When there is a change of the landlord due to sale of property or assignment of the AST tenancy agreement through Open Rent do you issue a new Tenancy Agreement or give the tenant a Context notice 3 and 48 and this would sufice without issuing a new tenancy agreement and what do you do about the security deposit and the Rent and Legal Protection Insurance
You have to get your own insurance.
@mod_harry can tell you how deposit can be transferred if thatâs needed or how to get your details as LL to replace those of the previous LL with the tenancy deposit service they use. If old LL want to claim part of deposit easiest to end TA and start a new one
Good luck
You do not need to sign a new tenancy. The form 3 notice you mention will suffice.
Make sure your solictors seeks clarification about deposit etc from te sellers solicitor.
I assume you will have done all of the due diligence to make sure the old Landlord has correctly complied with all laws upo the start of the tenancy etc.
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@Christoforos - did you manage to do this successfully? Were you able to sort out the contract and transfer of deposit without having to create a new contract through OR?
I found the Open rent process rather difficult and not acceptable by my tenants. So, I had to release the deposit to the tenant and a new tenancy was drafted by the new Landlord not throgh Open Rent and the tenant submitted the deposit to the new Landlord to be re - safeguarded with DPS after received from Open Rent 10 days after end of the tenancy. We also lost six months our Rent Insurance Guaraantee placed through Open Rent. I believe Open Rent should try to simplify this Process.
@Christoforos - thank you. In this case, was there a gap between the 2 contracts? As you had to end yours and presumably it took at least 10 days before the next contract was in place as deposit was not returned to the tenants? Or was the contract set up immediately with a clause on deposit added? Do you know?
@Sindhu you donât need a gap between contracts it would be odd to do so as they arenât moving so still need to pay rent. You can allow deposit to be returned on old contract and then for new contract, let the tenants give you the new deposit a while after the new contract has started when they have received old one back. Otherwise it affects their cashflow and could be an issue for them
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I think @Sindhu point is that when the old contract ends it will take several days for the tenant to receive the deposit refunded. But to start a new openrent tenancy the deposit has to be paid on or before the start date.
Therefore the tenant has two deposits outstanding at the same time.
This is not practical, so not something I would recommend.
Iâm not clear on what openrents process is in this situation.
@David240 - thank you.
I cannot do this through openrent as they are forcing me to take a new contract out and in their sub-optimal process, the tenant is forced to pay a deposit on the new one before getting the deposit on the old one back. The tenants will not have the means to do this. So the only option I have is doing a new contract on my own outside of openrent, cancel openrent contract and start deposit refund procces, set the new contract date to start as soon as old one ends. But can I add a clause in the new contract that deposit should be paid say in 10 days time? Is this contractually binding? I guess there is nothing stopping tenants from not paying the deposit at all?
@Karl11 but OR issue the new tenancy agreement whether or not the deposit (or indeed the balance of 1st month rent) has been paid. They may well keep chasing for the deposit before and after âmove inâ date but the LL can still âhand over keysâ and the tenant can ignore that till they have received the deposit back from old tenancy.
(Alternatively the LL could pay the new deposit for the tenant and claim back the old deposit from the old deposit scheme if tenant agreed.)
Itâs all a bit messy but no more than changing to a new tenancy agreement with any other agent. The main problem is that deposits have to be refunded and new deposits paid not transferred (which is certainly allowed by deposit schemes when there is a change of LL with the tenants in situ and the tenancy agreement continues - which is @Sindhu 's situation and can probably be done I âthinkâ using the âmanage tenancy - selling property with tenants in situâ option.
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@Sindhu why exactly canât you use the "manage tenancy - selling property with tenant in situ " option? And keep the existing tenancy?
Have you tried that? Whatâs the problem with that?
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I have not tried that and also donât see a manage tenancy option possibly because the contract is already in a rolling contract state as it has been 1.5 years since we first set this contract.
What I did was contact OR and they said there is no way for me to to do this other than re-contracting with them, which then means I pay the rent now fee, they will set up new tenancy and contract, get deposit from tenant and then cancel current tenancy and refund old deposit. This is obviously a no-go for the tenants.
