Hello LegalBeagles - £600 non refundable deposit, I didn't know was non refundable!

[hungrymarco]

Hello everyone,

I've used this forum on an off for 10 years - each time re-registering because I changed my email address. I'm happy to say that I've committed to an email address and look forward to being stable member of the forum :doggieyes:.

My Problem ( I can't see any threads on this so i'll post it here.)

Me and Mrs Hungrymarco have recently had to move due to our landlord passing, and his family wanting to sell the property.

We live in Sale (Cheshire) which is a busy property market and finding somewhere decent (nothing grand, just a modest sized, clean property, in a quiet'ish area) can take some time - so we moved out without finding anything and decided to live with Mrs H's mum - until we found somewhere...

We eventually found a flat and made an application through the letting agent.

They advised it would be cost £228 plus half the first months rent (£620) as a holding deposit to take the property off the market.

I paid the amount £592.50 via debit card, over the phone - a figure i'm not even sure how they got to! But I was desperate to seal the deal and move in to a nice flat.

Anyway, at no point did they ask me to sign anything or tell me that the amount was non refundable.

The last tenancy I took lasted nearly 5 years - 5 years ago - and sailed through, so I did not expect any tricky caveats.

However, we had previously been late a couple of times at the last rental, which showed up on the lettering reference - we did not owe the former landlord money and the even the full deposit had been returned to us (good tenants).

The letting agent has now kept the full amount, leaving us £600 (give or take) out of pocket and technically homeless - as i'm sure if we apply anywhere else, the same will happen (this is a larger issue I would rather not pick at)

So we have decided to stay with Mother-in-law to save a deposit and buy a property (as it seems my £70k in renting over the last 7 years doesn't stand for anything - again - another issue).

First Question; how do I get my £592.50 back or even part of it?

I've spoken to my Bank (Barclays) and they are going to try to reverse the transaction through VISA - I've no experience of retailer disputes but through third party stories I'm not confident.

Second Question: Should I take them to court? My fear is throwing good money after bad...

Again, not told it was non-refundable, and did not sign anything.

Any help with this matter would be a huge help.

THANKS! aw:

[des8]

Re: Hello LegalBeagles - £600 non refundable deposit, I didn't know was non refundabl

Welcome back

This is what OFT had to say on the matter:
3.41 A 'no refund' term where the tenant is required to make a substantialprepayment before a tenancy agreement is signed, is likely to be unfair. It iscommon for letting agents to seek a deposit from the prospective tenantonce a property has been selected, but terms that preclude refunds of thistype of deposit, under any circumstances, may be considered unfair.
3.42 Terms governing the tenant's right to recover prepayments can be made fairby limiting them to the ordinary legal position. Where cancellation is the faultof the tenant, the landlord or agent is entitled to hold back from any refund ofprepayments a reasonable sum to cover either the net costs or the net lossof profit resulting directly from the default,22 but not both where this wouldlead to double counting. Tenants would be at fault if, for instance, they gavefalse or misleading information, but not merely because the landlord thoughttheir references were not sufficiently good (see paragraph 3.68). Thelandlord or agent is not entitled to keep any money that could reasonably besaved by finding another tenant, for example


A non refundable holding deposit requires an obligation on the part of the landlord.
If the arrangement is vague (and here it was not even mentioned!) there can be no contract and it is only an option for the would be tenant to take the tenancy.
If the landlord has not set out clearly what preconditions need to be fulfilled before the option can be exercised, IMO he cannot retain the deposit


Also perhaps Unfair terms in consumer contracts regulations 1999 : a term which has not been individually negotiated in a consumer contract is unfair (and hence not binding on the consumer) if it causes a significant imbalance in the rights and obligations of the parties, to the detriment of the consumer.

Also common law on penalties in that the charge is not a genuine pre estimate of loss perhaps?

Others will be along to comment

[Amethyst]

Re: Hello LegalBeagles - £600 non refundable deposit, I didn't know was non refundabl

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_ad...letting_agents

https://www.tpos.co.uk/

TPOS Case Study on non refund of holding despoit and admin https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-an...nant-complaint and https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-an...osit-agreement ( although their site appears to have broken temporarily )

Also check the Consumer Rights Act 2015 s.83

[CLL1]

Re: Hello LegalBeagles - £600 non refundable deposit, I didn't know was non refundabl

I would be inclined to pursue. Likely an unfair term.

[hungrymarco]

Re: Hello LegalBeagles - £600 non refundable deposit, I didn't know was non refundabl

Thanks Everyone, for your thoughtful responses.

I'm going to do the research over the weekend fusing the links and steer above..

I'll update the thread as I progress.