Lodger secured a room with a deposit 6 weeks ago and now can’t move in - My rights?

GDB2222

Annealise said:

GDB2222 said:

Annealise said:

GDB2222 said:

For the OP, instead of taking a holding deposit, and then leaving the room empty for a month, you should follow a different process that actually puts you in a better position.

I suggest that you start the letting immediately, but at a lower rent, so that it averages out the same over the whole period as a vacant period followed by a higher rent. That is within the law and it means that you are allowed to keep what’s paid up front if there’s a no show. 

Of course, there’s a risk the lodger will actually move in during this period, but a student is fairly unlikely to do that.

 Are you referring to the situation with the girl in question?  The room was already occupied until Saturday by another lodger as she had given me 3 months notice.

yes that’s what I plan to do as can’t sit here  waiting for months  with losses.

I'm sorry. You did say in the original post that you have a lodger in the room until September. I'm afraid that I missed that.

Clearly, double-booking the room would not have been possible.  It's also not wise to re-let the room formally until it's actually vacant. So, my 'solution' doesn't apply.

Sadly, the Act I cited bans non-refundable holding deposits, so you will have to work out something that stops you being dumped in the do-do again in the future, without breaking the law. 
 

The room wasn’t double booked??? The existing lodger gave me 3 months notice  and I gave the moving out date to the new lodger. 

 If the girl was indeed a  tenant, that  act cites reasons for not refunding a deposit ie  if a tenant withdraws you can keep the deposit.
 
I wasn’t aware  that this act is  also applicable to Lodgers;  ie the holding deposit is only allowed to be  1 weeks rent.  On  the Spare Rooms  website everyone requires 1 months deposit - it is the norm and allowed.

Hi Annealise, I don't want you to feel 'got at'.

I was not saying you double booked. On the contrary, I wrote that double booking "would not have been possible". 

It's an interesting question whether you had actually entered into an agreement to rent the room to this lady, starting after Saturday? It's certainly possible to do that, eg I can agree today to rent a room to someone from say 10 October. However, in your case, that would have been risky, as you had someone in the room until Saturday, and you could not guarantee that that person would move out on time. 

In any case, you said in your opening post that you took a holding deposit. 

As others have said, there's a difference between holding deposits and security deposits.

MaryNB

Annealise said:

Just phoned  Spare Rooms and they have confirmed that the site is for ‘lodgers’
only and it is perfectly legit for all advertisers of rooms to request one months deposit  to secure the room until the lodger moves in and obviously refund it at the end of their stay.

There is a big difference between a tenant and a lodger.

I have posted the following excerpt from the Act twice already. For the purposes of the act a "tenant" includes lodgers (licensees). What spare room says doesn't override what's written in law.



Also, from Spareroom (emphasis mine).

https://blog.spareroom.co.uk/your-guide-to-the-tenant-fees-act/

It’s also ok to still be asked for a holding deposit, but the amount of this will be limited to one week’s rent.

.....

Who does this apply to?

If you’re a private tenant with an assured shorthold tenancy, you’re in student housing, or you're a lodger with a live-in landlord, you’ll benefit from these new laws

canaldumidi

980233 said:

Annealise said:

Just phoned  Spare Rooms and they have confirmed that the site is for ‘lodgers’
only and it is perfectly legit for all advertisers of rooms to request one months deposit  to secure the room until the lodger moves in and obviously refund it at the end of their stay.

There is a big difference between a tenant and a lodger.

You've been told countless times on the position, you need to give the money back.

and I think I was the only person to advise differently, based on my erroneous belief that the Tenant Fees Act did not apply to lodgers. I was rightly corrected, and hence you should ignore my earlier post and follow the advice of everyone else!

GDB2222

In your first post, you wrote:

"I took a deposit ( which doesn’t even cover 1 months rent  but I  know times are hard for people at the moment ) to secure the room for her, until 25the September. 
In our initial meeting I told her it was non refundable  to secure the room."

I'm sorry, but that looks like a holding deposit, and subject to the TFA rules.

If you want to go to court and claim that in fact you both had agreed verbally to the a lodger agreement starting on a particular date, and that was the security deposit, you can try that. Maybe, the judge will even believe you.

It depends what other evidence there is. Do you normally have a written lodger agreement? If so, isn't it going to be hard to allege that on this occasion you agreed to a purely verbal one? Or do you have a lodger agreement in this case  signed by both parties?

Above all, if you have PTSD, isn't this all rather too stressful?

Of course, the lady may not take you to court. Lots of people threaten this, but fairly few go ahead. 

Slithery

PlumLuck said:

Annealise said:

Just phoned  Spare Rooms and they have confirmed that the site is for ‘lodgers’
only and it is perfectly legit for all advertisers of rooms to request one months deposit  to secure the room until the lodger moves in and obviously refund it at the end of their stay.

There is a big difference between a tenant and a lodger.

I stayed in a HMO that was advertised on spare rooms and was given a normal tenancy agreement that I would get when privately renting anywhere else - and everything else that comes with that.

That's because most HMO's are standard tenancies, not lodger agreements. Your only a lodger if the LL lives in the same property.

MaryNB

Slithery said:

PlumLuck said:

Annealise said:

Just phoned  Spare Rooms and they have confirmed that the site is for ‘lodgers’
only and it is perfectly legit for all advertisers of rooms to request one months deposit  to secure the room until the lodger moves in and obviously refund it at the end of their stay.

There is a big difference between a tenant and a lodger.

I stayed in a HMO that was advertised on spare rooms and was given a normal tenancy agreement that I would get when privately renting anywhere else - and everything else that comes with that.

That's because most HMO's are standard tenancies, not lodger agreements. Your only a lodger if the LL lives in the same property.

Think Plumluck was making the point that Spareroom isn't just for lodgers. A point I would agree with. I used Spareroom several times when I was renting and the vast majority of housesharing ads I saw were with live out landlords.