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  1. If you book a place i.e a room in a hotel, a caravan pitch etc and on arrival it can provide the services advertised but is nowhere near anything you read up in the brochure and you have to look elsewhere to stay, are you entitled to a refund under the distance selling act?
  2. Hello, In November 2018 we booked a large barn through Airbnb for a friends hen do for May 2019 - paid the £1100 non refundable deposit which equated to 50% of the total accommodation costs Unfortunately the wedding has been cancelled and we cancelled the booking for the hen do last week -giving over 4 month notice Airbnb and the host are refusing to refund our substantial deposit even though within a day of cancelling the barn has been rebooked by another party. Clearly they are taking advantage - I have complained but haven't got anywhere and am just ben ignored by the host. Any advice on what to do next would b great.
  3. Hello and apologies in advance. This is going to be a long one:| Fingers crossed that I am posting this query in the right place. Hoping someone here can offer some help. A relative (non EU) become an accidential landlord. She emigrated to the UK, worked here for a number of years, purchased a property which she lived in and then decided to return to her homeland. She informed her lender that she would be renting out her property. She has a residential / interest only mortgage. She left her property in the care of an estate agent No1 and for a number of years this worked well. Due to a number of issues she decided to cut ties with the estate agent and turned over her property to another estate agent (No2). He was responsible for finding the current tenant. The tenant paid the usual 6 weeks deposit to estate agent No2. I should mention that the estate agent no2 owns the management business. To cut a long story short, Estate Agent No2 was not responsible, payments were never on time (even though the tenant paid rent on a regular basis). Payments were erratic, differed each month if paid at all. He would pay his staff first and any left over would be deposited to his clients if they were lucky! All this caused a number of late mortgage payments. Thankfully this was minimised as my relative was able to deposit monies into her mortgage account from her savings and had an overdraft. Estate Agent No2 has since filled for bankruptcy and not for the first time! He is personally bankrupt but his estate agency is still trading. I found out about the bankruptcy order by chance by googling his name. Earlier this year the property was handed to Estate Agent No3 - and so far so good. I have a number of questions... The deposit was paid to Estate Agent No2. He has refused to repay the deposit and I doubt it very much he deposited it into any of the new schemes that were introduced. He has essentially pocketed the money! How do we get this money back? How can I check or where do I start searching for this money? Am I right in saying my relative would be responsible for refunding this deposit if the tenant leaves? Do we have to go to court? Luckily the tenant isn't thinking of leaving, but we want to be prepared moneywise. We have in the last month realised that as my relative earned an income (albeit a loss) on the rent, she may be liable for tax. I am in the process of engaging an accountant to assist re self assessment etc and hopefully this side of things will be in order shortly. In the meantime Estate Agent no3 is holding back part of the rent received as 'tax' until my relative registers with HMRC. They claim they have a responsibility to do this. My relative is not making a profit on the rent and has not done so for 2 to 3 years. She has had to 'top up' as the estate agent cuts, repairs and other charges and now this 'tax' means she is making a loss. The money she gets from the rent does not cover the mortgage payments. Is it true the estate agent can hold monies on behalf of HMRC? Any assistance would be grateful. MBK
  4. Hi there everyone, I am concerned about the fact that last Sunday I have decided to look around for a better car as my old one could be retired very soon, although I have taken care of it very well....I went around to a few car dealers and have found a car that could have a few more years to carry my weight and my things around the town. After I have spoken to the Owner I believe, have taken a seat into his office and asked questions about the car. One question was - how many miles the car has and he replied 68.000....later on after I said that I wanted to have a look at it as it was parked behind 2 other cars he said that sorry it has 88.000 miles. When I got into the car it had 88.600 miles. I did not like that as he could simply say that he does not know....all good so far.... After other questions we have been numerous time interrupted by various calls and other customers around and could not manage to concentrate very well. I am given a deposit of £300 to keep it and to make sure that he is doing all the necessary adjustments/ improvements (new tyres, etc.) in order to pick it up in 2 days after he called a finance Company giving away