To think she could have said 'just keep the money'?

[JMSA]

Properties to let, in the city where I live, are snapped up extremely quickly. You need to be really on the ball in order to land one.
A lady posted on a local Facebook group begging someone to do a viewing for her. She is overseas at the moment, but will be coming here to live soon. She was desperate; the letting agent was willing to allow someone else to view it in her place, but it had to be viewed before they'd accept her application. Seriously, the private let situation here is crazy ... not to mention extortionate.
I offered to do it for her. We had some chat over FB Messenger, and we discussed what I should look out for and the questions she wanted me to ask. This all took time, but that's absolutely fine. We had agreed that £20 was a fair amount for me to be paid for this viewing, and she made a bank transfer (at my request).
The viewing was meant to be tomorrow and I've just heard from her that it's cancelled, as someone else got in there first. I offered to hold onto the money - it had taken a while to come through - in case any other properties came up that she'd like me to view.
She replied no, that she's going to wait until she gets here to do more viewings, and has asked for her £20 back. It's annoying because I had budgeted for something with it. Am I right in thinking that she's a tight arse?

You should keep the money.
She negotiated with you for you to do the job. It’s not your issue the job was cancelled. I would not send the money back.
You also took time to set this up and also cleared your morning/afternoon to visit.

It's only £20, but if the rental market is as fast as you say, she might have to go through this 10 times before she gets a viewing, so that's suddenly £200 down the drain.
I get why you're annoyed though, I wouldn't have committed to do this for a stranger.

As someone who has relied on and paid others for similar I think £20 was a very small fee - you will have spent time liaising with her aside from doing the actual viewing and any information you would have reported to her post viewing would also have taken time. Going to the bank to check how much they'll charge for an international transfer will also take more of your time. Unless you use a service like Revolut or Wise it will cost more in bank charges at your end and hers than the £20. I would message back saying that the money can be sent to a UK account which involves no more of your time (internet or phone banking) otherwise will be donated to charity so as not to cost you any more of your time.

I think it's the first time she had requested this, as I hadn't noticed her on the group before. Plus, it was me who awkwardly had to bring up the topic of money, as she didn't. She offered to pay on her FB post, but then hadn't mentioned it again nearer the time of the viewing. I'm not sure she even would have!

Exactly. YABU, OP.

Agree with PP’s, you’ve not done the job so you don’t get paid - though I don’t understand why she paid you before you did the job.

Well, to be fair, I wanted payment in advance to ensure that I would actually get paid.

Nobody does anything for £20 anymore., not where I live. The cheapest I've paid for anything service related, has been £50. And that was non-refundable.

The party that cancels should be out the money. She's a tightwad.
You put in preparation time and should be compensated.

Just keep the money. Sounds like you deserve £20 for the effort you have already put in. Why would you do it for free?
She cancelled which is her problem, not yours.

I was happy to do it, so just charged a token amount that I was satisfied with. I'd have hated to see anyone lose £50!

I would say " I will transfer £X amount as I had put a lot of time and effort into this for you that I still need Payment for"

I’d offer a partial refund. Striking up a rapport took time, as need looking at the location etc. admin fee

I’d offer her £10 as she wasted your time with all the crap beforehand.

Did the payment come from an account in her name and is it being returned to the same account?

This smells a bit funny to me.

YABU in my opinion. If the £20 was agreed after the lengthy convo then the £20 was plainly for the visit, not for the discussion etc that you spent your time on. You didn't have to do the job, through no fault of either of you, so why should she pay you? Tbh I'm surprised she even paid you in advance, I wouldn't have - I'd want to be sure you actually went to the viewing and didn't make off with the money without turning up

How far would you have had to travel to view the property? £20 seems like a really small payment for your time. Surely, between making the arrangements, going to view the property, asking questions etc, this would take up at least an hour of your time? I agree that she is being tight - you have wasted time on this with not a penny to show for it.

Yes, absolutely. It's definitely legit!

It costs £15 to transfer money to a foreign bank account at my bank.....

It's close to where I live, without incurring travel costs, which is why I offered to do it. A 10 minute walk from my place. It was never as much about the money as helping someone out.

I offered to do it for her. We had some chat over FB Messenger, and we discussed what I should look out for and the questions she wanted me to ask. This all took time, but that's absolutely fine

You prepped for this "job" and I think you should be remunerated for that.

I think you sold yourself too cheaply in the first place (probably why you got the gig). If you'd charged up to £50 as a PP suggested, you could have deducted £10-20 for the time you'd already spent and transfer fees.

If another such opportunity should come your way, be sure to put some conditions in.

Whether or not the actual viewing happened, you have spent time on this and I think it's unreasonable to ask for the £20 back.

Won't a lot of it get eaten up in transfer fees anyway?

Surely it would be extremely naive to do a job for a complete stranger on the basis of a few FB messages without securing at least a deposit!

Thank you. I absolutely draw the line at being out of pocket for this, so that would be a hard no.