Holding deposit & Referencing via Openrent

OpenRent Chat
1

Hi,

A couple of questions please.

  1. If I accept the 1 week holding deposit paid by a prospective tenant to Openrent, is it then mandatory to use Openrent’s referencing service and other services - contract drafting & digital signing etc. or can I still use my own preferred referencing service, contract drafting process etc.?

  2. Will I need to pay any fee to Openrent if I accept the holding deposit paid by the prospective tenant to Openrent?

Background:
A prospective tenant has paid the holding deposit to Openrent before viewing the property or speaking to me.

I have not yet accepted the holding deposit offered to me by Openrent and understand I have 96 hours to do so.

For previous tenancies I have received the holding deposit directly and used my preferred referencing service and drafted the contracts directly rather than via Openrent and would prefer to do the same now.

I have listed on Openrent using the (basic) £49 package and not subscribed to the ‘Rent Now’ option and do not wish do so.

Thank you.

2

Don’t accept a holding deposit from someone who hasn’t viewed your property. Did you give permission for them to place it ? .

3

Thanks David.

I haven’t given them permission to place a holding deposit.

I was surprised that the Openrent platform allows prospective tenants to place a holding deposit without an invitation or permission from the landlord to do so.

4

Unfortunately this is regular occurrence that many LLs have complained about but you are able reject the deposit.
A lot of LL advertise through Openrent but arrange deposit and tenancy agreement separately.

5

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