<prompt> Human: Me and my girlfriend put down a deposit on a flat, but we hadnt signed a lease agreement yet. We received an email this morning from the letting agency saying that the landlord has decided to renovate the flat and push back the move in date by a month and increase the rent by 200 pcm, which is way above our budget. It all seems pretty hopeless right now as we havent signed the forms yet but can the landlord really do this after accepting the application of new tenants? And also can the letting agency really advertise a flat for a certain price and then just up the rent two weeks prior to the move in date? Any help here would be really appreciated.  <response>: if hes decided to do that you can get your deposit back, hes decided to break the terms of the verbal contract. and the letting agency definitely cant do that otherwise they could just up the rent to anything.did you receive a receipt from the letting agency when you handed over the deposit?you may have to continue looking but youre definitely entitled to the deposit back. 