719 West 180th Street

Review: I was shown a room in an apartment at [redacted] by this broker. The next day, I called and said that I would like to apply. I gave a refundable $100 deposit and was sent the application via e-mail. I was also told that there was only a guarantee that the room would be available for 2-3 days and that I could risk losing it if I didn't turn in the application within that time frame. Gathering the needed documents took longer than expected (particularly a letter of employment as it was the weekend and there was no HR department to process the request), so I missed the 3-day deadline. I sent a e-mail to the broker explaining this, to which the only reply I got was "I need at least one month's rent as deposit ASAP." However, the next day a friend offered me a room at her apartment, and I accepted. As such, I contacted the broker and said that I no longer needed his room, and that I would like the deposit back. His response was "What about my losses?Since you are the one who defaulted, Your deposit has been lost for compensation for my damages." And now he refuses to give me my money back. On an additional note, I never even turned in the application, so it's not like compensation would be needed for the processing of it.Desired Settlement: I want the $100 deposit I gave this broker back.

Business

Response:

Hi:

Please be advised that the complaintant contacted us to rent an aprtment from us about two weelks ago.

He stopped bye and visited the aprtment. He informed us that he was very interested in renting the place and would like us to hold the room for him and not to give it to any one else, and to send him an application.

We informed him that inorder to hold and secure the apartment for him and and not to rent it to anyon one else, we require a $00.00 non refundable deposit.

He personally and willingly made a deposit of $100.00 into our bank account and we sent him the rental application which has a $50.00 applicatio fee.

We held the apartment for him for over a week and turned away numerous other prospective applicants because of his commitment to rent the place.

We contacted him on few occasions asking him when he would come to sign the lease and he kept telling us that he was busy and will get back to us.

However, with out any prior notice, we received an e-mail from him a few days ago that he has changed his mind and he is no longer interested to rent the place.

We advised him that the deposit was non refundable and he has made us to suffer financial losses and potential prospective tenants..

He has has also has deafulted on his promise to rent our apatment.

Due to his default, our apartment is still available for rent and we are are not sure if we would be able to rent it in time by September fisrt or loose another moth of rent until someone else would be able t ro rent it.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[Your Answer Here]

There are several false statements made by the business in their response. First of all, the timing of the events has been exaggerated heavily in a way that makes it look like the business was being strung along by me for the better part of this month. That is untrue. I [redacted] contacted them around the [redacted], just a week ago. The $100 deposit was made on the [redacted], and later that day I was sent the application, thus starting the exchange.

Attached is the e-mail exchange that occurred after I made the deposit. As you can see, I decided not to go through with it on the [redacted]. The business claims they held the place for over a week, losing so many prospective tenants in the process. But the e-mails show that it wasn't even seven days.

The second inaccuracy is that the deposit was non-refundable. This was never mentioned. Again, looking at the business representative's own words in the e-mail, the room was to be held "until tomorrow." The only way for me to exclusively "secure the room" would have been to give one month's deposit and the application, neither of which I did. Indeed, after I "defaulted," no mention was made of the non-refundable nature of the deposit. The representative only goes on about his losses and how I must compensate him. While the lost time is regrettable, it doesn't constitute withholding money intended for a deal that never came to pass.