Question on deposit.

Storminateacup

Hey - Just asking on behalf of a friend.

They went about renting a 3 bedroom house, and the landlord accepted them and they both agreed a move in date of 18th March.
However, today the landlord contacted them and informed them that he was not accepting their offer and that he had a family that was moving into the house instead.

Now - the deposit that they agreed was 387 euro and my friends had paid 300 euro of this, however did not sign anything.

What can they do?

SteoL

Storminateacup wrote: »

Hey - Just asking on behalf of a friend.

They went about renting a 3 bedroom house, and the landlord accepted them and they both agreed a move in date of 18th March.
However, today the landlord contacted them and informed them that he was not accepting their offer and that he had a family that was moving into the house instead.

Now - the deposit that they agreed was 387 euro and my friends had paid 300 euro of this, however did not sign anything.

What can they do?

There was nothing signed? Ouch! Probably not much they can do. I hope they get their €300 back. Did they get a receipt to prove they paid?

Storminateacup

okay - so more info.

The man that owned the house just rang my friend to see why was there letters addressed to my friend going to the house.

My friend explained that he had moved his bills ect to the new address as he was due to move in in a week. He also explained to the owner how sky was due to call to install the dish next friday.

The owner then explained to him that he had initially asked the auctioneer to find someone to rent the house a while ago, but then changed his mind and told him it wasnt being rented.

This did not stop the auctioneer from advertising the house, and giving my friends 3 viewings and confirming that they could move in next week.

Today the auctioneer called and claimed that the owners wife's sister was going to be moving in instead.

The owner confirmed on the phone that this wasnt true - and that he wasnt renting the house out to anybody at the moment.

My friend has paid most of the deposit. Will he get it back? What can be done?

not even wrong

Storminateacup wrote: »

My friend has paid most of the deposit. Will he get it back?

Yes, he is entitled to the deposit back. You didn't say whether it was the landlord or the agent he paid the deposit to, but whoever he paid the money to is the one who should repay him.

Storminateacup

The agent. The owner of the house wasnt even aware it was being rented out.

echosound

The agent will have to give the deposit back.
Your friend *should* not have too much trouble getting it back, did he pay cash or is there some kind of paper trail at all? Like a bank transfer, cheque, laser payment etc?

We had something similar happen to us a while back - paid deposit of 500 to an agent and were all set to move into a house at the end of that month, meanwhile the owner of the house had no clue the agent was still showing the house and he had rented it out himself in the meantime, we were handed back the 500 straight away by the agent (although we did have a signed receipt and all the money transactions were done in the office of the agent, and they were very apologetic about it all).

I would go to the agent straight away and don't ask "what can be done, can I get it back" just state you want your deposit back. It was given to hold a house, with the expectation that a transaction would be entered into (i.e. renting the house) and the house was not held, nor will there be any transaction entered into, through no fault of your friend - the fault lies completely with the agent - so your friend should be immediately refunded his 300 euro.