Question

England | Start of a Tenancy (England) | Tenancy Agreements (England)

deposit and 1st month paid before tenancy was signed tenant cancelled

11 Mar 2021 | 1 comment

I had a tenant  for one of my rooms for a house share in London student coming from USA, I received deposit and first month payment total £1200 with the intention of issuing tenants agreement AST to start in 5 weeks time,  as is normal but before tenants agreement issued and signed the tenant said she could not come to the UK (could not get student visa to enter UK because of the pandemic), How much am I liable must I return to her of the payment received, can you tell me please? thank you, Guildy.

Answer

1 Comment

  1. guildy

    In this case we would return it in full without delay.

    The problem here is that you shouldn’t have taken all that money upfront and the maximum allowed by law was the equivalent to 1 weeks rent as a “holding deposit”. Once you have a signed tenancy agreement, you can start to take more money but not before.

    Return in full, start afresh and only take 1 week from now on with somebody new and lesson learnt!

    Please see here for full details.

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