Currently I have no holding deposit and applicants that are free to walk away with any consequences.
On the OpenRent webpage “Can I use my own contract or deposit registration as part of Rent Now?”, it states:
“If you are engaged in a Rent Now application and find that it is not a suitable service, you just need to cancel the application on the website.
Upon doing so, the holding deposit will be returned to the tenant.”
I have two objections:
- Cancelling the application generates a ‘cancellation’ message to the applicant which has to be quickly undone by the landlord and makes the landlord look like an idiot.
- Because the application is still ‘live’ as far as the tenant and landlord is concerned, the holding deposit should still prevent the landlord from accepting more applications. The holding deposit should be either transferred to the landlord or retained by OpenRent until notified the security deposit/first rent has been received.
A simple modification the OpenRent procedure could fix this anomaly.