Renting & Payments

RAINBOW123_3

Hi

Is there someone who could let me know the following please:

My situation at the moment is that we are in the process of selling,have put down a holding deposit of £400 for a place to rent & the inventory & rest of the payment is to be paid next week.

The estate agents of the place we are renting from have said that if we dont get an exchange date by the time the inventory & payment is due then the property will go back on the market.

We were told that the holding deposit was for the credit checks,reference checking,inventory/tenancy agreement & to take it off the market so noone else can view it.

1. Are they allowed to put it back on the market?

2.If we chose to sign the agreement,do the inventory & pay the rest of the money but dont get an exchange date will we lose the money?

3.What money would the landlord lose if the property was empty while we were still waiting for exchange ? Rent,council tax ? Is there anything else? Cant think :rolleyes:

4.Would we be allowed to offer the landlord a payment to hold it open for us for another week or two instead of it going back on the market as we dont want to lose it ?

Hope to hear from you.

olly300

First thing remember the landlord is a business. Businesses are not there to lose money.

Next the holding deposit is to to hold the property for a certain amount of time. I suggest you find out how long between you, you agreed to hold the deposit for. If it was until exchange and a firm date wasn't given then I suggest you agree a firm date.

In the past I have given holding deposits to hold properties for anything from a couple of days or a week. After that time the landlord is allowed to put the property back on the market unless a full contract is agreed. (Noticed I didn't say signed.)

If you know you are going to exchange the property then just sign the contract and start renting the property. The landlord and letting agent just want their property rented out.

RAINBOW123_3

Olly300

Thank you ever so much.

The thing is the first time we arranged a date for inventory we were told that the £400 was for taking it off the market,refs,credit checks,agreement,etc.

But when the landlord agreed to give us another week it was not until this time that the estate agents said that if it dont get done by this time it will go back on the market.

So its like they have kind of made us pay the £400 when we thought it was just to take it off the market but its now that it will go back on the market.

Do you get what I mean? At first they didnt give us a certain amount of time.

We are waiting on a call for the survey to be done this week & our estate agents is asking the buyers solicitors if there is any indication of when it will be reaching exchange stage.This is to get a better idea of if to go do & pay the rest for inventory day.

Also if to ask the landlord if he would allow payment for some money he has lost while it has been empty since Tues just gone.

Does this make sense.

Fortheloveofmoney

Can you afford to pay the rent as well as your mortgage? If so then you have the option to pay rent on your new place before completing on the old. This isn't without risk though as your sale could still fall through until contracts have been exchanged.

RAINBOW123_3

Thanks Fortheloveofmoney

Yes we can afford to pay both rent & mortgage.

We are getting the survey done on the place that we are selling this week & finding out an indication of when exchange will be so we can then decide on whether or not to go ahead with the inventory next week or ask the landlord if he would accept a payment to keep it open for us instead of it going back on the market.

What do you think about us offering a payment?

We dont want to have to pay the rest of the money for security deposit,months rent & admin & do the inventory & then the sale falls through as we will lose all this money wouldnt we ?

Could we get the money back or because the agreement would be signed we would lose it ?

Be great to hear from you

Fortheloveofmoney

Well if you don't ask you don't get but I wouldn't be too surprised if the landlord says no. He has no real incentive to keep the property available to you as you won't be moving in if your sale falls through. During that time he has an empty property and has to readvertise for a new tenant.

If you sign the tenancy agreement then you are committed to paying rent for the full contracted period so I'd think very carefully before doing this. You could be seriously out of pocket. It's not just about the inventory fees, deposit etc you are signing a legal document tp pay rent for x amount of months.

silvercar

Depends how desperate you are to get this property. Many, many people don't sign for a rental tenancy until after exchange - being less fussy with rentals than buying.

You have two options. Either sign the tenancy within a short timescale and risk losing any rent you will be obliged to pay until the landlord finds an alternative tenant + advertising costs if you find you don't want the property or risk losing this property by not committing to it.

If you took the tenancy and then didn't need it, you would be liable for any lost rent until another suitable tenant is found and the costs of re-advertising. You would also have lost any money already spent securing the tenancy but not the returnable deposit.

RAINBOW123_3

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:


So couldnt we not sign the agreement/pay the rest but just ask if he would take a payment instead? We would only be asking this if we found out when its nearing exchange.

The estate agents just need to know a date near exchange.

silvercar

So you want to pay something for him to keep the tenancy open for you, and in the mean time risk being able to find a tenant prepared to sign up for a year?

The landlord is running a business, he wants someone signing up to pay the rent for a whole year, not someone wanting to pay small amounts with the possibility of signing in the next few weeks.

Is their a reason why you have to have this house? Can't you exchange on your sale and then find a rental property?

PasturesNew

I'd have not put down a holding deposit until I had exchanged or felt I was so close to it that I was prepared to lose the deposit.

My deposit here was for a month, it held the property for one month. A landlord is paying a mortgage on the property and needs rental income. They're not like a hotel where you can book on a whim and hope to get out of it scot free if you don't fancy going after all.

PasturesNew

RAINBOW123 wrote: »

We are getting the survey done on the place that we are selling this week & finding out an indication of when exchange will be so we can then decide on whether or not to go ahead with the inventory next week or ask the landlord if he would accept a payment to keep it open for us instead of it going back on the market.

I am surprised you're only at this stage and already put a deposit down. Unless you are in possession of information you haven't shared with us, this is just the start of what could be quite a long process (4+ weeks).

A surveyor who visited my house for a mortgage purpose said to me that a mortgage offer would be in writing and in the hands of the buyers in 2 weeks' time ... it actually ended up being 3. Then they had to read it and potentially change their minds.