How to get Deposit & other payments made to letting agent, who has not offrd prpty?

CheatedinLondon · Feb 22, 2012

Hello,
i had made payment of £2000(for deposit & charges) to a letting agent in ilford whose office is next to hotel saravanaa bhavan, who is not a part of any group(like Property Ombudsman or ...) for renting out a property. Letting agent showed me the property but on the day when i need to collect the keys, he gave reasons like current occupant didn't move out and didn't hand over the keys. since i didn't occupy the property, i opted for deposit refund. the letting agent is not saying a No directly, simply saying, his manager would get in touch to resolve. but that too didnt happen yet.

i have the receipts for the entire payment that i have made.
please help me in getting the money back from the fraudulent letting agent.

this letting agent has cheated and still cheating many people like this, which i came to know very recently after discussing with friends.

how to get the money back???

Vidyaa · Feb 22, 2012

Re: How to get Deposit & other payments made to letting agent, who has not offrd prpt

Hi,

I can understand how difficult and frustrating it is to deal with this estate agent.. I suggest you go to Citizens Advise Bureau immediately and explain your situation to them. I hope you live around Ilford. Then this will be your nearest bureau.

Redbridge Citizens Advice Bureau
Broadway Chambers
1 Cranbrook Road
ILFORD
Essex
IG1 4DU

The Citizens Advice service helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice, and by influencing policymakers.

Take all the receipts and correspondences you had with the estate agent and they will be able to point you to the right direction to get your money back.. Also write about your bad experience with the estate agents in their review.

Hope this helps.

CheatedinLondon · Feb 23, 2012

Re: How to get Deposit & other payments made to letting agent, who has not offrd prpt

Thank you Vidya Madam. I sought advise from Trading Standards forum for Redbridge. they suggested me to send a letter to the agent through registered post with a line mentioning to pay me back in 5 working days. if they fail to do so, i can proceed with Small Claims Court. lets see..
shall keep you posted on this.

People be aware of such fraudulent letting agents.

tanoshii · Feb 24, 2012

Re: How to get Deposit & other payments made to letting agent, who has not offrd prpt

Sorry to hear about your experience dear. We too had a tough time the first time we moved to London.
And many of our friends too did. Vidyaa has already given you apt advise and you yourself have seemed to have done your part.

One small tip, after you send him a written request for the money to be returned, get a written acknowledgement from him if possible. An e-mail is also considered good. That would always help.
Hope it works out for you.

gotcheated · Mar 6, 2012

Re: How to get Deposit & other payments made to letting agent, who has not offrd prpt

hi,

i also had the same experience with this agent.....the story was the same & i am still awaiting my funds to be made available.....
Can you please let me know "Cheated in london" whether you received your funds or not?

gotcheated · Mar 6, 2012

Re: How to get Deposit & other payments made to letting agent, who has not offrd prpt

hi,

can you please help me by letting me know if you got your money back & how.

gotcheated · Mar 16, 2012

Re: How to get Deposit & other payments made to letting agent, who has not offrd prpt

gotcheated said: ↑

hi,

can you please help me by letting me know if you got your money back & how.
Click to expand...

can you please update whether you have got the refund

cheated · May 16, 2012

Re: How to get Deposit & other payments made to letting agent, who has not offrd prpt

Hi,

This is really insane, i was just in the impression that it was just i alone who got cheated in this manner back in Oct 2011 by the same agent (DA if this is the one).

I just got back my refund which took one month to credit my account after every week follow up and mental torture. I just recently came to know that one of my colleque was also cheated in the same way by the same agent and hence i came online to see if there is a trend of this scam and then i bumped in this post.

I got my deposit money back but 300 pounds were deducted stating that it was i who was backing out . But the truth is that i didnt had any other option or else i would be without any home along with my family in this unknown place. I forgot this as a bitter experience but just couple of days when my colleque also narrated the same incident i was shocked to hear the same trend.

They show the same property to everybody it seems, is there anyway we can stop other people from falling into this trap ?

london · Jun 28, 2012

Re: How to get Deposit & other payments made to letting agent, who has not offrd prpt

Hello All,

Thanks for the valuable feedback by all.
Kindly share your positive experiences if anyone is been able to retrieve the money back from these agents.

As already stated above in the forum , they have been showing the same property (Flat Number 9 , Gants Hill) to a large number of people and then give all of them sleepless nights by ignoring them with best possible excuses.

If anyone has not been able to retrieve their money still kindly come together and join hands so that the matter can be highlighted to the authorities.

Kindly reply to the post urgently and lets bring justice to all the people who have been caught in such a fraudulent cobweb.
Thanks!

london · Jun 28, 2012

Re: How to get Deposit & other payments made to letting agent, who has not offrd prpt

Would be very helpful if you could let me know if someone has been able to retrieve the deposit back from the estate agency ?

Thanks.