A room was advertised for £189 per week. When I enquired about the room, the letting agent told me rent was calculated by day so for a 30day month rent would be 189/7 * 30. We agreed that for a tenancy from mid December to start of June . He then told me to move in, I would need to sign the contract, pay the 4 weeks deposit and first months rent. I understood this to mean that first month rent would be equal to a 30 or 31 days worth of rent so payed the holding deposit and completed my reference checks. Upon receiving the contract, the rent due was £907.20 to be paid over 5 monthly instalments. As a result of this I withdrew from my application and asked for refund of holding deposit stating that payment structure was different to what I had agreed to. Landlord response was that as they had stated that rent was calculated by day I had sufficient information about the rent payments and so refused to refund holding deposit. He claimed that as the total amount of rent payable was the same there were no issues. Is he right or can I get a refund of holding deposit?
£189 a week is £819 a month, not £907. If this was through Openrent they should refund you the holding deposit. If its not through OR, then tell the landlord that as the amount now demanded is different to the amount advertised, you are legally entitled to a refund under the Tenant Fees Act and will refer the matter to local Trading Standards if you do not receive it by the end of the week.
Thanks for the reply.
The landlord said that since the total amount of rent I would end up paying by the end of the tenancy is the same then there is no issue and so refused a refund. Rather than paying in equal monthly instalments over the 6 month tenancy, they’re demanding it in 5 monthly instalments (which are higher than a months worth of rent) to cover the 6 month period. This is not what had been communicated to me before paying the holding deposit and so I feel I do deserve the refund of holding deposit.
Do as David says. Lets see how confident the Landlord is when you mention the legislation & threaten Trading Standards.
Let us know what happens.
They refused again to refund.
They stated that since the total amount of rent payable was the same by the end of the tenancy they are not in the wrong. This is despite them changing the payment structure and amount I had agreed to pay per month before paying holding deposit.
Also they claimed that since I didn’t bring up the issue until after the contract start date then this my fault. I must also add that the contract was not sent to me till the day before the start date even though I had completed referencing on time
I feel that they are deflecting the actual issue which is the payment structure by saying that my total rent is the same at the end so there can’t be an issue
Then follow through on contacting Trading Standards at the Council.