No thatâs not correct. If you have an active tenancy created by OR you have the âmanage tenancyâ options (including to end it).
Sounds like you need to try the options already available to you.. donât just trust OR customer support initial answer they arenât always v helpful and will just suggest the easiest (for them) method they know esp if includes extra fee for them. They will always recommend a new tenancy agreement rather than a deed of variation etc.
Go to OR front page
Source: OpenRent OpenRent | Property To Rent From Private Landlords
There are 3 lines on top left corner click on those and choose the âManageâ option then âactive tenanciesâ then click on the â+â to show your tenancies. Click on the address for the tenancy.
Then scroll down to 'View amendment options â tenancy. Click that. Then select âNotify us you are selling with tenants in situâ and click that.
The process allows you to âsellâ to someone else
Screenshot below show you where you start, and also when you get to the âView amendmentoptionsâ and have clicked âNotify us..â (2nd screenshot) that you can mail OR âto tell them so deposit details can be updatedâ - so they clearly CAN do it. Click on the email button shown (âIâm selling the property tenantedââ) to send an email to the team in OR with the details of the change in ownership and they will then hopefully do it for you.
Good luck
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Yes @David240 - I saw this option yesterday too, and noted that the wording means they CAN do it. But assumed OR customer support have the latest and correct information. I didnt know that they are not the most helpful. Thanks for that tip!
I guess then what I will do is: (in this order) - please let me know if this makes sense.
1/ Serve notices section 3 and 48 to the tenants
2/ Do this option through OR on âselling with tenants in-situâ
And if for whatever reason OR cannot do it, I will then end the tenancy with OR, get the deposit refunded, and then create a contract on my own, and ask tenants to deposit into a new scheme once OR have refunded the deposit.
Does this sound sensible? Thanks again for the amazing support you have provided so far - really (really) appreciate it!
@Sindhu yes that sounds perfectly sensible.
However tbh if for any reason OR say they really canât make the change on the deposit scheme you could leave it all in your name rather than in the name of your new Ltd Co and it would make no difference in practice as you act for the Ltd co. so will all be ok. It would only become an issue if you no longer were the owner of or acting for the Ltd co in future.
Similarly for the tenancy agreement, OR can make the change to the LL name (just as if you had changed your name) but if they really refuse you can just do a deed of variation signed by yourself and the tenants (and any guarantors).
Good luck
@David240 - thanks a lot. Ok, I assumed it might be legally problematic if I dont change details on the deposit protection. I think what you suggest makes sense as I will be operating on ltd coâs behalf too. Iâll try that.
Can I ask one more question please - should I be serving notices 3 and 48 AND do a deed of variation too? Or is it one or the other?
Do both. The notices are to tell the tenant of the change of owner. The deed of variation is to amend the tenancy agreement so it reflects new owner details. Two different things
I persoanlly would just do the Section 3 & 48 notices. This process is designed for what you are doing. You do not need to do a deed of variation.
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Agree if @Sindhu will be acting for the new Ltd co owner then having @Sindhu name still on the tenancy doc wonât matter in practical terms so may well be unnecessary
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In this case as the landlords transfer was inter-family there was no gap and a new Tenancy was issued by the new private landlord before the old landlord released the deposit to the tenants however, although the old tenancy ended on 09/04/2026 and the new tenancy started on 10.04.2026 the new landlord was exposed for 13 days without a security deposit as the tenant did not have any other money until the deposit from Open Rent reached the tenants Bank account. The deposit was established on 23 April 2024 thanks to the fact that the tenant did not delay or misused the deposit money. Also in case the old and the new landlords were strangers to one another then the tenant would definitely fail to get this tenancy due to the lack of the Security Deposit money. As Isaid before we lost 6 months of our Rent Guarantee Insurance, the tenant refused to go through the Reference process and the Inventory process, Open Rent did not supervise the transfer and also Open Rent may have have lost the two landlords and the tenant as future customers. You need to review this system.
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