement clause
I have now searched the contract with the above sentence and did not get any hit.

Debt2Null

G_M wrote: »

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

Thanks you for your response.

Deposit: yes. I have checked the contract and no deposit was paid. The additional fee was referred to as 'Last month's rent'.

Check-in fee: It is definitely not on any documentation I was given. It is on their website though. I did not even know it was there. They brought it to my attention after the issue was raised.

With regards to where I stayed.
I ended up having tasty in my car for the night. In the end, went to a friend's place to stay. Then I was able to get my workplace to allow me to work from home - worked from family's house.


With regards to the contract.
I still have the contract with me. A pdf file with both the agency and my signature.

Debt2Null

Points to add.
Basically, their argument was the £75 fee is an 'out of office hours' check in fee. Since the date (30 Dec) they told me to move in apparently fell in the period the office was closed. As a result, I have to pay for an agent to let me in.

Issue is, I was not informed of this fee in person AND I did not even request for this date. But I have to pay for it.

Ridiculous!

G_M

well you are muddying the waters by changing from rent to deposit to rent.

If it is clearly described as a final months rent, then

* no, it is not a deposit so
* no, it does not need to be registered, and
* no,you don't ned topay the final months rent again at the end of the tenancy

The contract was signed by myself on Dec 16 2018 and the contract was due to start on the 30th December. The agency signed the contract 8th January 2019.

So as of 8th Jan there was binding contract. Neither side could withdraw (unless the other agreed) so yes,you can sue for breach of contract.


As advised, you'll need to calculate your precise losses so as to make a claim.

Debt2Null

G_M wrote: »

well you are muddying the waters by changing from rent to deposit to rent.

If it is clearly described as a final months rent, then

* no, it is not a deposit so
* no, it does not need to be registered, and
* no,you don't ned topay the final months rent again at the end of the tenancy

So as of 8th Jan there was binding contract. Neither side could withdraw (unless the other agreed) so yes,you can sue for breach of contract.


As advised, you'll need to calculate your precise losses so as to make a claim.

many thanks for the response.

But before 8th, can I confirm that I had every right to withdraw, right? Which is what I did and I have been trying to do for weeks now.