Rent deposit-no lease agreement

Hobbitfeet

we moved into a house at the start of last August and are moving out at the end of this month. I told the landlord at the start of the month giving her 1 months notice. She has now said she won't repay our deposit as we are moving out before 12 months, the thing is we have no lease agreement or written contract with her. I asked her numerous times to get one and she said she would but never did.
So we did say we would stay for a year but now have to move out early as we have neighbours from hell and its not safe as I have an 8 week old baby and my partner works nights every 2nd week I don't feel safe being here on my own.
So I guess my question is can she legally not repay our deposit? The house is in better condition now as we have done some work to it with our own money so there is no damage she can claim for taking deposit, we have given her months notice and she has no written agreement we do have a receipt showing we paid €500 deposit

irisheddie85

No she can't. If you didn't sign a lease you are not breaking a contract. If she keeps saying she won't give it back threaten to report her to the prtb. I think deposit can only be held to fix damages not for leaving early if no contract. Contact threshold for free advice