rental deposit

[shineygirl]

My husband and I are due to move in three weeks.

 

We have placed a holding deposit down on a property, at the moment it is still showing as available on websites. Although the landlord says as far as she is concerned it is ours.

 

She said to pay the deposit as soon as possible, would that mean the 1st month and deposit or the security deposit? I only ever signed contracts and made first months payment on move in before.

 

We also moved out of our last place and the landlord requested that our deposit be released so we want to wait for that, should be a few days.

 

Im just not sure what it means to send money without contract. What is the normal way?

[stu007]

Hi shineygirl

 

As this is to do with deposits for a property I will move your thread to the Residential and Commercial Letting area leaving a short redirect.

 

I feel you will get better advice in that area.

 

Did you place the holding deposit through the landlord direct/Letting Agent/Advert?

 

Please be patient as its the weekend.

[shineygirl]

The holding deposit was to a private landlord, a property company

[mariner51]

Who is the LL named on the AST? eg Mrs Jones or Jones Properties?

How was purpose of holding deposit explained,

what % of monthly rent?

is it refundable if LL withdraws?

 

 

At start of a T 1st month rent & T security deposit are payable in full. Some LLs may be prepared to allocate holding deposit to either amount when T commences, just get it in writing.

[shineygirl]

It is a property management company.

 

We had paid a small holding deposit, nothing in writing just a text to say received. The holding deposit was explained to take the property off the market, and would be put towards first months rent

 

Now they want security deposit without signing anything and only in cash, not a bank transfer.

 

It is sending alarm bells for me as I wont have even seen the contract to know what we are paying for

 

not even sure if they mean security deposit or first month and security deposit.

[shineygirl]

Sorry we dont have an AST yet

[mariner51]

I would expect a reasonable person to ask for the draft Contract, containing all relevant info, a few days before signing, in order to get ind legal advice, and to pay balance of first month rent and full T deposit, in cleared funds, before counter-signing 2 copies of AST. (1 for T & 1 for LL)

At least your small, holding deposit will be used towards 1st month rent if you proceed. Prob non-refundable if you withdraw.

Surely the property ad stated monthly rent, amount of T deposit reqd & fixed term?

,

[shineygirl]

I would expect a reasonable person to ask for the draft Contract, containing all relevant info, a few days before signing, in order to get ind legal advice, and to pay balance of first month rent and full T deposit, in cleared funds, before counter-signing 2 copies of AST. (1 for T & 1 for LL)

At least your small, holding deposit will be used towards 1st month rent if you proceed. Prob non-refundable if you withdraw.

Surely the property ad stated monthly rent, amount of T deposit reqd & fixed term?

,

Agreed with all of above.

 

The monthly rent amount and deposit is fine, the problem is they are insisting on cash payment weeks before contract sign / move in. Not even bank transfer. They were registered with openrent but insisted we pay holding deposit direct, no receipt given for holding deposit leads me to believe no receipt for rent.

We know the total amount, what we arent sure of is what they are demanding of us immediately, as they said deposits are due immediately after referencing. I asked what its for, they just say deposit. its a few weeks before we were due to move in.

I said we would be away, could I not do a bank transfer, this was turned down. We offered cash on return and were told this is too late. Only wanting to take cash immediately when we have no receipt for funds paid so far made us nervous.

[ericsbrother]

how much do you want this place as alarm bells are ringing as you say. It looks like they are trying to circumvent the tenants deposit scheme requirements by having you pass over an amount incash that you will find nigh on impossible to prove was paid.

[stu007]

Have you also checked with the local council private landlords section to ensure that this person is registered with then as a landlord?

[mariner51]

Not all Councils have a LL registration scheme.

As for deposit, just require them to sign a receipt

Received £xxx from for T deposit of

on behalf of

Not foolproof but may test them.

[raydetinu]

ONLY pay deposit and months rent at the same time you sign the AST contract.

ONLY pay holding deposit if you have it writing that it will be returned if LL does not go through with contract.

And HD is taken off deposit or first months rent when contracts signed.

[Steve__M]

I am currently chasing a dodgy agent for £800 that was paid up front by a friend of mine, after which things went horribly wrong because agent demanded the rest of the agreed rent well in advance of a contract being signed, and eventually cancelled deal because my friend refused.

 

So be very very careful here. Search the name of the property management company on company house, and search for the names of the directors to see whether there is a record of them owning companies that have been dissolved etc. I've found searching on

 

http://companycheck.co.uk

 

to be useful.

 

Don't know if Trading Standards might help.