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Renting: signing the tenancy agreement & paying deposit?

My apologies if this is a silly question (we haven't rented in over 10 years...).

We have exchanged contracts on selling our house (last week) and complete on 15th April. We are then renting back the same house from our buyer.

We have agreed a price, paid the eye-stingingly painful application fee (£450 odd) and had all of the electronic credit checks and referencing done... Those came back ok and I have asked the agents what the next steps are. He has said "for you both to come into the office, pay the rent and deposit and then sign the tenancy agreement with me."

Now in his earlier email, he stated that the deposit and rent (£3875) are not due until the day of occupation (day after completion). Since it is a sizeable sum of money, would be nice to have it in our bank accounts (rather than there's) as long as possible (not that we earn much interest on it... :( ). BUT obviously we would like to sign the tenancy agreement as soon as possible.

Can the tenancy agreement be signed before the deposit and first months rent are handed over? Or is it perfectly normal to hand them over when you sign the agreement?

QT
«1

Comments

  • I've had two new tenancies in the past year and both times we paid the agency fees when we signed the tenancy agreement, the deposit shortly after, and the first month's rent on day we moved in.

    If they have said that they don't need deposit or rent until the day of occupation I don't see why you couldn't sign the tenancy agreement now as you have paid the fees. It's in their interest too to get everything signed and sealed.
    plus ça change........
  • why don't you just post-date the cheques?
    plus ça change........
  • QTPie
    QTPie Posts: 1,373 Forumite
    why don't you just post-date the cheques?

    Oooooh, that is good! :D

    Why didn't I think of that... good idea :)

    QT
  • theartfullodger
    theartfullodger Posts: 15,796 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Think post-dated cheques may still be presented by and paid before the date on them... would advise against that...unless the agent agrees (would you trust them) not to present until the date..

    Good luck!!

    Artful
  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 109 Forumite
    QTPie wrote: »
    (£450 odd)...
    £3875

    Jesus Christ!

    Re the post dated cheque thing - like theartfullodger says these can still be paid before the date stated on them so not a good idea.
  • QTPie
    QTPie Posts: 1,373 Forumite
    thegibdog wrote: »
    Jesus Christ!

    Re the post dated cheque thing - like theartfullodger says these can still be paid before the date stated on them so not a good idea.

    That is really wierd - I thought that post dated cheques couldn't be cashed until the date on them....? :confused: You learn something new every day.

    Yes, I know. Monthly rent is £1550. Deposit is 1.5x Monthly rent. So the first payment is 2.5x the monthly rent. Agency free is ridiculous too (and in this case - since we are renting back from the buyers - the agent put no effort into finding us.... not that I think that the tenant should be covering the finding fee and advertising etc anyway...).

    I look forward to owning again... but this makes sense for the next six months or so whilst we look around, find somewhere, negotiate and hopefully process a sale.

    QT
  • GrammarGirl
    GrammarGirl Posts: 1,466 Forumite
    Wowzer, that's one giant rent! Is it a big place?

    I can't offer any advice really... just speaking from my own experiences, we paid admin fee (£90) and deposit (£300) a few days before we moved in, and the first rent payment (£300) came on the day we moved in. Compared to your payments, it seems like I got a real bargain, although I was extremely annoyed with the £90 admin fee!
  • GrammarGirl
    GrammarGirl Posts: 1,466 Forumite
    I should point out that all those figures are a third of the total costs, because there's three of us here, all paying separately!
  • QTPie
    QTPie Posts: 1,373 Forumite
    It is a four bedroom two storey townhouse (two bedrooms are small singles, the other two are good sized doubles), but in a very popular tourist/university city in the South West. In a good area, very good parking (one allocated space, garage, plus two permits), very small garden. It just sold for £420k.

    £300pcm wouldn't even get you a 1 bedroom flat here (would be a rooom in a shared house/flat). £1550pcm is more than we wanted to spend (£1400 would have been better), but it isn't unreasonable for a nice four bedroom house in this city. £1500/£1700+ is the norm for something nice around here, but you could easily pay more (I looked at some 4 bedrooms - not much bigger than this, but with better plots/gardens - for £2000/£2750pcm :eek: ).

    Yes, the £450 admin fee was "grating", but there isn't much choice re paying it :(

    QT
    Wowzer, that's one giant rent! Is it a big place?

    I can't offer any advice really... just speaking from my own experiences, we paid admin fee (£90) and deposit (£300) a few days before we moved in, and the first rent payment (£300) came on the day we moved in. Compared to your payments, it seems like I got a real bargain, although I was extremely annoyed with the £90 admin fee!
  • QTPie
    QTPie Posts: 1,373 Forumite
    I should point out that all those figures are a third of the total costs, because there's three of us here, all paying separately!

    Ah £900pcm is more reasonable then: there are some 3 bedroom houses/flats for around that here :)

    QT
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