all my details in order to give me a loan. The car was in amount of £7000, thinking that I needed another £4500 from the Company he knew. I woke up Monday morning ( not much of a sleep as I have thought about the financing the car- which I do not like things like that) and rang them at 9.00am to ask to cancel everything. I have also called the Finance Company as well and they have told me that nothing was done as they could not find anything yet. They told me that it was the dealer to go to as they need to send them a contract before they could start anything. Of course the dealer was not there but it was somebody else who works there and it was with him on Sunday - that was the mechanic that is checking the cars before they will do a part exchange. I have asked him to let me know when upon his returning so I could call him back. He said that he is in Auction and he will be coming at 5.00 pm. I did call him at 5.00 on mobile and of course no answer and called the office and he was there. I have told him that I have texted the mobile given on Sunday about the cancelation of everything and he said that he can do it but the deposit will not be returned. I have asked why and he said that and I quote : "that is how is here". He only said on Sunday that if the Financial Comp. is not approving my loan then I will be able to have my deposit back. Nothing else was said about Deposit. Questions: 1. How can I have my deposit back??? 2. Can I submit a small claim to the local Court?? Any reply will be much appreciated. Thank you, dd
  5. Situation as I know so far: Tenant moved into property in 2014 and contract stated the deposit was protected by 'Barclays Secure Client Account' - nothing more. rental was done through a lettings agency and rent was paid to them. About 18 months later the tenant came home to a man waiting in his car outside the house who identified himself as their landlord - had ID and paperwork. Agency had vanished and he hadn't been paid rent for around four months. He accepted the tenant had paid. It all checked out and the tenant then paid rent direct to landlord. He never has got round to renewing contracts but tenants have continued to pay their rent and life seems to have bumped along, presumably on a periodic tenancy. He wanted to know how much deposit they'd paid as he'd not been sent any paperwork. He's recently been in touch to say the agency has gone bankrupt and the tenant will have to contact 'them' to get their deposit back. I have asked the tenant to go back and find out who 'them' is. They aren't quite sure if he means the agency or someone dealing with the bancruptcy. So, on to the questions. Is it really up to the tenant to recover their deposit from anyone but the landlord? If it's all on the landlord must they do something about it sooner rather than later? They are happy living there and don't particularly want to sue their landlord but don't want to be told years down the line when they do go to leave that they should have done something sooner. It appears the landlord has a number of properties in the area and they're run as rentals under a company name. Does this make any difference to what they should do/how their deposit should have been protected? They don't want to fall out with the guy. He's been shafted and has been perfectly reasonable with them. They don't want to move and everyone is happy barring this deposit issue. What's the best way forward?
  6. Myself and a friend entered into an AST in 2008 with a private landlord where I was the lead tenant. Our deposit was placed with the DPS. Although we had a good relationship with the landlord throughout the tenancy, when we gave notice to quit in 2011 he seemed to take the matter personally and started being very standoffish with us. On our moving out date, the landlord did not attend the property. When we called his phone to find out where he was, it rang with a foreign dial tone and the call was rejected, so he wasn't even in the country and decided to ignore us. We ended up posting the keys back through his letter box and were never properly checked out. Since the landlord had essentially absconded we did a stat dec and sent it off to the DPS to get our deposit back and assumed it would follow. A couple of days before we would have had it, the landlord opposed the stat dec and would not consent to ADR. This left it in limbo and our only remedy was to take court action. We mulled it over at the time and in the end made the stupid decision not to pursue him and put it down to experience. Eventually we got over the matter and I'd not given it any thought for several years. Until today when I moved into a new property which also used DPS and when I checked my account I found two tenancies were shown, and was amazed to find our old deposit from 2008 is still there, now with the status 'suspended pending review'. What is the legal position on this deposit now? Neither us nor the landlord can take civil action against each other as more than 6 years has gone by, but the money is still held with the DPS, and it is our money. Any chance of getting this back after all these years? And if not, what will eventually happen to it?
