When I contacted the LL to view the property, I was asked if I have a Homeowner Guarantor and I explicitly said NO. I was given a viewing date to view the property and after viewing, I decided I want to take the place and the landlord accepted and initiated a holding fee which I paid.
During the process of the application. He asked that I should add a guarantor which I explained again that as I earlier explained, I do not have any homeowner guarantor just previous landlord reference.
The application was moved to referencing which I did and passed. Now, I am contacting the landlord on how to proceed, he is responding after hours that my Guarantor backed out and I should add another one. I never added any guarantor in the first place and I have made him aware I do not have one from onset.
Now he is not responding to my messages and it is getting frustrating. I just moved to Liverpool from the south and I am in desperate need of a house to start my new life here. I want to start contacting other houses but I dont know how to get my deposit back.
Please can anyone advice on what to do. He doesnât have contact email or phone number. Just waiting for response on Open rent and the silence is killing me.
Avoid this landlord. If they canât handle the application process properly, you do NOT want to be in a property and trying to get them to fix something, for example.
they clearly donât know what theyâre doing. Move on and find another place.
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You paid holding fee thru Openrent ?
Yes, I paid holding deposit through OpenRent.
That is what I want to do. I just need my deposit back. Donât know how to go about it as he is not responding
Oh holding deposits⌠I hate them more and more each day. Iâm not sure what you can do in this situation. @mod_harry should be able to advise you on how to get your deposit back based on the fact that the LL is not cooperating.
Mod Harry will see this and respond to you
@Oluwaseun_Timothy be very careful not to withdraw your application otherwise the LL can keep the holding deposit. Keep copies of any correspondence you have saying you never offered a guarantor otherwise the LL might claim you said you had one and have since admitted to not having one so were dishonest and wasted their time as reason to keep it.
You have to be patient- evidently the LL doesnt want to rent to you. You can contact OR support who will tell you the timescales but to quote Shelterâs page âHolding depositsâ
âDo you get your holding deposit back?
You should usually get all the money back if the landlord decides not to rent to you.
The landlord or agent might keep your holding deposit if you:
decide not to rent the property
give wrong information or tell them something that is false
do not pass a right to rent immigration check
They cannot keep your money for any other reason.
For example, you should get your holding deposit back if you fail a credit or reference check, as long as you give honest information and facts about your situation.â
You should also ask OR support to confirm whether they have obtained evidence that the LL actually owns the property given the suspect behaviour -it could be a subletting scam. A good landlord doesnât keep a property empty trying to get holding deposits when they could be renting a place out instead.
Good luck
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Hi @Oluwaseun_Timothy
Iâll drop you an email with some specific guidance here and contact the landlord to get things moving.
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Thank you, I have gotten a response from the landlord to move forward with the application. But the name of the correspondence changed from the initial person I have been speaking with. I need some clarifications on why there is a change and also some other things about the property before signing the contract. I have sent a message, waiting for response.
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Thank you David. The application has been progressed to the next stage.
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for those of you experienced with holding deposits, what options does the OP have in this scenario for withdrawing from the process because the LL has given them cause for uncertainty and still get their deposit back?
I wouldnât advice you to proceed with this tenancy but Iâm concerned youâll lose your deposit for no fault of your own.
The issue seems to have got resolved on its own within 24 hours! Perhaps it was just a misunderstanding. We also have only one side of the story.
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@tatemono
âFaultâ has absolutely nothing to do with it
As the rules on holding deposits make clear (as per the Shelter page) so long as OP has been honest and co operative, they get the deposit back if LL pulls out, but dont have the option to withdraw themselves. Itâs meant to represent a serious commitment which it isnt if they can pull out at any time for no reason
If they choose to withdraw or are dishonest or uncooperative in supplying info [eg as needed for referencing] they have wasted LLâs time and costs [LL meanwhile has been unable to market to other potential tenants] and thatâs why LL is allowed to keep the deposit in those circumstances.
If a tenant has 2nd thoughts and withdraws for whatever reason that is their choice. Just like a house purchaser who puts down a deposit for a property sold at auction then eg does a survey before completion and on basis of survey findings decides not to proceed - and loses their deposit - itâs not fault of either buyer or seller.
