3 weeks back I had a tough experience with this estate agent but don't know how to handle it further.

I am new in Sheffield so was looking for a house for rent in Sheffield. I liked the Crosspool area due to its greenry & good school. This letting agent showed me a house & I liked it. Based on the verbal terms from his side like it will be unfurnished, BT phone line & etc.

Based on this I paid £200 as holding deposit. A week before movement i requested BT to enable this phone line but i was surprised to know that BT line was withdrawn from that house. BT confirmed that they can put the landline based on the engineer visit which is minimum £125. If engineer does any work in the property related to some incompatible adaptors then it will be much higher. I requested this letting agent to get this done as committed. For a day he agreed yes he will get this sorted out based on the inventory he confirmed to me. I was shocked to hear next day that he was telling me to get this sorted out as they already have my holding deposit. They mentioned that they are not resposible for getting this sorted out. Plus the expense on this will be tenants resposibility. I got scared & immediately took the decision of not going ahead with this property. In future if there is any issue in this property then it will be handled this way only. I requested for the refund of my holding deposit which they have clearly said NO. Yes I know i lost these £200 but just thought of sharing my experience with you all in case you face similar situation.

Thanks

I will tread lightly here as I know the people who work for this Estate Agent.

I would imagine that if the provision of a landline is included in the inventory then that would be the responsibility of the landlord.

If it isn't, then with the landlord's permission you can request a landline is connected but acknowledging that any costs will be covered by yourself.

I would also assume there's a 'cooling off' period in relation to the contract and that up to a required date you are free to withdraw from the contract.

This is what solicitors are for.

I am assuming that you signed some form of document.
Did this outline any terms and responsibilities?

Is there possible confusion over the physical existance of a line and BT's charges for reconnection for a new tenant?

I am also from Crosspool and recently moved to a new house. When I applied for a BT line I was told that charges would be 125 + engineer charges. Fortunately, since the telephone cabling had already done, there was no any charge for me. Though BT line has been withdrawn earlier, there is way to test whether line is still functional when they activate it from the exchange. You should have waited until BT check the line for you.

In your case I think you have jumped the gun and overreacted. You should have resolved this diplomatically.