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Hi,

Did you give 1200 euros without a lease signed by both parties? Good faith? Don't complain later. To be binding agreement, a contract must be signed by both parties, with clauses that each of you must fulfil.

@spencer2me

There are so many of these stories on this Forum.

Unless you want to get expensive lawyers (and even then no guarantees) your money is probably gone. If they won't pay it back willingly you will have to fight for it.

@Perpetual_traveler...

Yes, I'm coming to the understanding that you need a lawyer on a retainer to review every transition to avoid this scenario. My house-hunting agent informed me today that the owner refused to return the money. I guess it's a lesson learned the hard way!!!

Owners or landlords have to pay a commission to the house-hunting agents or real estate agents for their service. If the 1200 euros was in fact the retained commission, are you sure it wasn't the agent who refused to return it?

As it was explained the fee was used as a retainer to remove the property from being listed.  Within days we discovered issues with our car importation and had to cancel out of the any further actions with the lease.