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I moved into a lovely flat in Feb 2020. Private landlord. Only moved out recently - after 2 years - and sourced new tenants for him for a pretty much immediate move in. I must make clear that my landlord was lovely, and clearly happy to have a solid tenant paying the rent on time and keeping the property well loved. The rent was confirmed as £50 more than listed - i wanted the flat so I agreed. The deposit was 2 months rent (£1800) and first month’s rent in advance ) Total £2700 - i know that the deposit was over what the law allowed, but I wanted the flat so i agreed and paid - both paid ahead of me moving in. No formal inventory taken but flagged a couple of issues early on and he rectified. He visited shortly after i moved in and was delighted how nice the place looked. The tenant/landlord relationship was very relaxed and informal. After notice he met the new tenants and everyone was pleased with the arrangements moving forward. I have since moved and sent a video of the property in detail - great condition and no issues flagged. Asked what he needed from me for deposit return. I heard nothing. After 11 days passed i gently asked if he needed my bank details again for deposit return. He responded saying yes but he was out of the country. Today i only got one month’s returned and well-wishes. I responded saying i paid 2 months deposit. And now he’s gone quiet. This makes me worry that my deposit wasn’t held in a scheme and i may have difficulty chasing the other half. No deductions have been flagged, and i believe the time has passed for that to happen now anyway? (new tenants are already in the property). He’s not the most proactive to follow up things with me - perhaps just a bit too laid back - but today is day 14 since my tenancy ended. The deposit is my money. I’d like it back.

Hello, I am using a well known nationwide letting agent to manage one of my rental properties. I would like to end my agreement with them and manage the property myself. My contract with them requires me to give them 2 months notice. I emailed them in mid-October to give them notice. Since then they have been slow to respond to my enquiries. I would like some advice on how to proceed please. What are the usual handover steps? The things I can think of are: confirmation of the end of my contract with the letting agent; return of keys; deposit protection handover; tenants being informed; tenants switching direct debit details to my account to pay the rent. Is there anything else? Specifically I want to know about the deposit protection. I understand this is held with the DPS. How does 'ownership' of this get handed over from the letting agent to the landlord? Does anyone have experience of this? Lastly, if I still haven't heard anything from the letting agent by the end of my notice period would I be within my rights so simply contact the tenants myself to cancel their rental payments to the letting agent and pay me directly?

Hi all, First time self managing a property and dawned on me I need to arrange a tenancy deposit scheme!! So people just use the free one where they hold your deposit or do you pay for the insure and hold it yourself? thanks

Anyone heard of this? I spotted it on a listing recently. From what I can gather it seems like an insurance based alternative to taking a 6 week deposit, where the tenant pays a non-refundable 1 week rent (insurance premium), in return for not having to put down a refundable (at risk) 6 week deposit. Meanwhile the landlord gets free rental/damage insurance cover for up to 8 weeks rent (where they previously only had 6 weeks and had to deal with deposit protection and arbitration etc.), and the agent takes a commission. In the event of a claim the company takes the role of final arbiter between tenant and landlord at no expense to the landlord. Sounds rational, assuming the economics of the business model are sustainable and you trust the claim/arbitration process. I’ve not gotten as far as reading the T’s and C’s. Anyone else come across this? https://reposit.co.uk/letting-agents/