  7. Hi, Recently some friends and I went on holiday to a villa rented through AirBnB. While there we cracked a plant pot, and some soil leaked into the pool. We spent the penultimate day cleaning and scrubbing the place because we felt guilty and left the place in pristine condition. We left at 8am, the host had guests in at 12 noon the same day. Upon being home a few days, the host put through some damages for us to pay amounting to a staggering 684€. This included; - Cracked Plant pot (80€) - Damaged IKEA towel and damaged IKEA bedding (50€) - Pool Cleaning (50€) - Cracked pool tile (500€). We were shocked. - Despite scrubbing the place clean and actually checking for damages, we did not see any cracked tiles and do not believe it was us at all. - The plant pot was heavy, so we are assuming shes damaged the tile herself replacing the plant pot. Regardless, we think this should be covered by insurance. - We payed a £237.49 cleaning fee up front; we think the pool should be covered by this - The IKEA towel and bedding was damaged by bleach that the host left on the floor. This also ruined all the girls bikinis, by bleaching them! We refused to pay the sum the host demanded. She then responded with "We just had an email from the tile constructor who thinks that the tile would cost 250€ instead of 500€". At this point, her costs include 0 receipts or proof of cost of any kind, and we found the IKEA towels online for £4.84 (IKEA website). Anyway, we declined the payment and she went to the resolution centre. The resolution centre is supposed to ask for both sides of the story and come to a fair settlement. The "expert" got in contact to say she was getting information from Hilde and would then contact us. We then went to support and asked about the Security Deposit. There was no security deposit set on the property, and from research, to us this means anything we pay is on our sole good nature. The expert never contacted us; the next message from her was a breakdown of the costs she told us we must pay and our AirBNB account is deactivated until we pay. There was still no proof at all of any costs either, no receipts, nothing. We will not pay for absurd damages that we did not cause, knowing she has tried to ripp us off and certainly not when the "expert" never got in contact with us! - Can AirBNB force us to pay without a security deposit? - What can we do here? Please help, Ryan
  8. I ordered a 2 x sofas and 1 x armchair from Sofology on 30/08/2018 (cost inc delivery, furniture protection) £3783.50 of which £400. 00 deposit was paid by bank cheque card, the balance is due prior to delivery which I intend to pay by credit card. Due to the numerous complaints now noted with this company, as well as other high st furniture retailers, I want to be aware of what my consumer rights are if I encounter any of the complaints already noted eg, sagging sofa, poor quality construction, poor quality leather in terms of wearing excessively. I am sorry for the hypothetical question but I want to be forewarned as to what steps I should take in such circumstances and under what act etc. Many Thanks
  9. Do disabled individuals who are looking for their own home not exempt from paying deposits as they are on benefits and qualify for housing benefits? Can deposits be negotiated?
  10. I will try and be as brief as possible with this. My partner hired a taxi from a local cab hire firm back in July 2017. He paid a deposit on taking the car. The original car had a lot of problems and kept getting taken into the garage for repairs. As it was licensed to another county, they could not provide another vehicle when repairs were being made and therefore could not work. Another time with this particular car, was told it was repaired, filled the tank £50 and then it broke down again (no recovery or breakdown service offered either, despite paying £200 per week!). They said they would get a replacement car, told it would be an Octavia - then given a Dacia Logan (may be fine for nipping around town) totally not cut out for taxi work! Still paying the same rent. As he got licenced locally, he asked for a locally licensed car (to avoid past issues). They dragged their heels with this and finally got given another Dacia in Jan 18 despite saying he didn't want another Dacia as it is majorly uncomfortable to work in. Finally managed to get our own car plated so returned the car to taxi hire firm. I emailed and checked account balance was zero and have email to confirm it was. Contract states a period of 6 weeks for return of initial deposit. Waited the six weeks, didn't get it, I called and was told no it was 8 weeks and would be paid on a certain date. Waited another two weeks, still nothing. Called again and told the woman who deals with it is on holiday. Chased again the following week to then get an email stating that as he did not keep the last car for 6 weeks that he would not be getting back his original deposit and also that he owed them about £150. This figure is not correct and is due to their errors when car was taken in for repair etc half way through the week when rent was paid in advance. I called CAB and they have told me to write letter to them with the argument that it was a continuation of the original contract as he had a car from them permanently from July 17 to Feb 18. I just wondered if anyone can help me out with some wording for the letter to them. I have heard that many other people have had trouble getting deposits back. The company are highly unprofessional imo. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
  11. Looking for advice on getting a £500 refund for a deposit on a used car. On July 2018 I visited a second hand car dealer to purchase a used BMW that was for sale on its forecourt. I had a test drive we agreed to purchase the car for £11,000. The salesman filled in a part exchange form. I was trading in a CAT D car and at the time I didn't tell him that it was a CAT D. I understand that I was not under any obligation to do so. They inspected the car and they offered me £4500 for the trade in. There was a tick box on the form that asked if the car was in insurance write off. This wasn't ticked by the salesman amongst other things some of the boxes they should have filled in were not filled in. Additionally one of the terms was that deposits were not refundable. I signed the form. I told him that I would not be able to pick the car up for three weeks when I would take delivery and pay the balance. During the 3 weeks they continued to advertise the car for sale. One the day of picking the car up I called the garage and asked if it was ready to pick up. They told me yes. About 5 minutes later they called to say that they had done a check on my trade in and couldn't accept it as it was an insurance wrtite off and I would be better selling it privately. They had 3 weeks to do this and the unit price for them would have been at a lot lower price than I could get it for. I sold the car to a private buyer 2 days later. I called the garage to inform them that I had sold the car and also told them I was offering £10,500 on the car as there was no trade in. They did not accept the offer. I asked for my deposit back and was told they would not be giving it back. The car was advertised on the Autotrader for a further 6 months before it sold and the last price advertised was £10,450.
