Arranging rental whilst property sale goes through

[Daisy2315]

We have sold our current house and are presently waiting for the sale to go through. After this we are planning on renting for a while until we purchase our next house.

I have been looking at rental properties however if I put down a deposit for one and go through referencing etc and then my sale falls through am I able to pull out of the rental?

I'd wait until you've exchanged contracts before paying a deposit. If youre renting through an agent, you could express your interest with them and see if they'll let you pay a refundable deposit in case things go pear-shaped. Get their agreement in writing if they say it is refundable.

Thanks for the reply. The rental I have seen is with the same estate agent we are selling through. My worry is that if you wait until exchange then they may not be any rental properties at that time.

By deposit I meant the holding deposit. I don't mind if we did loose that if we ended pulling out.

it is tricky to synchronise - but in most areas rentals are always coming up and it can be less than two weeks from viewing to moving in.

for that time you could always find a hotel, holiday let, airbnb etc. Yes, a pain - but there's always a way.

But are you able to cancel the rental if you have paid holding deposit only and not signed a tenancy agreement or paid actual deposit for property? This would be a worst case senario?

When I did it recently I asked for a 4 week period between exchange and completion so I could organise a rental and that worked fine, I didn't have to put down a deposit until I'd exchanged and had a firm completion date.

Thanks, that's something to think about.

In the area I'm trying to do this the agents won't take my reservation deposit until I've exchanged! Rather left in limbo!