Hi all, I just listened to The DPS (Deposit Protection Service) webinar and they gave a list of common mistakes when submitting a claim for a deposit. My notes below if anyone is interested. Common Mistakes: 1. Missing Evidence. Missed documents when submitting the claim. To counter this they suggest writing a list of all documents submitted with the claim so the adjudicator can request from you if its missing. If it is not mentioned in the list/notes the adjudicator is not allowed to request it. 2. Check In/Out Inventory. Hand written Inventories. If text is not legible they can not be used as evidence. suggest getting inventories typed. 3. Check In/Out Inventory. If bedrooms are labeled differently in check in to check out. Ie: one report states bedroom 3 and the check out states bedroom 1. You will need to highlight this change as part of your evidence so that the adjudicator understands. 4. Check In/Out Inventory. If the check in report only conveys an overview of all rooms ie: ‘condition fine’ and the check out report goes into fine detail of the condition of skirting, doors etc (ie: detail not highlighted at check-in). The adjudicator might not find the documents are compatible and go in favour of the tenant. 5. Check In/Out Inventory. Missing check in and check out dates and names of person/company who did this. Double check the information is clear before submitting. 6. Unclear Claims. A common mistake is to lump too many issues together rather than listing all claims within their different categories separately. You can put multiple claims for different parts of the property. If you break down each claim separately it gives the tenant a chance to agree some of the claims and not having to dispute these. 7. Unclear Claims. Landlords thinking they can add additional claims once the claim has been submitted. All disputes must be brought up in the same claim at the start. 8. Being Aware of Losses Wait for quotations from your builder/contractor and submit these with the claim. Avoid submitting the claim early without quotes or receipts. 9. Confusing or Partial Evidence Usually to do with rent and what has been paid and not paid. The adjudicator is not an accountant so all unpaid rent has to be clearly demonstrated. You cannot just give one lump figure and need to give a full picture to demonstrate how you got to the final balance. Keep the rent statements simple for the adjudicator. Hope this helps someone, Jenica

Hello all, I hope I've posted this question in the right place. An exciting opportunity has arisen for me to purchase a property with a friend. We currently rent a flat in London but my friend is fortunate enough to have a significant amount of money to invest. I am not quite so fortunate and would need to obtain a mortgage. We are both first time buyers and my questions are as follows.. Does this type of mortgage exist? Would the availability of 70% cash of the property value count towards the deposit of my mortgage or would I need have my own deposit ie 10% of the amount borrowed. Thanks for your time in advance.

Hello, I am looking into doing flips to build capital faster. I already own a property though a limited company. The problems with using savings only to acquire property are that it takes time to save, months, and you can only do one property at a time. I do not own any personal property or have any other avenue to extract cash to used as deposit. I know a few friends who would be fine to lend me some money for a year. As a starting point, I am looking for suggestions on how to structure the financing with the people. They will only provide the money and not do anything in regards to the property. I will agree to give them a fixed return when I pay them pack. Any suggestion is much appreciated. For example on a property below and I belive the same principle will apply for a more expensive one. Purchase Price : £ 75k Deposit: £ 22.5k I put in £12.5k and the other person put in £10k. I return them an additioanl of £500 (5% much better than interest rate) Some thought I had I was thinking of taking a private loan from the person a few months prior to buying. This agreement would only be between me and the lender. Then, do a director's loan to my current Limited Company and use the money as deposit for a bridging finance. Is that something feasible ? Joint Venture though new SPV created only for this property but the downside would I would need to pay tax under my own name and it would not be worth to build capital. How to put the private loan directly to my current limited company so that bridging lenders accept it? They are not director's so it cannot be a directors loan. Is there any way? How does that work to put the friend as a second charge on the property ? Does the above make sense ? Any other ways please? Thank you

Hello everyone, This is my first post ever here so sorry if it's not correct in any way. i have signed an tenancy agreement with a tenant and they paid the deposit. Then a day later they said if they can delay the tenancy for a week then move in as they were having issues finding someone to rent their place... Now they don't want to move in a week later after their original move in date.. I have lost money and potential others tenants. Can I keep their deposit ? I have put this in their contract that If the tenant does not move in on the date stated then I will not be returning their deposit. This is in Scotland so I know the law is different in England ( i think) please advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Hi, I recently purchased my first property and currently choosing a letting agent. I’ve found one I like but for the deposit pretentiousness scheme they use Let Alliance. When I look on the government website they are not one of the 3 listed. Does anyone know if this is an issue or if different companies have scheme that are covered under the 3 government ones? Any thoughts/clarifications would be appreciated! Thanks, Jack

Hi, any insights would be much appreciated: I own a house jointly with a friend, the fixed term is due to end at the end of October. My friend will be buying me out and I should have about 22k My partner owns a house with her friend, which is currently for sale, she should get around 120k We are looking to buy a place together (~290), with 90% ltv, however we need to put an offer in asap (this week) Is there anyway we could access our properties equity now (given that they are for sale) to use as a deposit for the new purchase? We would only need around 45k total released (deposit Also we wouldn't want to pay the higher stamp duty rate of 8% for 2nd property ownership. I know this is a long shot, but didnt know if there is some financial wizardry possible. Thanks very much in advance