  12. A friend has asked me the following. He saw a car on the internet and without looking at it he decided to put a deposit on it £1,000. Next day he changed his mind the dealer has said the deposit is non refindable. What are his rights on this he paid by debit card his bank is Nationwide. Thanks
  13. Hi everyone. I'm a new member on here. I came across the site when researching tenancy deposit schemes and I've read through several threads but can't seem to find and guidance in relation to my particular problem. Briefly, in September of last year I agreed to rent a property with a private landlord. I had a few concerns about the property but the landlord assured me they would be dealt with once I moved in. But I needed somewhere to live quickly and my mother paid the deposit. The rent was to be paid by housing benefit. There was mould throughout the property, there was a leak from the soil stack or a blockage causing it to seep out from where the two pipes join, a couple of electrical sockets that were loose from the wall etc. I paid the deposit in cash and received a receipt. After several weeks the landlord had not repaired any of the above despite my texting and phoning him. At the same time he began to phone and text me demanding the rent but there was a delay at the housing benefit and the payment had not yet come through. He threatened in the text messages to come round to the property on specific dates and turf me out and take the keys back. I felt intimidated by him and told him by recorded delivery letter that I was going to give him 28 days notice to leave because he hadn't fixed any of the things he had promised. He had no problem with this and texted the sooner the better and that he still hadn't had the rent. I left the property and asked him for the deposit back and he said he was keeping it because he was still owed money. I then found out online that the deposit should have been protected. I asked him about this so that it could go to a resolution but he would not give me the details but kept on saying that he had protected it. He then came back to me and said that I owed him four months rent for leaving early, fees that he had paid to an electrician to fix a pendant - which was one of the jobs I had asked him to fix - fees for a skip to empty the property even though it was empty when I left etc. I realise I'm rambling on. What I'm trying to determine is whether the tenancy was valid when he didn't protect the deposit? Has he a right to claim back four months rent from me when he didn't protect the deposit in the first place? Did the agreement lose any legitimacy when he failed to do that? I ask because despite my continued asking him he will not return the deposit and I'm thinking about taking it to court. All I want is my deposit back. Nothing else. He has since had the back payments up until the time I left the property. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks
  14. Hello My son and three other uni students put £500 each deposit on a house. It was for Sept this year. Since then two of the others pulled out finding somewhere cheaper. It is a bit of a long shot but does anyone know if there is any chance of getting any of the deposit back? It is a lot of money £2000 for nothing but they have been told that there isn't anything that can be done. I just wondered if that is true? thanks
  15. Hello all, I was recently recommended to look at this page first time poster, just quickly want to say how great it is. I am having a problem with my landlord trying to deduct almost my entire deposit for work he supposedly carried out to the property following us leaving. I have lived at many rented houses before and I have never ever had a problem with getting my entire deposit back previously, so clearly something isn't right. What’s worse is the house in dispute I actually went above and beyond the call of duty to make it nice before I left. The reason I did this was because we got on with the landlord and even recommended him to our friends to do work for them (he is a kitchen fitter by trade) so because we have a decent relationship with him I went the extra mile to get it way nicer than any house I have ever left previously. I filled in all the holes where the pictures had been and even painted them with the same paint so you couldn't even tell they was there. I bleached the whole kitchen and even got a special hoover to suck out all the dents were heavy stuff like the bed and wardrobes had made the carpet flat. Unfortunately our relationship soured soon after hearing that he is trying to take us for almost all of our deposit. Supposedly his claims when asking him to send evidence were 1 - Full days kitchen cleaning - He sent me a picture of 1 cupboard with a slight few marks from where the bottom of the tins had sat, we did clean the whole kitchen with bleach but we didn't get it professionally steam cleaned or anything so potentially there may have been a few stubborn marks that didn't come off initially, but having checked the tenancy agreement there is nothing in here saying that it needs professionally cleaning. He said there was mould in the kitchen? Having looked at the picture it doesn't look like there is. We have a baby so the kitchen is kept clean. We turned the kitchen off at the plug after leaving so not sure if maybe something formed in the time it was left off, but if there was something then it evidently is very small, and was missed on the initial clean we did, even on the close up of the picture it's not obvious that the fridge is unclean. I asked him to send any evidence he has to me in full, but he only send 1x close up of some small marks in the cupboard and 1x picure of the fridge, which doesn't even look particularly dirty. 