Prospective tenant wants deposit back

Minimogul

I advertised a flat and made 3 viewing appointments. All sounded very keen. The first viewer really liked it and said he would commit. I checked his income/credentials etc there and then and accepted him as a prospective tenant. I always ask for a full deposit upfront to show commitment. It should have been £1500 (6 weeks' rent) but he said he would pay £1000 for now. I emailed him the full terms, start date etc and he texted back that it was acceptable. He sent me the £1000 by bank transfer. Then he said he wanted to move in a week later than discussed. I said OK (it meant a week's loss of rent for me.) Then he said he thought he'd messed up the date he can leave his other flat and would let me know until after the weekend. I had removed the flat from advertising on receipt of his deposit and cancelled the other 2 viewings but decided to call one of them and she came to view and liked the flat. However she is a short term tenant which is not what I wanted. But it may work if the first guy could not be released from his other contract for 3 months. Indeed he then told me he couldn't move until July so the timings were perfect. I said he could take the flat from July and the other lady would live there in the meantime. Then he said 'my landlord may allow me to leave earlier so I want to withdraw from our arrangement.' So I am left with a short term tenant and then a possible void and had lost possible other viewings that weekend. I decided not to send all his money back. I asked for his bank account details to send back some of the money - I said I would calculate my inconvenience when I knew the short term tenant was defiinite. He got really nasty and has now got a debt recovery agent on to me but they do not know my home address and their letter was not signed for. He really messed me about and I don't feel I should refund any of his money. What is my legal position. If I have a one month void after the short term tenant then it will cost me over £1000.

pmlindyloo

Did he sign a tenancy agreement?

If he didn't then you need to return his full deposit.

A tip for next time. Ask for a holding deposit and make sure the terms and conditions of that holding deposit indicate that in the event that the tenant does not take up the tenancy then this is non refundable and would then cover the cost of referencing and any other out of pocket expenses.

I am presuming that you had nothing in writing that suggested that reference fees etc would be chargeable if the tenancy wasn't taken up?

Guest101

To be honest you're lucky. You can't evict for first 6 months, so you could've been in an awkward position with one tenant not moving out and second charging you costs for not being able to move in

saajan_12

When you first heard the prospective tenant wasn't available to start within a week, you should have started to look for someone else long term.. then you'd only have lost a couple of days in advertising time (compared to if you hadn't taken it off the market at all).

What was agreed at the point of paying the £1000? Either
A// Tenancy agreed with fixed start date - then assume tenancy started and tenant loses deposit and possibly should pay some rent until the end of either party's notice (but this seems unlikely as you were still negotiating start dates and no signed agreement and tenant never moved in so hard to argue a fully executed verbal agreement)

B// Holding deposit to 'show commitment' - what was the agreed action if they didn't end up moving in? Or, what are you saying they breached to claim losses. What are your mitigated losses anyway? As soon as the prospective tenant said they weren't available soon, you should have begun advertising again for a long term tenant. You would only have lost a couple of days advertising time, plus any re-referencing / advertising / viewings costs, which you might be able to claim as losses (much less than £1000).

G_M

How can we possibly advise if you don't tell us the contract terms?

Minimogul wrote: »

....... I always ask for a full deposit upfront to show commitment. It should have been £1500 (6 weeks' rent) but he said he would pay £1000 for now. I emailed him the full terms, start date etc and he texted back that it was acceptable.

1) Was this advance rent?
2) or a security deposit?
3) or a holding deposit?
4) what were the 'full terms'?

And if your terms & conditions / tenancy agreement / other documentation is as unreadable as your post, it would explain why the applicant didn't fully understand them.