Paying the deposit on a rented house to "secure the property".

[DuchessofNorks]

I need to know if anyone has been in this situation before.

We are planning to move. We have been offered a house by a lady who, in all fairness, had absolute hell from her last tenant. Not sure how relevant that is but it might be once you read the rest of this.

The letting agent sent us an email today, after we had accepted the offer, outlining the fees and deposit amount. Finding the money isn't an issue at all.

The problem is, the letting agent are asking us to pay the deposit well in advance. They state, as follows..

To secure the property we need you to pay a deposit of £xxx plus referencing and credit check fees. After the deposit is secured the property will be taken off the market.

After this they have asked us to transfer the money into an account, and given us the details.

AIBU in thinking that paying a deposit before they have a) checked our references and b) signed a contract with them is completely off?

They are a legitimate agency, otherwise I would no doubt jump ship and not pay them a penny, but the requests they are presenting us with seem really rather odd.

AIBU, and WWYD?

This is totally off, IMO. I'm going through the moving process myself and all the agencies seem to ask for c£200 upfront for credit checks and perhaps an extra refundable £100 holding fee. No deposit until everything's come back clear.

What does it say will happen to the deposit if they don't let you have the house? Say you pay it then they come back and say sorry, references not ok - would you get the money back in full and quickly?

Is this the actual deposit that goes into the deposit scheme, or will you have to pay that as well? Will it be held by them and transferred into the scheme when you sign the tenancy?

Not that uncommon around here where things are moving really fast on the rental market - but it is the actual deposit, protected by the scheme etc etc, not some informal arrangement

I work for an estate agency and we ask for the deposit, and credit check fees afterwards.

I'm looking for a new place at the moment and it seems pretty standard practice round this way - I had to do it for my current house and the one I lived in before.

It's not unusual according to my right move searches. We're looking to move in summer and a fair few agents are asking for a £200 holding fee, on top of deposits (up to £1000), first months rent, referencing fees and admin charges. Apparently the 'holding fee' will be taken off one of the monthly rental charges. Still bollocks IMO though.

Yes standard to take a deposit - otherwise they could reserve the property and you mess them around for months and the house stand empty.

I've had to do this when renting property. I prefer it to what's happened to me in the past when I've been assured the property is mine and then told on at the last minute there was someone else interested who just signed the lease.

We paid £300 'deposit' that was then subtracted off the first months rent. Plus £200 fees, non refundable.

Then a deposit of six weeks rent plus the first month (minus £350).

Thank you everyone. A mixed response but very informative.

I too wondered about them having a significant amount of our money and then saying "No" after references. Although our refs and credit are clean so will be very surprised if they do.

I have always paid the deposit and rent at the time of signing the contract, not way before. We only viewed it on Friday!!

I have had this experience, and have also been asked to pay a holding deposit which was offset against the first month's rent. In the former case (full deposit up front) I had clear written assurances that it would be returned if things fell through for any reason, including references/credit checks not being clean. I would not have paid it otherwise! I don't know if this is good advice, but I also paid it by credit card - there was a small handling fee for this - but it meant that, in combination with the written assurance, I felt I had a greater degree of protection if they decided to mess me around (which they didn't).

Totally common, I wouldn't expect anything else.

We've had to do this before. It wasn't the full deposit amount and was taken off the full deposit (we paid the balance when we signed the contract). It was a really fast moving market.

Normal round here but fully refundable unless you pull out.

Private landlord here - I wouldn't bother checking references and doing credit checks in case a tenant then couldn't come up with the deposit or was just a timewaster. Theres no rules as to which order it has to be done in, and obviously if an agent or landlord took a deposit off a tenant and then didn't rent to them and refused to give the deposit back, that would be fraud.

I always take a holding deposit. Otherwise what's to stop tenants lining up two houses and letting one down weeks on?

Other than a verbal 'yes we will move in' on such and such a date, without a holding deposit there is no commitment from the new tenant at all.

Holding fees are usually 100% refundable if references fail. And get knocked off the balance due upon check in so it's not an extra charge.

Our first rented flat we had to pay the deposit first and in our last one we paid it after signing the contract. The letting agents were in the same road so I'm guessing it just goes by which ever way they decide to do it!

Normal here too. I've rented for twenty years.

I work in a lettings agency and this is completely normal. We won't take a deposit without you,or someone on your behalf,viewing the property. Deposits are taking on a 1st come 1st served basis and once we have one we won't take another. If you or the landlord decide not to proceed its repaid to you straight away,maybe the next day if you paid in cash and we need to get cash in the office,if you move in and sign the lease it's transferred to the lease deposit scheme where it stays until you vacate. First months rent is paid in full the day you sign your lease and get the keys.

Those of you saying agency's are taking reference fees etc I'm 99% certain that is illegal. All fees should be paid by the landlord and we certainly don't charge anything to the applicant. I'm in Scotland though,don't know if the law is different in the rest of the uk.

I'm in Scotland though,don't know if the law is different in the rest of the uk.

It is, tenants pay all fees in England.

And also agreeing with everyone else who says this is standard practice.

Sounds normal to me. Happened all the properties I've been in and the estate agent outlined that if the things don't work out on their end ie I don't pass my credit check then deposit is fully refunded.

We've always had to pay a holding deposit in order to get the property taken off the market. They will continue to show the property to other people until they have that deposit, and if someone else comes up with it in the meantime, then they get the property.

Usually then the full deposit is paid at a later point.

As others have said, it's normal but be careful because really you have no security until the contract is signed. Last time we were packing up to move we paid the deposit and credit check fees then got a phone call the week before to say the landlord had let to another family through a different agency. We did get the deposit refunded but we were left in the shit quite badly and had no comeback at all because no contract was in place. Am sure that won't happen to you but I would never be able to really switch off and relax until I'd signed on the dotted line!!