2 - Toilet seat broken - I admitted that if he wants to he can deduct us for this, however arguably this is wear and tear and wasn't fitted properly neither was it photographed. The toilet seat to say the whole house had recently been refurbished wasn't on properly when we moved, it was one of those special soft closers and it looked to me as if the landlord or whoever fitted it hadn't got the fixins secured properly so it was actually stuck to the toilet instead using silicone - Regretfully though we never got round to telling the letting agent about this as it just wasn't that broken to be unusable so wasn't a big deal to us at the time. 3 - He said the bathroom cabinet was split at the bottom, however having looked at it it seems very minor and was certainly not something we ever noticed 4 - He says the blinds needed cleaning? we cleaned the entire house including the blinds, granted they were not professionally cleaned but this wasn't in our contract also he hasn't sent us any photo evidence of this 5 - He said the bracket that holds the integrated fridge in place was broken and the corner moulding needed putting back on - When we put the washing machine on due to very poor foresight john had sat the plug for the washing machine that the fridge was plugged into directly on top of the fridge, I had to manoeuvre the fridge slightly out in order to get the plug for washing machine in. The corner moulding then fell off because it was only glued on with no more nails, it wasn't fixed on with brackets. When I put the washing machine back in I re glued the corner moulding back on. I did not break any brackets. I suppose it's possible they could have broken over time but they are under the worktops so out of view so I didn't notice until we moved when I took the washing machine back out. I think he is being very harsh charging me for this especially considering it was very difficult getting the washing machine in and out in the first place. worst case scenario a couple of plastic brackets aren't going to cost more than a couple of quid if he wants to get so pedantic over it. 6 - The paint being a different colour - we asked the landlord when we moved in if he could put pictures up to which his response was "make the place your own". as mentioned before I went to more effort in this house to make it nice due to our relationship (ex relationship) with the landlord. Obviously when a picture is hung on a wall for 2 years the sun stains & trace dirt discolours the area around it, however unlike any other house with this one I went above and beyond by filling all the holes and smoothing them then repainting the area with the same colour paint which had been left for us in the cellar so it was definitely an exact match. Landlord is claiming he had to spend 2x days redecorating the bedroom the living room and the kitchen because despite them being the same colour due to the age difference the difference can be seen in certain lights. He didn't even send any photo evidence of this despite it being by far the biggest thing they are trying to deduct from us. Alternatively if i had left the marks & nails where the pictures had been wouldn't it had needed re decorating anyway? Feels a bit like a no win situation unless i was expected not to put pictures up and perform a full redecoration upon exiting which again wasn't in the tenancy agreement. Contradictory to this in fact the agreement says that reasonable allowances should be made for wear and tear by the landlord, something I feel he hasn't done. He is not an experienced landlord, he only has 2 houses and we are his first in this house as it was a restoration project when we moved so potentially he hasn't had anyone move out of one of his houses yet so part of me thinks he is not properly in touch with reality on what he should and should not claim for. I feel like he is trying to take us for a ride here and he is putting claims in for the most ridiculous things. Being an experienced tenant, I have never ever had my deposit docked for anything, and ironically despite my current landlord trying to charge £550 for 3 days labour and materials I have never ever left a house in such good condition as this last one. I want to know what options are available to me and even the potential for compensation. I am not the sort of person to normally seek this but the amount of inconvenience and stress he has put me through has been beyond reason.
  16. Hi everyone was kind enough to help me before and i need advice again: Hi Help I hope some-one can advise me on the issue i am now having with my old yard owner who has changed the terms of the contract regarding our deposit. I could moan forever about the yard we have just moved from, but i won't we did have issues with overgazing, 1 bale between 6 large horses and 2 ponies metal sticking out of a mound on the field, baling twine and haylege wrappers all thorough mound all appearing as 1 horse keep routing through it to fine nettle roots and nearly all horses ended up with mud fever. Large nest of rats living under pallets where dungheap (apprx 13ft high) was Stables flooding 4 times and my friend had to replace all her bedding at her own expense. However it was the hay in the field that was crippling us financially. We already paid £130 D.I.Y livery we had to buy our own straw and haylege (which was fine) and then we shared a bale of hay in field this cost between 5 & 6.70 a bale and it started off every 4 days then it was every 3 days. I have a pony and the girl i moved with has a pony, the yard owner has a 17.3" and a 16.2". Guess who got chased from bale every day, we brought our in at night to ensure they had access to food and nets, again a catch 22 as our haylege costs increased. You hade to go about 3 mile on roads to find a hack and we handed our notice in and gave 5 weeks notice. My friends young horse broke a slat of the garden fence and we ppaid a fencer to come and fix this. The livery was paid to her parents and hay etc paid to the yard owner, we had paid a deposit when we arrived and as we were both really skint, i asked the yard owner if we could bet that on the 28th when we left. She said her mother had it and she would see her. The next day i received a text saying "Hello Yeah yous will get it back within 30 calender days of leaving as states in contract". We then realised she had never given us a copy of the contract, so we asked for this and she said she would send it asap. Yes, you guessed we had to get a copy from another livery and this is where it gets interesting. The contract reads "One Calender months deposit per animal must be paid on arrival at yard (or earler to secure a space), this will be reunded within one calender month of clients last day on yard subject to but not limited to the following conditions; provided all monies are up to date, no debts have been left at yard, no damage caused by client or anyone in connection with client, notice is given as per agreement or if yard is at risk of any loss or potential costs. Another part was: " This is a private yard not a commercial yard and will be ran as such (Simple yard rules will be posted in stable). Where do we stand and what do we do. We need the money and thankfully we are in an amazing yard where the farmer is more than happy to go the extra mile for his liveries. We are in Scotland.
