Holding Deposit

[Leo76]

Dear all,
I was recently looking for an apartment to rent and I found one through a letting agency in my local area. As I was looking to move in mid February, the agency asked me a holding deposit of £200 in order to cover any risk in case I was withdrawing. The fact is that a few days ago I received a call from the letting agency telling me that the landlord decide to give the apartment to his relatives. There was no letting contract at the moment between myself and the landlord, but only a paper signed by myself stating that I would have lose my £200 in case I decided not to take the apartment anymore.
My question is: Am I entitled to have back only my £200 or something more from the agency?

Thank you very much for your help,
Kind Regards,
Leo76

[spunkeyrich]

sounds like the landlord took the property off of the agents hands so therefore they didnt rent it out. UNless you find out or prove the agent did rent it out to someone after you put the deposit down then you may have a case.

You will get your £200.00 back but nothing else in my opinion.

rich

[Templehead]

yes you ll get it back, i m a landlord and holdnig deposits get refunded even if someone changes their mind which you didnt-he changed his mind about what he was doing with the property. Its a european law i beleive that has recently come into effect as holding deposits did get held (not by myself i d like to point out) however it is most infuriating that you think a property is let and the "future tenant" pulls out and wastes everyone s time. (not that you did that but i m just saying)

[direct2000]

The holding deposit

The "holding deposit" indicates that you are serious enough about the property to put some money down on it. But beware, it is not a legal guarantee that you will get the place. If you can avoid paying it, do.

• The deposit can be as low as £25-50 or as high as hundreds of pounds.
• If the deal goes through, your holding deposit is usually set against your first month's rent and the deposit due.
• If you pull out of the deal, for almost any reason, then your deposit is not refundable.
• If the landlord pulls out of the deal, you should be able to get your deposit returned.

Complications arise when one agency takes a deposit from you, while another agency takes a deposit from another interested tenant. In this case, the landlord has to choose, and that could be based on which tenant put down the higher deposit.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/template/publicsite,help,guides,re nting,SecurePlace.vm#hold ing
Holding Deposits

A holding deposit is paid to the landlord/agent to hold the property for you whilst you decide whether to take it or not. Exactly what has been agreed depends on the wording, but usually once you have paid a holding deposit the landlord/agency should not then show the property to other prospective tenants. Essentially you should be paying to get “first refusal” on the property.

If you subsequently decide not to take the property, you will lose this holding deposit because the landlord/agency can argue that they have lost rent by not renting to someone else whilst you were making your mind up. This means you should only pay a holding deposit if you are fairly sure you want to accept the property (or will be able to find that extra person to join your group, if this is the case).

With holding deposits, you will, however, need to check that the landlord/agency recognises that once you have paid the deposit they cannot then offer the property to anyone else. It is not unheard of for landlords and agents to take multiple holding deposits for the same property on the basis that by asking for a holding deposit from all enquirers, the landlord is simply finding out which ones are “serious” about the property.
You also need to carefully check the holding deposit agreement. In some cases, it could actually commit you to taking the property even before you have signed a tenancy agreement.

http://www.studenthousing.lon.ac .uk/cms/32.0.html#53

PS: Also look on "Sale of Goods Act"

[kop25]

Please help, I moved into a flat with my mate, after a year I moved out, I told the landlord and he was ok, I asked for my deposit back, but was told my flat mate had to pay it, is that correct, why should my mate pay when the landlord is holding it, any advice would e nice.......

[Steve__M]

Your mate is presumably taking on full responsibility for the rent and therefore needs to take on full responsibility for the deposit.

Ideally you should make sure that your current contract is properly terminated and that your mate signs a new one with the landlord.