Offer after transfering holding deposit

8bits

Hello,

I am really interested in a property to rent,  hence I have already transfered the holding deposit and signed a holding deposit agreement. It says:

To secure a property you will be required to leave a non-refundable holding deposit of one week ́s rent. Once the offer has been agreed and the contract has been signed, you will be required to pay a balance of not less than 30% of the total amount due payable prior to the moving in date. (This must be in the form of a guaranteed payment, i.e. card or bank transfer).

HOLDING FEE – PLEASE NOTE:

Once we have your holding deposit, current legislation stipulates that the necessary paperwork should be completed within 15 days, unless a longer/shorter period is agreed prior by the landlord/agent & tenant.

If at any time during the agreed period you decide not to proceed with the tenancy, your holding deposit will be retained by the agent. Your holding deposit will also be retained if any relevant person, including any guarantor(s), withdraw from the tenancy, fail a Right to-Rent check, provide materially significant false or misleading information, or fail to sign their tenancy agreement (and/or Deed of Guarantee) within 15 calendar days (or other Deadline for Agreement as mutually agreed). By the same token, if during that period you unreasonably delay in responding to any reasonable request made by our agency or if you fail any of the checks which the Landlord is required to undertake under the Immigration Act 2014, your holding deposit will not be returned and will be retained by the agent /Landlord.

However, if the Landlord decides not to offer you a tenancy for reasons unconnected with the above, your deposit will be refunded within 7 days. Should you be offered and agree that you accept a tenancy with our Landlord, your holding deposit will be credited to the first months’ rent due under that tenancy.

Where, for whatever reason, your holding deposit is neither refunded nor credited against any rental liability, you will be provided with written reasons for your holding deposit not being repaid within 7 days.

You will not be asked to pay any fees or charges in connection with your application for the tenancy. However, if your application is successful under our standard assured shorthold tenancy agreement, you will be required to pay certain fees for any breach of that tenancy agreement in line with the Tenant Fees Act 2019. In consideration of us processing your tenant application, you agree to pay those fees to us on request.

At the end it says

FEE SCHEDULE

One month rent in advance £XXXX
Security Deposit £XXXX
TOTAL £XXXX
Less Holding Deposit £XXXX
BALANCE OF MONIES DUE £XXXX

Any amendments to the tenancy agreement including tenancy name changes will incur a fee of £50.00 including VAT.

Note that we have only discussed orally about moving date etc. In the meantime they have asked me to send my "offer", like the rent I want to pay, my ideal move in date, any other requests. It's unclear to me what happens to this deposit for example if I make an offer with a lower rent (being resonable of course) than what is written on this agreeement?

If it is accepted, then I will pay the additional £50 fee? But if the landlord refuses, does that mean I will not get my deposit back as well?

moneysavinghero

It sound like they have not decided who to give the property to yet ( a bit naughty taking your deposit until they have). So there is no tenancy so they cannot charge you £50 to change the tenancy that does not exist yet.

If you decide you no longer want the property - you lose the holding fee.
If the LL decides not to let to you - they have to return the holding fee (unless you told porky pies at some point)

md258

Are all agents asking for the same? And are you certain it is a real agent/landlord rather than a scam?

I wouldn't hand over any money without reading and understanding the tenancy agreement- what would you do if there is a clause in there that any of the landlords friends can use it as a place to crash after going drinking? That or any other clause that is unacceptable to you will result in you losing your deposit

moneysavinghero

The key bit of the terms is 

You will not be asked to pay any fees or charges in connection with your application for the tenancy

Are you saying that the property was advertised at £x per month and you are considering offering less? Why would you do that? Rental market is crazy at the moment, if you choose to offer less you are unlikely to get chosen for the property. By asking how much you want to pay they are basically conducting an auction and are looking to let it to the highest bidder.

8bits

moneysavinghero said:

It sound like they have not decided who to give the property to yet ( a bit naughty taking your deposit until they have). So there is no tenancy so they cannot charge you £50 to change the tenancy that does not exist yet.

If you decide you no longer want the property - you lose the holding fee.
If the LL decides not to let to you - they have to return the holding fee (unless you told porky pies at some point)

I see. But can I negotiate ? It's unclear to me if I negotiate and the landlord says no, will I get the holding deposit back or not, as we haven't made anything in writting, apart from this agreement with the rent but no moving date for example.

md258 said:

Are all agents asking for the same? And are you certain it is a real agent/landlord rather than a scam?

I wouldn't hand over any money without reading and understanding the tenancy agreement- what would you do if there is a clause in there that any of the landlords friends can use it as a place to crash after going drinking? That or any other clause that is unacceptable to you will result in you losing your deposit

Yes I am certain it's not a scam, physical agency, I am in the area for many years, they have good google reviews, names are matching, I visited the place and was inside with the previous tenant, etc.

From what I understand though is that normally you agree on rent, move in date etc by writting and then you transfer the holding deposit. Here, they put a lot of pressure to transfer the money (which I did) and now to make the offer. But this isn't clear now how refundable the holding deposit is depending on the offer I make.

Note this is not the full agreement I have posted, only beginning and end.

moneysavinghero said:

The key bit of the terms is 

You will not be asked to pay any fees or charges in connection with your application for the tenancy

Are you saying that the property was advertised at £x per month and you are considering offering less? Why would you do that? Rental market is crazy at the moment, if you choose to offer less you are unlikely to get chosen for the property. By asking how much you want to pay they are basically conducting an auction and are looking to let it to the highest bidder.

Well, I do like to negotiate and I was considering making an offer just to a bit less of what we have discussed, but doing so I understand this may not be the best thing to do.

8bits

In the "offer" they ask me to make (so after I have already transfered the holding deposit!), they mention "proposed rent:" like I can suggest any rent I want.

moneysavinghero

You paid one weeks rent as a deposit. So you must have seen how much the property was per month. You may well run the risk of losing your deposit if you now offer less. Why do you think it's now worth less than you did when you paid the deposit?

They are only allowed to take a deposit from one person. So not sure why they are asking how much you want to pay.
You need to decide whether you want the property or not. If you want it just offer to pay what was agreed when you paid the deposit. If you offer less than yes you may run the risk of losing your deposit.

8bits

Thanks. Yes, they asked me to do the proper offer AFTER having transfering the money, so before agreeing on exact moving in date / rent I wanted to offer / other requests, saying the property is likely to go (I know i should not have done that, but the way they did it is dodgy). From what they say though is that if the landlord doesn't agree with what I offered, I am likelky to get my holding deposit back.

Update: I got my holding deposit back after the landlord refused my offer.