Because the rental deposit is a "contracting deposit", the lessor gives up the opportunity to make a contract with other people after receiving the deposit. The deposit serves as a guarantee, so the deposit cannot be recovered. If the landlord rents the house to someone else after receiving the deposit, he can ask the landlord to return double the deposit.

I paid a deposit when renting a house but did not sign a lease contract. Can I still get the deposit back? Many people have this question.

Case replay:

Xiao Wang, who was looking for rent, fell in love with a house. Because he did not bring enough money and was afraid that the house would be rented by others, Xiao Wang first asked the landlord I paid one month's rent as a deposit and left the landlord's receipt. But a few days later, Xiao Wang found a more suitable house. He thought that he had not signed a lease contract with the landlord and wanted to get back the deposit he had given to the landlord. Can Xiao Wang get the money back?

Case analysis:

1. What is the deposit that Xiao Wang gave to the landlord?

2. What are the characteristics of deposit?

3. Can Xiao Wang get his deposit back? In what circumstances can I get it back?

1. What is a deposit? Deposit refers to a certain amount of currency agreed by the parties to be paid by one party to the other party as a guarantee for the creditor's rights. It is a legal security method with the purpose of prompting the debtor to perform its debt and ensuring that the creditor's creditor's rights can be realized. The Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Guarantee Law divides deposits into four types: contract deposit, conclusion deposit, termination deposit and breach of contract deposit.

In the case, Xiao Wang paid the deposit before signing the rental contract in order to guarantee the signing of the contract in the future, so the deposit that Xiao Wang gave to the landlord was considered a "deposit".

2. What are the characteristics of a fixed deposit?

The contract deposit is established to guarantee the signing of the main contract. Its characteristics are:

1) The legal effect of the contract deposit has nothing to do with whether the main contract has legal effect.

In this case, the main contract refers to the lease contract. In other words, although Xiao Wang did not sign a lease contract with the landlord, it does not affect the legal validity of the deposit paid. There is no legal relationship between the two.

2) The legal effect of a contract deposit exists when the parties actually pay the deposit. When the contracting behavior guaranteed by them does not occur, deposit penalties will be imposed on the parties who refuse to enter into the main contract.

That is, the deposit has legal effect when Xiao Wang handed it over to the landlord. In this case, Xiao Wang no longer wants to rent a house. He is the party who refuses to enter into the main contract and will be punished with a deposit. Generally, the deposit is not refundable. .

3. Can I get my rental deposit back? In what circumstances can I get it back?

Because the rental deposit is a "contracting deposit", the lessor gave up the opportunity to make a contract with other people after receiving the deposit. The deposit acted as a guarantee, so Xiao Wang could not get it back. Deposit. If the landlord rents the house to someone else after receiving the deposit, Xiao Wang can ask the landlord to return double the deposit.

However, the deposit is not completely irrecoverable. It is possible to get it back in the following three situations:

1. The person who paid the deposit is a person without capacity for civil conduct or has restrictions. Persons with capacity for civil conduct, that is, persons under the age of 18 (those who are over 16 but under 18 but rely on their own labor as their main source of livelihood are regarded as persons with full capacity for civil conduct).

2. The house for rent is a house that has not obtained a construction project planning permit or has not been built in accordance with the provisions of the construction project planning permit.

3. The rented house is a temporary building that has been approved or constructed without approval.

The latter two situations will make the contract invalid even if the lease contract is signed, and the landlord will eventually return the deposit, so in these three situations, you can request the return of the deposit. As long as there is no contract, the deposit will not take effect and can be returned. ?This is a wrong concept. The deposit paid when renting a house is relatively small, but the deposit paid when buying a house may be large. Therefore, be careful before paying a deposit.

Source: "Guarantee Law"

This content is only applicable in Beijing