Rental property being advertised as "no deposit" advice please.

Baldbrewer

Hi,
Our daughter and her boyfriend are leaving their shared rental property.
She has found a flat which is advertised as "no deposit".
Is this something to be concerned about?
She is worried that it means it is an unfavourable property.

Having never rented before I'm reaching out for advice.

Many thanks,
S. 

MultiFuelBurner

Landlord might not want the hassle of a deposit scheme.

Ask to have a copy of the EPC/elec and gas certs

Just make sure they do a video before moving in furniture and list any damage and send it to the LL. Do the same on exit.

RAS

This actually leaves the tenant more exposed. And they often pay a monthly service charge instead. She needs to find out how much that and any other "insurance" costs are.

And read up on the Shelter web-site.

theartfullodger

There is no legal requirement for a deposit.  Just see what the paperwork says (I'd want to see the tenancy agreement - perhaps they'll only give you a draft).  As a landlord I've done tenancies with no deposit. 

There are as well so called "no deposit" schemes also which require fees from tenant (which sounds like a deposit to me...)

Which country (eg NI, Wales...) - laws differ... 

THEY (rather than you only) should have a look at the excellent info on Shelter's relevant websites - eg 
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting
- or ..
https://scotland.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/tenants_rights/private_residential_tenancy

propertyrental

Of itself, this is not a problem.

The checks MultiFuelBurner suggests should be done with any rental, irrespective of the deposit issue.

The question is whether there is some alternative arrangement being proposed, and what that is. eg

https://www.zerodeposit.com/tenants/

_Penny_Dreadful

Some landlords find it too difficult to protect deposits within 30 days of receiving it and issuing the prescribed information.  I also know landlords who don't take deposits because they don't declare the rental income to HMRC. (One was recently caught after taking a deposit for the first time and protecting it....coincidence?)

Instead of a deposit some landlords are asking tenants to sign up to a "no deposit" insurance scheme which as I understand it is not an allowable fee under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 unless the tenant is also given the option of paying a regular deposit.

deannagone

Such no deposit schemes can be bad news for a tenant.  The LL can claim for almost anything, there's no procedure for vetting the LL's claims.  With deposit protection schemes, evidence is required for the LL's claims. Schemes call themselves 'insurance' but its not really, the claims are made against the tenant.