It’s odd.
The viewing was great but one of them didn’t pass the credit check due to ccj’s.
The other passed and a guarantor was provided who also passed.
A holding deposit was accepted, contracts signed and now the tenants are completely ghosting me and have not paid the remaining deposit and first months rent.
It has only been 3 days since the contracts were signed by all parties. Am I getting the jitters prematurely?
I’ve never had any delays in paying the required monies before as most tenants have been desperate to get it all sorted as quickly as possible.
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When does the tenancy begin? If it’s far away perhaps they are waiting until nearer the date, what was the agreement?
It’s probably a little too early to be overly concerned but it’s generally not advisable to sign contracts before the day of moving in or certainly as close to it as possible.
It would be a courteous just for them to acknowledge your message though.
Has guarantor signed also?
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Move in date is 15th April and yes the guarantor has signed also.
I’m worried they are waiting for their deposit to be returned from their current property which of course won’t happen until they vacate.
It’s really not a good start for me. If they’d just return my calls and emails and messages….
I think I’m going to wait until after the weekend then submit a request to surrender the contract if I haven’t heard anything by then.
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Wrong way round. Never let a tenant sign a contract without first paying the deposit in full and the first month’s rent
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Ive just followed the path open rent has taken me which was to sign first….
Hmmm
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Well your not at fault you are going by what is advised unfortunately not all Advise is good advice though I’m quite sure open rent are not aware of this, I would contact open rent.
They are aware and are chasing the tenants, I’m just a bit nervous.
I do have an out via contract surrender so I’ll give it a few more days.
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Don’t panic yet! There could be any number of reasons why they haven’t replied eg they may be trying to get all the money together before contacting you, so they can say ‘Good to go!’ Some people think it’s better to wait until everything is sorted rather than keeping you updated step by step.
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The Openrent system, asks the tenant to pay first months rent, plus deposit once the contract is electronically signed. However, the agreement dictates that this should be paid ‘by move in day’, so depending on when they are moving in, they have time yet.
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This is a good illustration of why I’ve only ever used Rent Now once. Never again.
I would not panic not just yet.
Open Rent in my opinion seems to err on the tenants side.
I dont trust anyone with MY money but myself.
I insure deposits so I have them in my possession, had to wait a year for a deposit from DPS when tenant had trashed my flat, another lesson learned.
Do whats right for you, you are now in a position were you have given people rights with your property without any money, I am sure you wont do this again
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Hooray they’ve replied and confirmed in the couple of days so fingers crossed.
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Is that right? I didn’t realise that was possible.
Didn’t realise what was possible?
Interesting. I’ve always accepted the rent & deposit after contract signing as I use RentNow. I didn’t think accepting the rent and deposit before the contract was allowed in the Tenant Fees Act 2019? There’s wording in there that allows holding deposits but then indicates that to ask the tenant for any other payment prior to the contract would be a prohibited payment.
That’s a fair point Mita. What usually happens in practice is that I’m in the house with the potential tenant. They transfer the money using mobile banking. I see it appear in my account and then we sign the TA. Seeing as how there’s no time on the TA that we sign (as I use a paper TA and not electronic signing), there’s no way to prove exactly when the funds were transferred in relation to when the TA was signed. The same would apply if the tenant arrived with the funds in cash.
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I have started asking for deposit plus two months rent up front, I ask them in auto reply if they can do that then it really sorts out the applicants. it lets you know who can manage their money responsibly. People who struggle with initial payments tend to struggle during the tenancy and you finish up losing somewhere along the line.
On this one, just ask for the money and if they cant pay just say you will refund in full and move on…if you can… I also dont give them the contract until others have moved out so we can write in better readings and tick the various admin boxes.
You are where you are but maybe learn from this and consider what you can do differently next time to avoid this stressful situation re occurring
Lets take the worst-case scenario: Say they do not intend to move in. Having a contract signed before or after any payments are made is neither here or there, provided the “tenants” do not have the keys to move in without having paid first. If they have signed and then disappear (without having moved in), then the contract is automatically void because they would be instantly in breach of several clauses, ie not having paid the security deposit, not having paid a month’s rent in advance and so on. And this is the end of the story. I do not see why you should be worried.
In addition, you are fully entitled to keep their holding deposit if they do not respond. You can then pursue in finding other tenants. Signed contracts or not, you always have the upper hand here.
Despite what people say in this thread, NO prospective tenant in their right mind would part with their money without having first signed a contract that protects them. OpenRent is actually quite right in their advice. Would you pay a landlord two hefty sums up front without contractual protection? Of course not.
So, as long as your tenants do not have access to the property you are absolutely fine. Signed or not, in the worst case you look for someone else.
And as you talked about being ghosted, I would keep away from them even if they finally do pay up. This means they will do the same every time and you don’t want that. Go for someone else, more genuine that communicates properly.
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Thank you.
This makes me feel a lot better and yes, no money no keys.
I guess it’s just not a great start as doesn’t really give me hope for when I do need to communicate to them regarding repairs and access for gas certs etc.
Yes, I will wait it out and see what happens.
Then the worst case is I have a gap where costs will be incurred but it is what it is and that’s the risk we all take.
Thank you again!