Q - when to pay security deposit and first month rent?

isleofdogs

We will be moving to the UK in the next few months for a couple of years. We engaged a relocation agency to help us to find rental accommodation where we will allow to have our small dogs. We did not mind living in an apartment - provided it has a large balcony for dog, but no apartment building will allow dogs. So, we ended up with a small house.

We have not moved in for another few weeks, but have signed the lease agreement for a year. We have put down a holding deposit. However, the reloc agency has been pushing us to pay the security deposit and the balance of the first month rent now.

We would like to know if this is normal in the UK - that as soon as a lease agreement is signed, tenants have to pay the security deposit and first month rent straighaway, even though the first day of the tenancy is still weeks away? The rent we will be paying is high (expensive) and so the amount we have to pay are substantial - over 8,000 pounds. Where we come from, tenants pay a holding deposit, and only the security deposit and first month rent on the day they move into the property.

PS - I have read the Guide to Tenants for Renting. It is very helpful. Thank you for compiling it.

N79

It is normal to pay the deposit and first months rent at the point of signing the tenancy. In theory you could wait until the day you move in (you would have to pay before receiving the keys) but this is not normal.

The other common approach would be to not sign the agreement until the day you move, allowing for the rent and deposit to be paid at the same time. Of course, with this approach there is always the possibility for one of the parties to change their mind at the last minute.

The deposit should be no more than 2 months rent.

isleofdogs

Thank you, N79, for your reply and clarification. If we had known we would have delayed signing the lease agreement closer to the moving in date. Now we know!