We decided to rent a house, and paid a £750 deposit. However the property was broken into before we moved in, and we decided not to rent it after all. However the estate agent kept our deposit. Is there any way we could get the money back?
The landlord is entitled to compensation for any loss of income resulting from your change of heart. I take it that £750 represented a month’s rent. If the landlord or his agent had managed to find someone else to move in within that month you would have been entitled to a proportion of your deposit back, less the agents’ expenses. Unless you know who took over the tenancy, and the date they moved in, you will have difficulty proving that your landlord suffered losses amounting to less than £750.