Holding deposit taken despite being told offer not legally binding

So, you agreed to rent a property and asked the landlord to take it off the market so that nobody else could have it, and then you changed your mind because one you liked better turned up and now you want your money back?

OK

If you made this verbal agreement over the phone and the agent routinely records calls for training/monitoring purposes, you can ask for a copy of the recording. Otherwise it's just your word against theirs. You might try your credit card provider as well, in case they're willing to help.

Nom-nom-nom, I also like to have my cake and to eat it. The OP says he's not familiar with the renting process... yet also talks about submitting offers along with conditions, and tried to impose further verbal restrictions on other stuff... to be honest this sounds like a pretty savvy prospective Tenant to me. You can only do what you can do... there are avenues open to you (reviewing the call recording is a good one) but at the end of the day the Holding Deposit cannot have been that much... and it's all about whether it's worth the effort... your behaviour, as described, seems more than a little odd... you proceeded to the point of making an offer and having it accepted and then continued to go viewing other properties. It seems reasonable (at least to me) that the money for Holding Deposit would be taken from your account when the offer was accepted by the Landlord... you have agreed something at that stage... someone is doing something for you... in exchange for something (it's like good faith payment because it seems good faith doesn't exist)... that you had other plans you kept to yourself is nothing they could be aware of, right?

Maybe your dream flat will turn out to have issues... or you'll find out it's a scabby Landlord / Agent... or someone else will jump in between now and moving-in and offer more rent... wouldn't that be just desserts? I have said this recently on another thread... but when you're renting there is no "dream flat" or "dream house"... because it's not your dream. I hope that makes sense? Save the real dreams for when you buy a property. For now it's all about living in a civilised way for as little as possible. The power you have in renting is the ability to be peripatetic... to vote with your feet... to choose your cooze... but there's other costs associated with that - I am suggesting this 'lost' Holding Deposit is one of the costs you might have to accept for playing the game you played. Maybe morally you should accept it already?