Non return of house rental booking deposit

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westernone

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A friend of mine put down a booking depoit for a house she intended to rent, but due to circumstances changing - a week later she decided not to go ahead with the house rental.
- A deposit of 1000 euro was paid by cheque
- No documents or contracts were exchanged

The agency (well known) is refusing to return the deposit.

Is this illegal? How should she go about getting the deposit returned?
Is this covered by the PRTB? Any advice welcome
 
Had she signed anything? Particularly any documentation mentioning non-refundable deposits? €1000 sounds like a lot... :(
 
No documentation was seen or signed.
This is a very well known agency in Dublin and I am more than surprised about this situation and cannot find anything which might pertain to it on www.prtb.ie
 
Isn't the whole point of the booking deposit that you commit to renting the place? And if you retract, you lose your deposit?
 
I don't know if it is, i.e. to commit you to renting the place. I would have thought that the deposit (sounds like a months rent in this case) is to cover the landlord in case of damage to the apartment, or if the tenant vacates the premises having left unpaid rent. I'm speaking from my experience in the rental market here, so I may be incorrect. If you didn't sign anything, I don't see how the agancy can keep your money. Did you get a receipt for the deposit? What does it say?
 
westernone said:
A friend of mine put down a booking depoit for a house she intended to rent, but due to circumstances changing - a week later she decided not to go ahead with the house rental.
- A deposit of 1000 euro was paid by cheque
- No documents or contracts were exchanged

The agency (well known) is refusing to return the deposit.

Is this illegal? How should she go about getting the deposit returned?
Is this covered by the PRTB? Any advice welcome
Click to expand...
What sort of receipt did they get for this payment? Did that outline or point to the terms & conditions under which the payment was made or the contract governing the transaction?
 
westernone said:
A friend of mine put down a booking depoit for a house she intended to rent, but due to circumstances changing - a week later she decided not to go ahead with the house rental.
Click to expand...
If the agency / landlord turned away other prospective tenants as your friend confirmed her committment by paying the deposit, they may now have to re-advertise the property and it may be vacant for some time while securing new tenants.

I don't know what the legal standpoint is but I would be inclined to approach the agency manager and tell him/her that she understands that they may have incurred/will incur some costs due to her withdrawl and your friend would be happy to cover the cost of re-advertising the house.
 
delgirl said:
If the agency / landlord turned away other prospective tenants as your friend confirmed her committment by paying the deposit, they may now have to re-advertise the property and it may be vacant for some time while securing new tenants.
Click to expand...

Or they may have a list of people who might be interested in the property based on previous inquiries and not have to readvertise at all.
 
Does anyone know what the legal position is - based on the available information
- booking deposit paid by cheque, to hold the house for one week whilst away on business, pending signing of lease
- no contract exchanged
- no documentation ..receipt or otherwise exchanged

From my humble point of view... I would see that the deposit was an indication in good faith that my friend intended to lease the house. At no point was it indicated that the deposit was non refundable.

The rent for the house was set at 2000euro/month,
 
Your friend must be very naive to had over a cheque for €1,000 without even getting a receipt!
 
Assuming your friend believed the deposit to be refundable in the circumstance where she chose not to go ahead, and that she wasnt informed otherwise by this agency ( and that what you say re no documentation signed above is correct) , I would think she would have a strong case to get her money back.
 
In my opinion, you are confusing booking deposit and security deposit.

The security deposit is received by the landlord to cover any damages to the property other than regular wear-and-tear. This is typically one maybe two months rent.

A booking deposit is a commitment to rent the property - if you pull out, you lose your booking deposit. The booking deposit is usually a small amount, a fraction of the first month's rent for instance.

There is no ambiguity in your post that your friend gave the money as a booking deposit and the amount of the deposit would also indicate that it was definitely not a security deposit.

That's my tuppence! I hope your friend gets his/her deposit back ; if the landlord had somebody else already lined up and did not suffer income loss from your friend letting him down at short notice then I would expect him to do the decent thing and refund the money. Consult with www.threshold.ie for further advice and do let us know the outcome.
 
westernone said:
At no point was it indicated that the deposit was non refundable.
Click to expand...
I'd be inclined to assume by default that any deposit is non-refundable, unless confirmed otherwise in writing.
 
westernone,

A contract does not have to be in writing. It can be writen, verbal or Implied.
"- booking deposit paid by cheque, (Why?) to hold the house for one week "
(The contract would seem to be: your friend would pay €1,000 in return for the Landlord 'holding' the property for one week. If property was held for one week and payment was made then that contract was completed.)
"whilst away on business, pending signing of lease
- no contract exchanged
- no documentation ..receipt or otherwise exchanged"

It would probably be better for your friend to take the view that she wanted that period of time to consider wheter or not she would take up the lease. IMHO, as you spell it out, there was in fact a further contract to lease the property. The landlord cold seek to enforce this contract. This was an implied contract. But what would the 'Terms' of the contract be? Well "... I would see that the deposit was an indication in good faith that my friend intended to lease the house." if your friend, or the landlord's agent, made any reference to a period (say min. 12 months) then the contract would be to lease the property for the quoted rent and for the quoted period. Your friend could be bound to pay 12 months rent.

I'd suggest it is highly unlikely that the landlord would pursue this - it would be subject to alot of heresay, although your friend would have to deny, under oath, the terms discussed. The landlord would have the benefit of a witness - 'the wellknown agency'. I would suspect if it was pursued the landlord would have to show Loss and any claim would be limited to that loss.

Re: PRTB - In the circumstances the Tenancy was not registered with PRTB. The Landlord and Tenant are required to sign a form PRTB1.
 
As far as I am concerned a deposit is a payment to secure an item whether it is property, service etc with the intention that the lessee will perform the remaining part of the agreement, which in this case is to sign a lease contract. In this case it is neither clear or unclear that the deposit was refundable or nonrefundable.So both side are muddled on tha point.

Given that your friend has turned around and now does not want the property they are not entitled to a return of the deposit unless:



She agreed a refundable deposit - which is arguable or the other party can prove that the deposit was taken clearly on a non refundable basis ( but no receipt was issued with this).



The property or development on closer inspection is not suitable for occupancy



or



There are certain criteria in relation to the property that have not been met but which were promised and would take too long of the landlord to install i.e. TV, Alarm, full furnishings etc.



I would pursue them on the point that you handed the deposit over, on a refundable basis. You could also state that you asked for a receipt and you were told one would be forwarded to you. But do not sway from refundable. Then I would also pin point problems with the apartment which you are not satisfied with, just stating that you have changed your mind is not good enough.



Usually pressure exerted by dragging in the agent over the refundable deposit, slating the apartment (within reason) should sort out the issue.



I had the same issue once, it was a refundable deposit and I had a receipt for same.

But after I got a better deal elsewhere I asked for the money back. It took about 1 month to get the cheque. They initially started to moan and groan. But the landlord has a premises with some faults and also the complex had some issues which would not be resolved in time for me, therefore I needed to find another suitable location.
 
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