Question to landlord: who benefits if a tenant buys an insurance, chooses NDO?

Annisele

Depending on how the dates line up, it's possible that option 2 won't cost you anywhere near as much as £180.

Firms offering contents insurance are required to give you a 14 day cooling off period. I'm not sure if NDO schemes are legally required to give you a cooling off period, but a quick google failed to find any that don't. That might leave you liable to a small admin fee, but I doubt that would be as much as £180.

It might also produce a very upset landlord, but you might feel that's a risk worth taking.

[Deleted User]

_Anna_ said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

That is not true, if you are being told that you will only be accepted if you sign up for the NDO insurance that is an illegal fee under the Tenant Fees Act 2019.

As I see it your choices are:

1. Take the insurance, rent the property and then when the time comes to leave and you have moved into your next home, try and make a claim under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 for the repayment of these illegal fees.  Keep any evidence you have of the letting agent saying you won't be accepted without taking the insurance.
   
2. Take the insurance and then as soon as you get the keys and are inside cancel the insurance.
3. Find a landlord who doesn't use a letting agent or insist upon NDO insurance or a landlord who uses a letting agent but a letting agent that isn't one of these !!!!!! insisting you take out these insurance policies.

Thanks, but I can see problems with all 3 options.

1. I do not have any evidence of what LA was saying (all this was said in personal/phone conversations not in emails or messages). But if there is a chance to prove that LA broke the Law, I will try to do this.
2. This is what I am going to do, but I told in my first post  that it means that 180 GBP will be wasted.
3. If I could choose this option I would choose it without hesitations, but ... (please see my first post).

Given these developments, please let us know if you secure the property.

Keep a written account of phone calls or record if possible. Whilst I appreciate that written proof is best, letting agents/landlords cannot circumvent the law by demanding improper fees over the phone and later denying it.

theartfullodger

Who benefits?  The company running this "guarantee" / not guarantee dodgy scheme.  There's profits there... 

Of course there's no legal requirement for any deposit at all.  None at all. Not anything preventing tenant from providing old-fashioned deposit...

_Anna_

Dear all, thanks for everyone. Yes, I got this flat and my tenancy has already started.

Annisele

It seems this is becoming common - the Observer has an article about it.

silvercar

In all walks of life you need to see the way the land lines and adjust your behaviour accordingly. Here a spend of £180 got you the flat you wanted. It isn’t far removed from offering a brown envelope containing cash. Bottom line is it worked for you, so compare that £180 with the extra costs you may have had if you hadn’t secured this property.

_Anna_

Annisele said:

Depending on how the dates line up, it's possible that option 2 won't cost you anywhere near as much as £180.

Firms offering contents insurance are required to give you a 14 day cooling off period. I'm not sure if NDO schemes are legally required to give you a cooling off period, but a quick google failed to find any that don't. That might leave you liable to a small admin fee, but I doubt that would be as much as £180.

It might also produce a very upset landlord, but you might feel that's a risk worth taking.

Thanks, Annisel, I have read the insurance policy. If I cancel it within 14 days, I will waste several pounds only, although the letting agency told me that I will able to cancel the insurancy after the first month. Regarding NDO, they subscribed me to a membership that costs 56 GBP per month and told me that I will be able to cancel it after 3 months (3 x 56 = 168). I shall pay this membership to a letting agency and, according to my contract, if I want to terminate the membership I need to give a notice to the letting agency.

_Anna_

@"[Deleted User]"
Yes, I would like to submit a claim when I will have finished my tenancy. This is what is unclear now for me: (i) where should I submit the claim? (ii) how I may prove that LA was telling me that an applicant who had chose NDO would get the property? I can imagine the following dispute:
Anna: There was a shortage of properties in Bristol. LA told me that the Landlords wanted a tenant who had chosen NDO. I felt that I needed to choose NDO otherwise I would not get this property. 3 months later I canceled NDO and entered into a traditional deposit scheme. Since I never wanted NDO and had enough money to pay my deposit at the begining of my tenancy I wasted 3 x 56 GBP.
LA: We suggested 2 options (NDO vs traditional deposit). Anna chose NDO, 3 months later she let us know that she wanted to switch into the traditional deposit option, we arranged this for her. Why does she want now that we will refund 3 x 56 GBP? This was her choice.

Annisele

_Anna_ said:

Regarding NDO, they subscribed me to a membership that costs 56 GBP per month and told me that I will be able to cancel it after 3 months (3 x 56 = 168). I shall pay this membership to a letting agency and, according to my contract, if I want to terminate the membership I need to give a notice to the letting agency.

Are the "they" who told you that you'd be able to cancel after three months the letting agents? If so, I wouldn't trust them!

Have you seen the contract for the NDO itself? That's presumably separate to your tenancy agreement

_Anna_

@Annisele
Yes, the LA told me that I will be able to cancel my membership in 3 months, and my tenancy agreement states the same. There are several paragraphs in my tenancy agreement about NDO. I will check the NDO membership website. However, first the LA sent me a wrong link and now I cannot register there. It looks like now that it was not unintentionally…