Security Deposit Refundable

[Darr2cool]

My friend and I agreed to rent a flat. The verbal/email agreement was made on 22nd September that we would rent the flat for 6months. The land lord accepted. We met with the land lord on September 28th and at that point we were given the lease (not to sign or read there and then but to take with us to read and sign if happy) at this point the land lord also wanted the security deposit of 500 which we handed over (but still no lease had been signed) maybe a bit foolish on our part. We were also informed at this point that an elderly woman lived right next door to the flat, when viewing it we were told no1 lived next to the flat so the agreement to rent was made under false pretences.

Upon getting home and reading the lease I realised that it said "Tenants responsible to pay rates" were as the flat was advertised and sold to us as "rates included". Also having come into certain financial problems we decided that it was best not to go through with the lease having still not signed anything. The contract was due to begin October 1st; we let the land lord know we had decided not to take the flat due to the issues outlined above on 30th September (before contract start date and no documents signed). The landlord refused to refund our deposit.

My question is simply...legally can I get the landlord to refund this deposit considering all of the above?

Thanks for any help