renting flat should I pay 1st month rent and deposit with c/c

qyzge88

Hi there,

I will be renting a flat out and signing the TA this friday from a letting agent. I need to have paid the 1st month rent and deposit before they hand over the keys. I can pay by credit card, but they charge a 2% fee for this and as the total will be £1500 it would make it an extra £30 for paying by c/c.

What I am thinking of is it worth paying by c/c in order to be covered by Section 75 so if something does go wrong then I have the c/c company on my side?

Advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you

speedtwin

I very much doubt it. You will be bound by the T&C's of the tenancy agreement.

sooz

Do you mean incase the letting agent goes under?
Check that they are registered with ARLA if you are concerned.

Otherwise, as speedtwin says, you will be bound by the agreement you have signed. The LL employs the LA, not you. Once you've signed the contract, should the LA go under, the LL will have to find any of your lost rent & deposit monies, & chase the LA, not you.

Having said that, as a LL I would be very concerned if a tenant HAD to pay 1st month's rent and deposit via a credit card. It would make me think twice about taking them on as a tenant, as I'd worry how they'd pay the rest of the rent.

qyzge88

I was thinking more if the LA goes under then as I would have paid by CC then the Section 75 will cover the payment and it would be easier for me to make a claim for the amount. I see now that this will probably not work so not worth the £30 additional charge.

Meatballs

How much cashback do you get on your CC?

tbs624

Edi - on a more general note, has the LA given you a copy of the tenancy agreement to check through in advance?

It's best to not pay anything across until you have gone through it clause by clause and remember that you can draw a line through clauses that you are not happy with & get them to negotiate. Pay particular attention to clauses on renewals fees etc

Any receipt from them must state clearly what you have paid, who has received it and exactly what it is for.

You may also like to ask them which tenancy deposit scheme they use: don't let them give you any nonsense about how long it takes to register your money. It can be done online on the day.

N79

I'll stick my neck out here and say that S75 may not apply. For S75 to apply the credit token must have been used in a prexisting customer - card issuer - supplier arrangement. However, agent is not the LL, who is the supplier. Therefore it may be possible to argue that S75 does not apply. I have no idea how S75 deals with agents - there may be a problem or there may not - I really do not know.

I guess the point of this post is that if you intend to rely on S75 protection in this case you need to do a little more digging to make sure that the provisions would apply.