My 4 student tenants are coming to the end of their original 12 month joint AST, 3 of them would like to stay for a further 12 months whilst one is moving out and being replaced by a new tenant. I would like them to sign a new AST. The ‘Rent Now’ feature seems very straight forward if you are keeping the same tenants but is very clunky if one or more tenants is changing. OpenRents advice is to re-list the property and get the 4 tenants who are staying to apply for the property, sounds simple however, when the tenants click on the ‘Rent Now’ button the first thing it asks for is a holding deposit, why should my tenants have to pay another holding deposit, they are students so are not flush by any means and another £50 on top of there normal outgoings is a big ask. I also wonder if we get to the latter stages of the ‘Rent Now’ process will they will then be asked to to pay another damages deposit even though I’m already holding deposits with DPS?
Doing this outside OpenRent
We unfortunately don’t have a feature for this at the moment. Therefore it’s likely to be simpler for you to modify the tenancy directly with the tenants.
The AST doesn’t involve OpenRent, so you have full control over that . And the deposit will be in your Custodial Scheme account, so you and the tenants have full control over that too.
You might want to do some legal research into how to modify Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreements or seek independent advice. GOV.UK in particular has some excellent resources.
Doing this within OpenRent
Our workaround is to create an entirely new tenancy. This unfortunately does require tenants to go through the steps normally required when setting up a new tenancy - the holding deposit, and first month’s rent and security deposit payments.
Why doesn’t OpenRent have this feature?
I completely understand this isn’t good. I’ve been working for some time to build a solution for tenant (or guarantor) changeover renewals through OpenRent. I’m expecting this to be available soon, but can’t promise a date yet. To make it as smooth and slick as the rest of OpenRent takes a substantial effort, so it’s difficult to make promises.
We fully appreciate that this is a missing part of the service and I apologise that I haven’t been able to deliver it so far. I’m confident that once it’s available, changeover renewals will be as slick as any other part of the service.
Do let me know if you have further questions, either here or by emailing the team on support@openrent.co.uk.
One of my tenants on an AST has just contacted me to say her partner is moving out but she would like to stay and her friend move in. She did suggest he stay as her lodger however we do think it is beast he is on the contract as she needs his income to pay the rent too.
I have a few questions:
Is this something we can organise through Open Rent now without them having to pay a holding
deposit or another months rent up front?
Would I be able to get the referencing / credit checks done on the new tenant only before I agree to him being added to the new tenancy? The original tenant I have had no issues with.
Would I need to do right to rent for the new tenant only or both as the original tenant was checked
prior to moving in? Th original tenant is from Brazil.
Would you recommend a checkout on the property for both the old tenants ( although the one
staying will still be in the property) so that any dilapidations can be deducted from the current
deposit if necessary and a new inventory noting the sate of the property at the start of the
new tenancy date?
As the replies here are to a post that is very old (and potentially misleading to anyone visiting this thread now) I’m locking this thread. If you still have questions, don’t hesitate to start a new thread.