to think you can get a deposit back on a flat if it's uninhabitable?

[threeleftfeet]

My friend found a new flat this week. She paid the deposit and a month's rent in advance to the estate agent.

When she went to move in a leak has appeared in the ceiling and everything is wet! It looks like the leak is an old problem which has been badly fixed.

The landlord has an intermediary (my friend has no direct contact with the LL) who my friend rang. The intermediary said she could do nothing till speaking to the landlord. Her attitude was unhelpful to say the least.

A day and several obstructive phone calls later and nothing has been done or even promised. Together with some other things (e.g. they promised they'd fix the toilet and remove some furniture prior to moving in, which they didn't do, or even mention), she now feels there's no way she can move in there.

Do you know, who does she need to approach to get her deposit back, the landlord or the agent? The agent signed the tenancy agreement, not the LL.

Can she expect to get her deposit back on the grounds that the place is uninhabitable? She hasn't actually been able to move in!

Any advice would be much appreciated, TIA

CAB or contact Shelter (or both)

It does sound like they're trying to break the law, so she's in a strong position here. Maybe she should try to go all out for the 3 x deposit due to it not having been put in the compulsory deposit scheme?

Thanks everyone, she went in to see the agents today, armed with information from t'internet, and particularly this thread. She explained that she wasn't going to go away, she would be taking it further if they didn't give her money back, she knew she knew their practices are illegal and that would cost them more in the long term if they didn't give her money as she was prepared to report them.

She also informed them that she would be staging a one-woman protest from next week, standing outside with a big sign, telling people not to trust them with their money, and that she would invite the local press to attend.

Funnily enought they agreed to refund her her money, which she got back this afternoon. It was minus £150 for the few days "rent", which she's not delighted with, but certainly happier losing £150 than having to deal with them for the next 6 months and having a puddle for a flat!

Thanks again everyone, your advice has been really useful.

Oh that's good news three.

It is a shame about them keeping £150 and they really should not have done that. But I can totally understand why she would just want to take the money then have nothing more to do with them.

That's great three. The rent of the place must have been very high if they charged her £150 for only a few days. They are clearly a bunch of crooks. In her position I would still write to the regulating body of the agency and complain.

She negotiated down from £250. It's still shonky though! But like you say it's understandable.

I'm impressed with the way she's handled it. I'm absolutely sure she wouldn't have got her money back if she hadn't stood up to them.

Love the protest threat too :)

(£250 was a week's rent.)

Wow it was an expensive place. At that price you would expect it to be in very good nick.

That's inner London fro you! It's actually considered towards the bottom end of the market round here (Hackney).

She was very lucky to find a 1 bed (not a studio) at that price, and the flat was on a really dodgy street - used to have crack dealers openly trading on the corner kind of dodgy! (They finally shut that pub recently, thank goodness!).

Ah if it's in London I suppose it's to be expected. I hope she manages to find something else.

I hope so too :)

The prices are extortionate there aren't they?!

Sorry to go off on a political tangent here - can't help it sorry - but it really annoys me when people talk about the benefits cap in terms of people not being able to afford to live in the really posh bits like Kensington and Chelsea, as it paints a completely skewed picture.

The benefits cap will actually affect loads of people in ordinary and run down areas that I bet many of the benefit bashers would be scared to walk through, let alone live in! It really gets my goat!

Ok, rant over! As you were