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Holding Tenants Deposit Legally?

Started by and83w@gmail.com, June 14, 2021, 07:34:24 AM

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and83w@gmail.com

Hi All

Hope you are all well!!

Am thinking of taking my property of the letting agents and doing it myself to cut down on costs, to try and keep letting the property viable!!

Can i legally hold a tenants deposit, if so any information on how to go about it?

Many Thanks

Andy


heavykarma

Do you mean take the deposit from the agents,and put it into a protected scheme yourself? Yes,you must do that.However,you need to check the contract you have with the agents,there could be penalties if you withdraw from the agreement you have with them.

HandyMan

Quote from: and83w@gmail.com on June 14, 2021, 07:34:24 AM
Am thinking of taking my property of the letting agents and doing it myself...

Can i legally hold a tenants deposit, if so any information on how to go about it?
DIY is certainly a viable way forward, provided you are not locked into a contract with your agent. Typically, if the agent found the tenant for you then they will have £££ lock-in clauses.

But with all respect Andy, if you are asking such a basic question here about the handling of deposits, then it's clear that you haven't done much research about all the things that you must do as a landlord. For your own sake, please do some serious reading, or get some training before embarking on this. There are many ways you could get it wrong.

Hippogriff

Quote from: and83w@gmail.com on June 14, 2021, 07:34:24 AMAm thinking of taking my property of the letting agents and doing it myself to cut down on costs, to try and keep letting the property viable!!

If the 'business' is not viable... then exit.

If the 'business' is not viable... increase your income.

Finally, if the 'business' is not viable... look at decreasing costs... but how do you do this without decreasing service? Of course, many (including me) may claim that you improve service if you take an Agent out of the equation... but do you feel the same is true of you (yourself)?

And, yes, a Landlord can hold a Deposit... but, of course, you protect it. However... there's an alarm bell ringing in my head... and that's saying something like... if you don't know this very basic level of information already, are you the man to be managing a tenancy?

Hippogriff

Quote from: HandyMan on June 14, 2021, 08:56:03 AMBut with all respect Andy, if you are asking such a basic question here about the handling of deposits, then it's clear that you haven't done much research about all the things that you must do as a landlord. For your own sake, please do some serious reading, or get some training before embarking on this. There are many ways you could get it wrong.

What he said.