If you dont have holding deposits [such as in Scotland] the flipside is that LLs can keep marketing to others all the time until a contract is signed, and tenants can apply for multiple different properties at the same time at no cost to themselves and also can more easily pull out right up till the point contracts are signed. Not sure which is better or worse
Anyway apparently all resolved now
Best
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er⌠but if the LL wastes their time, apparently confuses their application with someone elseâs, decides to hand them off to someone who isnât apparently the LL⌠or might be⌠then theyâve got no recourse? Wow.
Yeesh⌠I canât think of a single reason why a holding deposit benefits anyone. This forum is littered with HD woes from both sides!
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@tatemono well to defend against LL timewasting there are specific time limits after which holding deposits [at least as dealt with by OR] do get returned to tenants provided tenant has been truthful and co operative.
(According to Goodlord these are the timelines
-
The âDeadline for Agreementâ: Landlords have 15 calendar days to reach a written agreement (sign the tenancy) with the tenant after receiving the holding deposit.
-
Automatic Return Deadline: If no agreement is reached within these 15 days, the landlord must return the holding deposit within 7 days.
-
Landlord Pulls Out: If the landlord decides not to rent to the tenant, the money must be returned within 7 days.
-
Tenancy Proceeds: If the tenancy goes ahead, the holding deposit must be returned (or put towards the first monthâs rent/tenancy deposit) within 7 days of signing the agreement.
)
The benefits to tenant of a holding deposit is that they know LL isnt showing property to others, just like any other service/product where there is a âholding depositâ to reserve something, and to LL itâs a sign that the tenant is serious. It does cost tenants who mess LLs around by lying, or not providing reference info and does mean thereâs a cost to withdrawing if a tenant puts down a deposit and change their mind. But thatâs no different at all to there being a cost to a tenant who signs a contract then changes their mind and wants to pull out [who under RRA will still have to give 2 months notice and pay rent for 2 months, albeit less than the 12 months it could be at present.]
Obviously nobody reports to these forum when it all goes well, and works as intended.
It does seem one sided [compared with security deposits where an independent body decides if deposit can be claimed by LL] tho I suspect a)tenants wasting LLs time is more frequent than b) other way round - because in case of b) the LL also loses out by not being able to rent their property in the meantime, and has a mortgage to pay. For both a) and b) there is a direct financial cost to the LL (lost rent) but not to the tenant.
best
If the LL is suddenly changing names at this stage, thatâs a huge red flag to me. I have been at this situation before, when the LL disclosed their real name up until the contract signing, and ended up being an abusive person to deal with.
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Yeah⌠but having paid a holding deposit @David240âs message seems to imply that the OP has no choice but to lose their money if they wisely choose not to proceed with this. Seems like theyâre trapped to me.
@tatemono âtrappedâ
Well theyâve put down a holding deposit to pay to reserve something and take it off the market. They paid for it to be reserved for them and got that.
If you put down a deposit for a wedding venue to reserve it, and change your mind about getting married you wouldnât expect the deposit back.
So they arenât trapped. They have paid for a service and have received it.
They might persuade LL to reject their application (eg if their financial circumstances or needs have changed - eg if they perhaps could say theyâve been told there could be redundancies at their work so they now are less confident they will be able to pay the rent in future so itâs better if LL rejects the application) and then get their deposit back - but if they withdraw themselves or are dishonest or uncooperative then the LL will be able to claim the deposit
Basically providing the holding deposit is a form if contract- an agreement that tenant will go ahead with the tenancy provide nothing wrong from LL point of view re references, and in return LL wont market to others in the meantime. So if they choose to back out thereâs generally a cost just like if they sign a tenancy agreement then on move in day decide they donât want to rent the place after allâŚ
If LL has been dishonest in the listing (eg if turns out to be illegal sublet) the tenant may be able to get OR to intervene and return the deposit as OR hold the holding deposit not the LL - not sure a name change would count its common the company name is different from the LL personal name so would depend on the detail
Best
Interesting how if the LL is duplicitous after the HD is placed, the applicant needs OR to intervene because thereâs no legal recourse. But if the applicant is duplicitous the LL keeps the deposit.
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