There should be some caution here as I am not familiar with the wording of the Openrent documentation on holding deposits and its possible that it says by default that a guarantor is required, even if some landlords late waive the requirement. If that were the case, the landlord might be not in breach of the Tenant Fees Act by keeping the money.
Openrent have already reviewed our communications and said she is not entitled to keep the holding deposit.
They said they will give her the option to dispute it, hopefully she just pays it back and this can be put to bed.
That’s good news and answers my point above. Thanks for the update.
So the landlord has not replied to openrent after they emailed her advising her to payback the deposit or giving her the option to dispute and raise a claim.
I feel she is simply ignoring them and will keep the holding deposit.
Who should I escalate this to other than openrent if this is the case?
Thanks
Does this help?
Thanks, I will look into it
The landlord has disputed and has initiated a claim with open rent to keep 3/4 of the deposit
Open rent has paid me the holding deposit back thankfully.
After a few detailed emails showing the nonsensical claims of the landlord yesterday, they have paid me today.
Thanks to everyone for the advice
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A few options here. Firstly I would contact open rent and request that you want your money back and if she rents out other flats the opportunity to rent out another even if she refunds it.
I believe Open rent are a member of The property ombudsman scheme so if Open rent do a rubbish job take your concerns to them.
They’re good for general advice too so give them a call if you need to/an email.
I have paid a holding deposit for somewhere but i said in an email this week "Can i have my deposit back if you dont accept my sister as you said it doesnt matter if she is a working guarantor but the holding deposit document states otherwise "?
Hopefully will hear back soon as i won’t go down without a fight. These landlords and estate agents make money regardless as these holding deposit contracts are very strict about refunds.
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