  17. I signed a 12 month Fixed Term tenancy in April 2015, no deposit was taken by the landlord. Since then I have had no further tenancy agreement so have been on a Periodic tenancy. The landlord has now requested a deposit but offered no new Fixed Term contract (not that I want one). Can he request a deposit during a Periodic tenancy or would it have to be as part of a new Fixed Term ?
  18. Hello all. I submitted a claim using MCOL a few weeks ago for a Deposit I gave to a Landlord (LL) when I lodged with them for 6 months, a total of £600. I am claiming that amount, including interest and court fees totalling just over £700. I took all reasonable steps to get the deposit back but the LL started blanking me and made promises to pay but never did. I started the MCOL process and they submitted an acknowledgment of service, stating they are going to defend the entire claim. Fair enough, thats their right. However herein the problem lies. I had been using the LLs current address to send all my formal letters and put it into MCOL with served the particulars of claim to them at that address (thus enabling them to submit an acknowledgement of service). However in their acknowledgement of service they put changed their address to their old address where they no longer live and havent done so for a year. This now means further documentation from the court will go to their old address - and my best guess is that when it comes to it they will try and get the claim set aside because they haven't received further court correspondence (because they've intentionally put an old/false address). Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this? Thank you!
  19. Hi good afternoon In December 2016 i paid a £1k deposit for some goods, i did so before January as the supplier said they're increasing their prices by 10% in Jan 2017, so its a kind of worked as a holding deposit. There was a 10k balance to be paid before goods could start to be ordered and delivered to me at the start of 2017 things financially took a turn for the worst, i couldn't continue with the business venture and over the coming months tried to pick up again but it was not possible. I then proceeded to ask the supplier if i could get the £1k deposit back, replied with the straight answer of "With regards to the deposit payment they are non-refundable due to our terms & conditions." I've not argued this yet and wanted to come here first to see the best practice, I've never seen any terms and conditions, no paperwork has ever been sent to me via post or email and this deposit was paid via card over the phone. Nothing about this being non-refundable was mentioned. The supplier wouldn't be at a loss because nothing was actually ordered, held back specifically for me etc. Have I got rights to get my deposit back in this case? Thanks
  20. Hi there, i apologise if this is in the wrong section. Im needing some help on a matter that concerns a Truck sales and my son. Back in November of 2017, i took my 18 year old to look at a 7.5ton truck. After looking at the truck, we then went to see the sales man and explained that my son would be purchasing the vehicle on finance as he has a clean finance record. No problem sir, we can sort that out with our finance guy (Close Brothers) 3 weeks went past and hadnt heard a thing my son rings up and gets told that the finance chap would ring him. He did and explained to my son that it was all looking good. after speaking to him, my son rang the sales firm up and explained it looked like it was going through. the next day he received a phone call from the truck sales saying the finance company wanted £2800 deposit for the finance. My son said that he could not afford it, only had £1000 that was all, to which the owner of the truck sales said, thats fine ill sort the £1800 through the vat. How he can do that i dont know. my son paid over the phone the £1000 and was told that the paper work and vehicle would be ready on the Thursday before Christmas. i took the day off work as did my son, rang the truck sales up and they said that they had heard nothing off the finance company and that they had mot'd the truck costing over £750. After several phone calls i got through to the finance chap and he said my son had been accepted but refused after being accepted as he did not have a license to drive the vehicle. I explained that he was only financing the vehicle and i was going to be the registered owner and insurer. Point blank said NO not acceptable. I then got onto asking for the finance deposit back and he said it was not his problem and that he was looking for another solution. Yesterday i received a call form him saying that he found a broker that would do it but the deposit would be over £3000. I told him thanks for trying but we would leave it. I have today been in a big argument with the stubburn sales man asking for the £1000 finance deposit back he has told me no chance as they have now laid out nearly £1000 getting mot done on it. Gone up £250 from before christmas. I explained that his boss said it was a deposit towards the finance and not the truck but keep insisting they are not paying it back. I explained to him that if the finance had been agreed, and the £1000 deposit was on the truck, why was it still for sale on ebay and their website. Can someone help or guide me on this please PS: sorry for the long post
  21. Hi All I gifted my son the equity in my house for him to get on the property ladder, who pays this new indemnity policy forced to take out by lenders as we have both been charged for it, seems unbelievable i have to take out an policy to protect my sons lender, thanks in advance
