Hi. An applicant has put down a holding deposit but other viewings are still ongoing so I can’t commit to accepting them at this stage. Should I reject the deposit as this removes the ad and will likely be off putting to viewers even if they’re already booked in.
I would wait to see ALLapplicants and pick the best one to suit you. As far as I am concerned if a prospective tenant puts down a holding deposit without me knowing I would not be a happy bunny. I want to choose them myself
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Thank you. It’s all very confusing. Before I’d even rejected the deposit my property had been removed. I’ve now returned the deposit and informed the tenants their application is still being considered along with other applicants.
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Hi Lesley,
Thanks for your post, and sorry to hear of the confusion with this.
If you’ve received a holding deposit, but are not ready to proceed with an application, you can reject the application via the website and we will continue marketing your property.
When you do this, you can personalise the message we send to the tenant - for example to explain that you’re not yet ready to consider their application.
We do have a 4 day timeout on holding deposit offers. It sounds like you unfortunately did not respond within that time. Good to hear you’ve now been able to follow up on this though.
Thanks,
Simon
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Thanks Simon.
I did reply within hours of noticing the holding deposit had been placed but it seemed the place had already been taken off the market before I got to reply to the tenant.
I was concerned it would be marked as let. However as soon as I declined the deposit everything appeared to be OK. I sent the applicant a separate message explaining the situation.
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I’ve never understood why OpenRent allow a holding deposit to be placed without a request being made from the owner.
This has happened to me three times and is just annoying.
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Yes and puts the awkward situation of how to respond onto the landlord.
Hi. its not happened to me as I tell an applicant not to do anything till I have done a reference check
It’s happened again with another applicant placing a holding deposit without our request.
Our situation is that we were originally planning to sell but as we didn’t have any success have put it for rent again. We now have several potential buyers but are still in negotiations.
I may not have confirmation either way before the holding deposit expires. If I don’t return it before the deadline can I just repeat the holding deposit and reference process or if I leave it too late and my ad is removed will this mean I have to pay and start the whole advertising process again together with another payment?
I agree with you. It ia ridiculous that they allow a holding deposit ro be placed and automatically remove the property from being advertised. It’s almost like they are forcing you to accept the tenant so they can improve their statistics.
Hi Biggss,
Happy to say this is not how we operate. If you have read this elsewhere please let me know and I can change it! We have improved this process over the years so there may be conflicting info we haven’t spotted yet.
Landlords must accept the holding deposit before the the property is marked as let.
OpenRent will not force you to accept anyone - the whole point of OpenRent is that landlords and tenants can deal directly with each other without an agent getting in the way with third party interests.
Our statistics are already industry-leading so no need to inflate them! 
Sam
Thanks for your response.
Perhaps further improvement is required i.e. the property should not be marked as let as soon as a holding deposit is accepted. I’ve had instances where the prospect after giving all assurances that they want rhe property and placed the holding deposit only to call me with all type of stories the following day. Four days later, I decides to cancel their application but because the property had been marked as let, I lost another prospect tenant who was keen to progress. The property is not let until tenancy agreement has been exchanged and / or signed by both parties.