Holdng Deposit Receipt

tbs624

kmmr wrote: »

...... if there is no commitment required by the tenant, they would just apply to multiple flats.

Coughing up for a third party referencing fee and providing much personal & financial information to a potential LL shows a certain level of commitment, surely? (LL of course doesn't find it necessary to give much of their own info to the potential T, so that the T can feel more secure in the LL's ability to meet the terms of the tenancy agreement.)

kmmr

DannyboyMidlands wrote: »

I think that you need to be very carefull when charging random fees for this, that and the other.

The unintended consequence may be that you weed out all the respectable tenants (who won't pay them) and are only left with divvies who couldn't manage their way out of a paper bag, let alone their finances.

Perhaps. I don't charge for referencing (just pay it myself as it's for me really) and absolutely no other fees. I am a private LL, so the tenant saves quite a lot of LA fees so 'random fees' is not something I ever do.

jjlandlord wrote: »

You charge prospective tenants separately to cover your costs re. referencing so that you can refund the deposit if you are not satisfied without direct financial risk.

Re. holding deposit being non-refundable if prospective tenant backs out, imo you obligation should be:
- to take property off market for a set duration,
- to rent property to them if they pass your referencing procedure. Criteria to be fulfilled should be clearly listed and explain.
- to list at that point any other conditions of the tenancy (e.g. no pets, break clauses, etc.)

Of course, as mentioned in above quotation "The drafting of options is best left to experienced conveyancers. "
So best option would be to ask a solicitor to draft your template.

If you do all that I reckon you'll be up for an award as better 90% of all letting agents.

It's a low standard, so I hope the beat that! I do it privately so to avoid problems with agents, but also try to be as professional as possible.

tbs624 wrote: »

Coughing up for a third party referencing fee and providing much personal & financial information to a potential LL shows a certain level of commitment, surely? (LL of course doesn't find it necessary to give much of their own info to the potential T, so that the T can feel more secure in the LL's ability to meet the terms of the tenancy agreement.)

Fair point, but if they asked for CTL, or anything else I'd be happy to provide it, including previous tenant references. My experience today is a case in point though. They applied, but when asked to put a little money down they had to admit they were applying to multiple places, and changed their mind.

No loss as it was so quick, but if they did this after I held it for 2 weeks (which they were asking for) there would have been.