  22. Good morning,I am looking for advice on where I stand legally when landlord is trying to claim all of my deposit on a property I have now left. I lived at the property for seven years but was given one months notice to quit on October 4th(rent due on 5th of month) as the landlord informed me that she was selling the property after failing to remortgage it. I told her that I believed I required two months notice but she said that I was wrong,however I cooperated with many viewings on the property and was informed that the property had been sold and vacant possession was required. The sale fell through and she then said that she was in no rush for me to move. I found a property for which she gave me a good reference and I left the property on Nov 4th. I applied for my deposit through the DPS scheme,claiming back the full amount of £856.49 but she has declined the full amount for the following reasons: 1.Rent arrears of £550.00 which I assume would be for the month Nov/Dec as my rent was always paid in full to the date I left and had never been in arrears. 2.Missing items £250.00 - The check out inventory was not done by the landlord so I am unsure what she is referring to.The only items that I am aware of are a washing machine and a dishwasher.These items are no longer there as during the tenancy the items broke and the landlord was informed at the time and I was asked to dispose of them.I have text messages to confirm this. 3.Gardening £50.00 - The garden was left clean and tidy,the only exception being fence panels that had fallen during storms,I also have photographic evidence of this. I am not sure how relevant the next point is but when the estate agent selling the property spoke to me he asked for a current gas safety certificate but the last one I had was dated 2014.He informed me that this check has to be done by law every year. When I left the property I left new flooring and carpets that were purchased in August this year,everything was left clean and tidy,the only damage being structural i.e.severe.damp on a number of walls and ceilings,guttering broken, leaking pipes and upstairs electrics not working..The landlord had been informed of these issues but had taken no remedial action. I need to know if: 1/ I am liable for the rent arrears as she has claimed or can I leave during the notice period. 2/ Is she in breach of contract for not doing repairs or failing to carry out the yearly gas check. I realy cannot afford a solicitor and need to know my best course of action. Thank you.
  23. We have had numerous issues with a caravan purchased from a dealership in less than a year we have had approximately 44 issues with the caravan with several issues being serious. Four of the issues resulted in the front and rear panels being repaired and then replaced. The advice I got from a lawyer was as follows; Although I appreciate you approached XXX Caravans to supply you the caravan, as you took out a hire purchase agreement with Black Horse, they are the retailer of the caravan. T herefore any rights you have under consumer law are to be exercised against Black Horse and not XXX Caravans. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 Black Horse have an obligation to ensure the goods supplied to you under a contract are of satisfactory quality. This means they should be fit for their purpose, free from minor defects, safe and durable. For the problems you have described in your email it would appear this is not the case, as a result Black Horse are in breach of the contract between you. I have always been under the impression that the supplier is the retailer and that the contract is between the consumer and the supplier and if there are any issues I need to approach the supplier and not the finance company although the finance company do have a responsibility. As we have had so many issues with this caravan which appears to be a Friday afternoon lemon made from left over pieces of other rejected caravans, we are considering rejecting the caravan even though we have had it since July 2016. The £1000 deposit was paid using a credit card with the balance financed by a trade in and HP. The caravan cost in excess of £30000. We have had approximately 100 days usage from the caravan. The question is whether the advice from the lawyer is correct or not? Thanks.
  24. In October 2015 we ordered a new Buccaneer Cruiser caravan and paid a deposit of £1000. The caravan is due to delivery within the next few days. We chose this caravan as it is wider and has self levelling making it easier for me as I have rheumatoid arthritis and therefore mobility problems. Between the time we paid the deposit and now we raise a few issues about the rear panels on these caravans as there was an issue with some developing cracks. The caravan is advertised with a 10 year water ingress warranty and one would assume that this covers the outside panels however on reading the owner's manual which cna be obtained online I found out that the panels only had a 1 year warranty. I emailed the dealer on a few occasions with our concerns about the rear panel and they replied and gave us re-assurance and I left it at that however on Saturday someone went to take delivery of their 2016 Cruiser and foudn crazing on the rear panel. I raised this with the dealer as we were have 2 units fitted onto the caravan and requested if we coudl view the caravan when it was delivered and before they did any fitments to the caravan. This was their response; Martyn is on holiday at the moment and won’t be back for a few weeks .I have just been looking through your email with the concerns you have with the buccaneer cruiser 2016. I then started to look though the rest of the emails you have sent us over the past few months. You have great concerns with the caravan . On a personal level ,this occasion we feel this would cause you a great deal of stress to yourself and the company if a problem was to happen in the future with the buccaneer cruiser. with this in mind on this occasion I obliged to return your deposit and cancel your order. we feel this is the best course of action for you .can you please call us to return your deposit asap . Can they cancel the order and issue a refund bearing in mind that they have had our deposit for 5 months plus I have had to paid £425 for the air con on our current caravan to be transferred and another £99 deposit for a Paintseal treatment? The wife is absolutely livid as she has been looking forward to us taking delivery of the caravan.
