Estate agent is ghosting me and won't give the deposit back

Linkstr

Hi All,

I've rent a place for a year, and paid almost 2k$ deposit. Now I've been waiting for 2 months to get my deposit back, and it looks like the estate agent is literaly ghosting us. We've called the guy 15/20 times in total, and he doesn't pickup / or does and says that he will contact us soon. We've contacted the secretary, who has sent several emails to him for us - but he never replied back.
I've also tried to talk to his manager, but it appears that he's the owner of the company :mad: .
Do you guys have any suggestion ? I'm out of patience...

Thanks !

Michael D Not Higgins

Do you have your landlord's details? Ultimately the landlord is responsible for returning the deposit. You may have to take a case at the RTB for the deposit being withheld.

Linkstr

Hi Michael,
Yes I have, but the guy seems to be a real jerk and I don't want to deal with him. I think I paid the deposit to the company and not the landlord itself
I will check with the RTB, hope it's free. I'm tired of being treated like a fool ...

Michael D Not Higgins

Linkstr wrote: »

Hi Michael,
Yes I have, but the guy seems to be a real jerk and I don't want to deal with him. I think I paid the deposit to the company and not the landlord itself
I will check with the RTB, hope it's free. I'm tired of being treated like a fool ...

It's worth contacting the landlord first, tell them the deposit hasn't been returned and you can't get hold of him and you've been forced to go to the RTB.

There's also the regulator of property services, PSRA, who you could complain to about the estate agent.

Linkstr

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

It's worth contacting the landlord first, tell them the deposit hasn't been returned and you can't get hold of him and you've been forced to go to the RTB.

There's also the regulator of property services, PSRA, who you could complain to about the estate agent.

Thank you so very much I will check this out ! That guy had been a terrible agent for the entire year... Thanks a lot !

Carlos Orange

You should probably try turning up at his office in person.

Linkstr

I wish I could, every time I call the guy is not at the office - and his office is very far from my workplace .
I have his personal phone number, but he doesn't reply anymore.
Today the secretary told me that he's on holiday - I hope that an email from the RTB will be waiting for him when he comes back.

Michael D Not Higgins

Linkstr wrote: »

I wish I could, every time I call the guy is not at the office - and his office is very far from my workplace .
I have his personal phone number, but he doesn't reply anymore.
Today the secretary told me that he's on holiday - I hope that an email from the RTB will be waiting for him when he comes back.

The RTB will not deal with the agent, they will deal with the landlord.

Linkstr

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

The RTB will not deal with the agent, they will deal with the landlord.

Hi Michael,

I checked on their website, and indeed they do not mention the agent . I will check the other services you mentioned earlier (regulator of property services, PSRA).

Thanks

bob mcbob

This happened to me when I was leaving Dublin.

I send an email to the agent informing them that if the deposit was not in my account by the last Friday of the month (two weeks away) I would start proceedings against the landlord in the RTB.

It was in my account on the Thursday before ( I am sure the landlord did not know what was going on !)

Doop

psinno wrote: »

You should probably try turning up at his office in person.

+1 on this, take 2 hrs off work turn up at 4/4:30 pm and refuse to leave until he meets with you.

JimmyMW

Doop wrote: »

+1 on this, take 2 hrs off work turn up at 4/4:30 pm and refuse to leave until he meets with you.

refuse to leave without your money in cash

SNNUS

Set up camp in their offices and refuse to leave until refunded.. Will not take long then.

the_syco

Linkstr wrote: »

We've contacted the secretary, who has sent several emails to him for us - but he never replied back.

Email the LL, CC the EA, and say that you're bringing the LL to the RTB over non-return of the deposit.

fritzelly

Happened to me too with an agent, 2 months later finally got to meet the LL (wasn't resident in Ireland) minus a few hundred euro for apparently having to clean the apartment which was left spotless

Never dealt with agents since!

4ensic15

Complain to the PSRA.