Security deposit/ letting agency troubles

lauraisginger

Hi there, I was hoping I could get some advice from you all! Sorry now, its a bit of a long one!
Myself and two other girls rented an apartment this summer, we're all students but were working full time while off college and to be honest had nothing but hassle from the moment we moved in. Firstly they were only able to supply us with one key because the previous tenants had not returned theirs yet and told us they would call us as soon as they got them back. We ended up having to chase them up on it repeatedly and eventually were given a second key, meaning we had to get a third cut ourselves and more worryingly were left with the thought that some one was out there with a key to our house!

Before we moved in we had all our questions prepared and wanted to make sure everything was ok. We were assured by the estate agent who showed us around twice, that the security gate locked, and that he would even check to see how often the entry code was changed. It was only when we moved in that we found out from the neighbours that the gate hadn't worked in yonks. This meant we got the pleasure of sharing our immediate surroundings with the local homeless men from the men's hostel that our apartment backed on it. My roommate woke up one morning to two men, clearly on something, at the back of our house directly outside her bedroom window trying to get into the hostel, another day a man stood outside our house for a few hours leaving us frightened to leave and one night, while in our kitchen I was welcomed by the sound of the snoring of someone who'd decided to fall asleep down the side of our house!

Another thing we were assured of when we viewed was the lack of need to set up a direct debit with Electric Ireland for our electricity. I had made an appointment with the bank and was all set up to have a bill specific account for us but the agent talked us out of it. He told us that as we were only going to be there for 3 months it wasn't worth our while and instead we could do our billing through them and wouldn't have to worry about the 300 euro security deposit. It was only 3 days before we were due to move out, when our electricity was cut off and I stuck my hand into the post box out front ( We requested the key multiple times and kept being told they'd get back to us), that we realised that they'd actually set up an account using my details and we did in fact need to pay the security deposit.

Now thankfully we're out of the hellhole but have heard no word in regards to whether we are due any of our deposit back. I'm worried that the issue with the electricity may go against us but I do feel we were misled. We were working full time and would never have purposefully have ignored any bills. We were always on time with our rent and they never had any issues with us in regards to noise/maintenance etc. We left the house in top condition and what I've talked about here wasn't even the full extent of our issues with the letting agency/apartment itself (damp, insect problem, exposed wiring, smell, unannounced viewings [he was literally putting his key in our door when we realised what was going on] and being robbed [that was a fun night I'll tell you] ).

Any advice/ thoughts on whether or not we are entitled to it back would be greatly appreciated, I'd hate to have to wave goodbye to €400!

fasttalkerchat

Tell the Electric company that an account was set up fraudulently in your name and that you had an agreement to pay for electricity through the agent.
They can take the account out of your name.

Tell them you want the full deposit back or you will prosecute for the trespassing and fraud.