Rental Deposit

[nxumalog]

In the last week I found a property on line posted by the owner. I contacted herb for a viewing and liked the property. I sent her requested documents and completed the lease agreement and paid the deposit. She did not sign the lease and she kept the ad running online and I was confused. I asked her for my deposit back and she refuses to give it back to me. I did go to our estate office before I paid to confirm if indeed she was the owner and it was confirmed that yes she is and they showed me a picture of her on the system and it was. What are the steps I can take in order to get my money back. All I have is her name, surname, ID number and an address that is written on the lease agreement.

 

[chickenbeef]

So what recourse do you have when dealing with an owner directly, as is this case?

With an agent, you generally have someone to accompany you at the move-in inspection, have somebody to report maintenance issues to, and you generally have someone who replies to your emails within a reasonable timeframe. Owners … very mixed bag, in my experience.

And yes, I’ve experienced both owners and estate agents while renting most of my adult life, and about the ONLY actual benefit dealing with an owner directly is you don’t have to pay the typical agency “application fee” for their background checks of you and their admin time.

Agencies work for the landlord not the tenant. I've been lucky to have only rented twice in my life, first was via an agent that never got anything sorted out and second directly with the landlord.

Dealing directly with the landlord was way better.

 

[Foxhound5366]

Agencies work for the landlord not the tenant. I've been lucky to have only rented twice in my life, first was via an agent that never got anything sorted out and second directly with the landlord.

Dealing directly with the landlord was way better.

So you’ve had ONE good experience with an owner and all of a sudden you’re an expert? I’ve had like 11 experiences with agents and three with owners, and I can tell you that most of the agents have been pretty reasonable, and only one of the owners went out of their way to make me feel welcome (inviting me into their home for dinner on my first night in the new flat on their property).. A couple of the better agents went the extra mile like providing move-in welcoming gifts, and most others just did the minimum … but I didn’t need more. If you’re renting and don’t like the place, you just move. There’s no point in fighting landlords or agent.

 

[chickenbeef]

So you’ve had ONE good experience with an owner and all of a sudden you’re an expert? I’ve had like 11 experiences with agents and three with owners

I was sharing my experience, sorry expert, I didn't know you got kicked out of 10+ places and graduated to rental expert. Please accept my humblest of apologies.

 

[Foxhound5366]

I was sharing my experience, sorry expert, I didn't know you got kicked out of 10+ places and graduated to rental expert. Please accept my humblest of apologies.

Oh I don’t miss renting now that I’m a homeowner, but I think I got a fair bit of experience the hard way.

 

[zerocool2009]

Get your snaglist which was signed shortly after you moved in, and confirmed that both parties are happy. That is step 1

 

[deweyzeph]

Get your snaglist which was signed shortly after you moved in, and confirmed that both parties are happy. That is step 1

It's actually better if they're dumb enough to forget to do the home inspection when you move in because then they can't prove that you broke anything when you move out.