UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello I am a new member and would be grateful for any advice I have a tenant who has been in my property since 2014 on her tenancy agreement it is marked as paying a deposit of £250 however due to her being on housing benefit it was going to take a long time to process the rent and it is paid 4 weeks in arrears it was agreed by her that I could use the £250 for rent up front where do I stand in the law on this thanks

Quote from: Katies on September 26, 2019, 12:43:43 PM
it was agreed by her that I could use the £250 for rent up front

Do you have anything in writing from the tenant asking you to treat the £250 as rent? How soon after you took the £250 was this arrangement made?

As you're no doubt aware, there are financial penalties for failing to protect a deposit. However, you might be able to get away with it if you can show that this sum of money was never in any way treated as a deposit. What does your rent book show?

Thank you for your reply yes the tenant did agree in writing that we could use that money within 2 weeks of tenancy starting

I think you could reasonably argue that the deposit ceased to be a deposit before the point when it would have had to be protected. In practical terms it's the same as if you'd handed it to the tenant and she'd immediately handed it back to pay the rent. Just make sure you don't do anything subsequently to suggest you're still holding a deposit.

Thank you Simon your answer is very helpful