Tenant Security Deposit (Landlord has sold the house)

limbohamthegodfather

Hi there, first time asking for advice!

My partner and I are in a not common situation. Our landlord decided in January 2025 to sell the house we rent (no section 21 was issued as we are not being evicted), with us in situ as they no longer want to put any more money into it as it needs extensive maintenance to damp proof it. The house is managed by a lettings agent and have been renting the house since April 2021.

We have decided to end our tenancy at the end of April when it was due for renewal as we no longer want to live in the house (the issues have been reported since November 2023), and if we did stay the work will still need doing (which would involve us moving out), we would not know if the new owner will rent direct from us or use a lettings agent and if they did would it be the current one? There were too many unknowns and have decided to take ourselves out the situation.

The house now has an agreed sale and a survey done, we have been informed the buyer is an investor so my guess is to get work done (as house looks tired old Victorian mid-terrace redecorate etc) and resell or rent.

So my question is, can the landlord claim any money from our deposit as they won't be using the money to cover any costs to re-rent it and a buyer has agreed to buy it as they have seen it and a survey? My thoughts are as us, the landlord and lettings agent are all ending ties with the property then in theory we should get our full deposit back? We won't leave the house a state and will leave it as clean as possible (and in our opinion certain areas better than how we found it!).

Many thanks for any help

Grumpy_chap

limbohamthegodfather said:

Hi there, first time asking for advice!

My partner and I are in a not common situation. Our landlord decided in January 2025 to sell the house we rent (no section 21 was issued as we are not being evicted), with us in situ as they no longer want to put any more money into it as it needs extensive maintenance to damp proof it. The house is managed by a lettings agent and have been renting the house since April 2021.

We have decided to end our tenancy at the end of April when it was due for renewal as we no longer want to live in the house (the issues have been reported since November 2023), and if we did stay the work will still need doing (which would involve us moving out), we would not know if the new owner will rent direct from us or use a lettings agent and if they did would it be the current one? There were too many unknowns and have decided to take ourselves out the situation.

The house now has an agreed sale and a survey done, we have been informed the buyer is an investor so my guess is to get work done (as house looks tired old Victorian mid-terrace redecorate etc) and resell or rent.

So my question is, can the landlord claim any money from our deposit as they won't be using the money to cover any costs to re-rent it and a buyer has agreed to buy it as they have seen it and a survey? My thoughts are as us, the landlord and lettings agent are all ending ties with the property then in theory we should get our full deposit back? We won't leave the house a state and will leave it as clean as possible (and in our opinion certain areas better than how we found it!).

Many thanks for any help

Simply a change to the LL does not change the status of the security deposit.  When you vacate, the return of (or deductions from) should be assessed by the same standard of referencing the inventory at check-out against the inventory at check-in.  Usual rules with regard to wear and tear should also apply from when you first moved in.

FlorayG

no the LL can only claim costs that YOU have caused them such as damage and cleaning. They can't charge you re-renting costs anyway if you are outside the dates of your AST

Bookworm105

so your deposit will be subject to the normal rules for return of deposit. Nothing uncommon about that scenario.

theartfullodger

I'll bet at some point the deposit wasn't protected -maybe by old, new or both landlords - so tenant will have claim of up to 3x deposit against failing landlord.

See  for info from the experts on shelter website