Does estate agent owe me half of the holding deposit?

Does estate agent owe me half of the holding deposit?

9:08 AM, 13th September 2021, About 3 years ago 13

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An estate agent has refused to pay me half of the holding deposit of tenants who withdrew on the point of signing. Does he have the right to hold onto their full holding deposit? When this has happened before, other estate agents have always split it in half with me. Is it solely within the discretion of the agent whether he splits it?

If he does owe me half, who do I complain to? Is it trading standards or the property ombudsman (he has their logo on his website)?

The reason why the tenants withdrew was that I used the NRLA AST (stamped all over with their logo) and followed NRLA advice to include a copy of my headlease so tenants could have full knowledge of that. The agent panicked, and in front of the tenants whose pens were poised to sign, rang me and said “I’ve never seen an AST like this. You’ve included the headlease! I don’t know where to put the date!”

Despite having yellowflashed it everywhere the prospective tenants understandably panicked and upped and left the office. Later the agent agreed there was nothing wrong with my AST.

Jean


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Comments

SCP

16:03 PM, 18th September 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Tanya Demetriou at 13/09/2021 - 11:50Please put it down to experience.
If you want to avoid trouble, then please learn the law, and follow it meticulously.
Register yourself with the DPS, and make sure the tenant pays you the deposit, which you then hand over to the DPS.
Follow the correct procedure of Prescribed Information and terms and conditions to be given to the tenant.
Make sure you have your EPC, EICR and GasSafe certs.
Proper AST agreement.
Inventory prepared.
Check-in of Tenant.
Check-out of Tenant.
Hope the above helps.

Property Gal

11:44 AM, 20th September 2021, About 3 years ago

A triumph for Mr Narbeth! Thank you, Mr Narbeth.
I did exactly as you suggested and got £253 (full deposit) in my bank account within 7 days!

Ian Narbeth

17:17 PM, 20th September 2021, About 3 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Property Gal at 20/09/2021 - 11:44
Glad to have helped. I hope you can find a new, competent, agent.

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