Property

Property Inc. received a $500 deposit for *** St. Toronto, ON *** main floor with a Nov. 1st or Nov. 15th occupancy. *** Admin acknowleged this with an email on Oct 13.

"This deposit will be deducted from your first months rent, or returned to you should your application not be accepted. Also, should you purchase the property, this deposit will be deducted from the purchase price upon closing. "

I had some concerns about the viability of the property at *** and asked President *** pointedly if there was any reason we would not be able to get the deposit refunded if it turned out that it wasn't the right fit for our company. Mr *** told me that it was useful as an expression of interest to the owner, and that unless someone had him do extensive investigation and spent significant time holding up the lease or sale of a property that the deposit would be refundable.

We paid the deposit in good faith.Mr *** did not advise that the deposit would only be returned if requested within a few days of being provided to Property Inc. There was significant pressure to make a decision to purchase the property by the end of October. There were no site plans available, and although I tried to reach out to one of Mr. contacts to commission a building plan, there was not enough time to execute a building plan before Oct 31. Mr *** had limited information available for our financial advisor. Given the time constraints and limited information available we said that we didn't think we could make a decision by October 31, but to let us know if the building continued to be available. Mr. emailed *** to tell him the space had been rented November 14. In conversation there was an expectation that Mr. would continue to keep providing potential locations for our review. *** felt comfortable leaving the deposit with Property Inc., with the anticipation that it would potentially be applied to another location. There was no further correspondence from Property Inc. after November.February 1, having not received a refund, we emailed ***, administrator for Property Inc. requesting the refund of the deposit. Ms *** responded: " The deposit we receive on behalf of the owner is deducted from your first months rent, or returned to you should your application not be accepted.

We received your deposit on Oct. 13th, 2017 for *** St. Toronto ON, *** That deposit was given to the landlord as part of the rent; deposits are not our money. For some reason you decided not to take the space and it was rented to another company more than 2 weeks later. As you know we act on behalf of owners and only after we complete a lease do we get paid.

The use of a deposit is standard practice in real estate, etc. Its just a partial payment against the purchase price. A deposit a sum payable as a first installment on the purchase of something, in this case, a property. If deposits were refundable simply by request, then there would be no reason to ask for a deposit. Clients like to pay a deposit when they are interested in a space.

I'm sure *** could have returned your deposit after a few days, but unfortunately not after a few months or even a week or two. This situation was not the simple "you chose to not take the space so you loose the deposit " that *** has suggested. At no time did you, ***, say this money is non-refundable should you not proceed with a lease or purchase the funds will be forfeit."

This situation is not as simple as Ms *** has suggested. At no time did *** or *** say the deposit was non-refundable should *** not proceed with a lease or purchase, and that the funds would be forfeit.
We have requested the deposit be returned repeatedly and Property Inc has said that they always presented the deposit as non-refundable, which is not true. Property Inc misrepresented the refundability of the deposit.