Estate agent won't refund deposit

tom thumb · 07-10-2005 3:54pm #1

My friend went to look at a house for three of us we decided to go for the house and paid a deposit of 1800. within a couple of hours we decided not to go with the house. Then the estate agent announced that they were not going to refund our deposit in full and that they said it was none refundable anyway, which they never said to my friend in the first place. Has anyone got any advice as to how i can get the deposit back and do i have any legal leg to stand on. Thanks

Gilgamesh · 07-10-2005 3:59pm

did you sign a contract?
did you get a receipt?
did you read the small print if you did sign something.

tom thumb · 07-10-2005 4:04pm

all we got was a receipt saying holding deposit and we didn't sign anything

delly · 07-10-2005 4:09pm

Sounds to me that the estate agent is wrong. They can't hold a deposit unless you have signed a contract. He doesn't have a leg to stand on.

village49 · 07-10-2005 5:13pm

Similar thing happened my sister, they said that they were deducting some of the deposit for their time. She argued it and got the whole deposit back.

zokrez · 07-10-2005 7:22pm

Presumably you are talking about the purchase of a house. All monies paid up to time of signing contacts are 100% refundable. No doubt whatsoever. Contact IPAV in first instance then a solicitor.

Sarsfield · 07-10-2005 7:46pm

If you're renting, I think you may have difficulty getting the money back. A quick google finds most agents claim the money is not refundable.

Example: http://www.letonline.ie/users/renting-info.asp

However, the deposit should not be more than a weeks rent. €1800 sounds like more than that! Were you informed, or shown any document that mentioned the non-refudable deposit? Might be worth going to the Citizens Information Centre if you weren't informed of this.

But don't bank on getting your money back

tom thumb · 09-10-2005 6:55pm

thanks everybody for your help had a look at the recipt theres no mention of holding on the receipt and it doesn't say non-refundable on it either. So i'm going to go to my solicitor in the morn. I'll let ye know how i get on.

Carpenter · 09-10-2005 8:50pm

Yea go get them rip off snobs

jetsonx · 09-10-2005 9:01pm

Assuming you are not being economical with the truth here on boards.ie and
and you have showed fair and ressonable actions in your dealings with this firm -
they deserve to be NAMED AND SHAMED.

Gerry_J · 09-10-2005 10:34pm

Tom, did you receive any form of rental requirements from the Agency in Question, or was it mentioned in any way shape or form on any material in their office or on their web site. If they did not explain to you that there was a non refund policy in place in writing or verbally then you are due back the deposit.

As a matter of course our entire rental requirement are made public and given to the tenants in writing at the viewing of the property and a statement regarding the non refund policy in place is made very clear to people before receiving any monies. It is an unfortunate instance, but whether or not you like it you did agree to take the property and made the further intention to be legally bound by payment of the monies.

The following is a link to our office rental requirements for you attention,
http://www.jwe.ie/information_and_services_info.php?newsdesk_id=7&osCsid=aae6db4bc8a1115f02bd38aed8ae6aed

Where possible we don’t hold onto the entirety of the money, but we do deduct the balance between the daily rent between the initial rental period up to the point of actual rental, so therefore in theory our client the Landlord is not out of pocket / at a loss through a tenant reengaging on a rental commitment. i.e the quicker we rent the property again the less that is deducted. This is a lot fairer than a blanket write off of the deposit in its entirety.

I know agents don’t get a lot of sympathy, but if we take a deposit, and inform the client the we are in receipt of a deposit and arrange for the letting to go a head, then the following day the agent tells the Landlord that the deal has fallen through then, both the Landlord and Agent are out of pocket, the Landlord is out their rent and the Agent out their Fees, so at the end of the day its not done for the sake of being bastards or money grabbers but due to business being business. This is our reality, no lettings no fees no fees no money no money no job.

Regards

Gerald D Jacob

hmmm · 10-10-2005 7:01am

What is it about deposits that people don't understand? If you could get your deposit money back at any time, then it's hardly a deposit is it?

MorningStar · 10-10-2005 9:38am

Hey Tomb Thumb>
If they had rented out the place after taking your deposit would you be annoyed?
I think after a few hours it seems to be a bit much. Bear in mind they may have canceled viewings and other prospective business. It does sound like a holding deposit which from the sound of it they can keep it. It was at the least a verbal agreement.

joejoem · 12-10-2005 9:27am

Rental deposits are non refundable, booking deposits on the purchase of a property are.

tom thumb · 13-10-2005 10:20am

joejoem wrote:

Rental deposits are non refundable, booking deposits on the purchase of a property are.

think your right. we've got two solicitors workin on it now so we'll see how they get on.

MorningStar · 13-10-2005 10:42am

tom thumb wrote:

think your right. we've got two solicitors workin on it now so we'll see how they get on.

2 seems a bit overkill don't you think. Should have just gone to the small claims court yourself. I am guessing they are friends though?

tom thumb · 13-10-2005 10:57am

MorningStar wrote:

2 seems a bit overkill don't you think. Should have just gone to the small claims court yourself. I am guessing they are friends though?

caught in between two stones i'll pm u the details

Eoin · 13-10-2005 12:15pm

I am also assuming this is a rental deposit (if it was a deposit on a purchase, then it is 100% refundable as other posters have mentioned).

I have never had to pay a deposit until signing the lease, and I would then not expect to get the deposit until the lease is completed (and at the date agreed in the lease), and the property is in acceptable condition afterwards.

I have to say that I think that agreeing to rent a place, and then cancelling is quite poor manners, especially if the estate agent has cancelled other viewings, and taken the place off the market. But at the same time verbally agreeing to rent a place does not normally involve paying any money, and they did not manage this properly.

bidireland · 14-10-2005 11:12am

if a deposit is nonrefundable doesn't that make it a payment?

Eoin · 14-10-2005 12:07pm

bidireland wrote:

if a deposit is nonrefundable doesn't that make it a payment?

Not too sure about the legal definition, but in English it is defined as " To give as partial payment or security."

Maurice Lynn · 25-05-2008 8:29pm

Same thing happening me Tom, what yourn solicitor say?

MysticalSoul · 26-05-2008 10:29am

I thought you usually had a 2 week cooling off period? Seeing as it was literally hours though, I think you should be entitled to get it back, and particularly that, as you say here, you were not informed that it was non refundable.

bugler · 26-05-2008 1:11pm

In all honesty, the EA lost a couple of hours time on this, added to any embarrassment caused by having to tell the LL that the tenant was lost. And this is supposed to be grounds for retaining nearly two grand? A bit of common sense is in order here.

Personally I'd have just set up camp in their office until they refunded it. I'd maybe allow them the equivalent of one day's rent for the inconvenience.

Estate agent won't refund deposit

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