  25. Hi, Got a bit of a fiddly situation here so I will try my best to summarise clearly for everyone. I moved into a flat (from Spareroom) on the 1st June 2016 (tenancy expired on 30th November 2016), I found it a month or so before and they wanted a £300 (cash) holding deposit as they don't take card. I was moving out of London a few days after and was in the middle of exams and I knew I needed a place so (stupidly) I paid it in cash and went for it. Thankfully it all seemed legit, got the keys on the first and again had to pay my first months rent and the deposit via bank transfer in their office (Rent £940 + Deposit £940 + Admin £149 - Holding Fee £300 = £1729). I paid it got my keys and moved in. I asked about the deposit scheme etc over the next days where I was told "don't worry it's protected". This is where I started finding it all to get weird. Speaking to the existing flatmates, none of them received any TDS numbers or anything. I kept asking just to get the same response. So 3 months go by, after hearing nothing I knew I wanted to claim. However a friend had a room their flat which was over the road and was perfect for me so I started enquiring about leaving the tenancy early etc, and I got 3 options. Find my replacement and I pay half a month of rent, they find a replacement and I pay a full month or rent, or I just pay the remaining rent and leave. I tried for a month to find my replacement which brought me to September to no avail. I then emailed saying "Is there a possibility I could leave and you could keep my deposit?" which got a reply of "I will keep trying to rent your room, keep paying as normal" so no confirmation that they would take my suggestion of keeping my deposit. Knowing that they haven't protected my deposit I asked them again "I can't find anything about my deposit in the TDS" in which they replied with "The money you paid for the deposit will be used to pay for the final month of the tenancy". Is this even allowed? My contract says: "Security - £940 to be paid on the signing hereof to the agent for the landlord to be dealt Within accordance. This security deposit will be used to pay your last month rent, then 30 days notice is served" (that's the exact wording, notice the bad spelling/grammar). I then followed up with them with the standard "Within accordance of the law, it is your duty to protect my deposit in a TDS" in which they said the manager will call me. I spoke to the manager (who is also the Landlord, I think this is pretty important) on the phone and they pretty much said "Don't worry you can leave the contract and i'll adjust the deposit". I thought screw it, I'll take that and then approach the deposit after I have confirmation I can leave so I asked for the email confirmation and they sent over the following: "As advised please do not pay your rent on 1st October 2016. Please then returning the keys this Saturdays drop me a text, then keys are left at the concierge. You are released from 6 months contract as per conversation with [Landlord Name], no further payments are required." I took this as pretty concrete evidence that I can leave, so I did. Moved into my new place and I'm happy here. Now I want to claim back my 'protected' deposit. I emailed the manager saying what's happening to the deposit and that I'm happy to not pursue this in court if it is returned back in full and I gave them a time frame to do so. He replied with "you broke your tenancy etc and that they will chase up the remaining payments". Unless I accepted a £500 return of deposit. When I spoke to him on the phone before he offered £500 deposit back which I said no to and that I'll be chasing up the full deposit. He has also reassured me that "Danny from accounts has said your deposit is protected" which is incorrect given what his colleague told me before. Basically I just want my deposit back, multiple people have mentioned that I can claim between 1-3x the deposit, I do not mind what I claim as long as I get my initial deposit back. Almost a year after moving in I still haven't seen a sign of it, and I don't think the other tenants have either. Do you think that leaving the tenancy early may hinder my chances as claiming this deposit back? I believe they are separate matters, I believe that he had ill intentions with the deposit by choosing to manage it himself and no protect it, which seems like it has broken all of his responsibilities. But also a separate matter of leaving the tenancy early where I suggested that they could possibly keep the deposit, which not reciprocated, but then got an email after the phone call which clearly stated when I could leave and who gave permission and also that no further payments are required. Sorry for the wall of text, it has been a complicated and stressful process and any help/advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much, Buneet
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