Hi everyone, I live in London and the rent I pay at the moment is much lower than the mortgage I would pay to buy the same kind of property here (like 40% cheaper). So, I'm thinking to invest my money in a buy-to-let somewhere else and keep renting in London. But I cannot find enough information online to understand if it's a good idea: Will lenders allow me to do buy-to-let as a first investment? Will I lose the the ability of using only the 10% deposit when I will buy my own house in the future? How will the Stamp Duty work? Will I pay less in the first buy-to-let and more in the future own home? Thanks in advance for any help!

My student tenants have vacated 3 months before the end of their tenancy. The property has been left in need of cleaning and redecoration, which would be claimable from their deposit. As the tenancy is still running, I haven't yet done a check out report to validate a deposit claim. However, I also cannot conduct viewings for future prospective tenants due to the condition of the property. The property needs to be redecorated and cleaned professionally before anyone will sign up. The concern is that if the redecorating and cleaning are started before the tenancy ends, then this will forfeit any claim on the deposit. Can the tenancy be ended now in order to get the check out report completed early? Can the tenants confirm the property is vacant so the process can be started? Has anyone got any experience or advice on what to do in this situation? Thanks in advance.

My student tenants have vacated 3 months before the end of their tenancy. The property has been left in need of cleaning and redecoration, which would be claimable from their deposit. As the tenancy is still running, I haven't yet done a check out report to validate a deposit claim. However, I also cannot conduct viewings for future prospective tenants due to the condition of the property. The property needs to be redecorated and cleaned professionally before anyone will sign up. The concern is that if the redecorating and cleaning are started before the tenancy ends, then this will forfeit any claim on the deposit. Can the tenancy be ended now in order to get the check out report completed early? Can the tenants confirm the property is vacant so the process can be started? Has anyone got any experience or advice on what to do in this situation? Thanks in advance.

Hello, just want to know if anyone has done or thoroughly researched this? Long story short, I've got a couple of friends /Family that are wanting to learn more about what I do in property. Mainly because they want to earn some money, but I'm wary that a full 50/50 venture could be difficult. What I'm proposing is that I simply give them interest on a loan they give me that I use towards a deposit for a property purchase. The property would be solely in my name, I would just simply keep them informed of everything I do with the property for the first couple of years so it almost gives them a trial run before jumping in on their own, takes away their risk of repairs/voids (that risk falls to me, but I'm OK with that) and eliminates their need for a tax return (as the earnings will sit within their personal savings allowance) Am I missing anything on this? Seems a very good deal for them, and sits within my risk profile and cashflow requirements.

Well, here's something I've not come across previously. Tenant has caused damage on Day one of the tenancy. Friday I had professional photos taken of a staged flat, to use in future adverts. Friday evening and Saturday morning staging removed and flat cleaned. 12pm Saturday the inventory was done and at 2pm I check the tenant in. 5pm tenants tells me they've damaged the floor. I have a look and it's half a 5 pence piece gouge out of the brand new (good quality) laminate floor in the middle of the room. Credit where credit is due she did own up right away and tell me. She told me she thinks it happened while they were moving their furniture/fridge in. I'm not really sure what to do in this situation. If they'd dented the wall or door I would just want to leave it until checkout, however, because it's in a kitchen/living room and the gouge is deep and has taken off the top protective layers of wood and left the more soft looking underlayer, my main concern is when they inevitably mop or get water in the floor it could damage it further. How would you move forward?

Hi guys, just a quick few questions on tax that come up less often. BTL insurance claim, if you claim on your insurance for damage to a BTL property, do you claim the insurance payout as income and claim any contractor repair costs as expenses or do you claim neither as its an insurance payout rather than earned income? If you withhold some or all of the deposit due to losses of time, work, rent, damage or whatever, either for actual contractor costs or for your own time and hard work to clean and repair etc, does this need to be claimed as income or not as the deposit is actually to counter act your losses? Many Thanks Scott Child

Me and my partner are desperate to move out of my mums house but also I want to save up for a deposit for a flat. What's the best way to go about this?

I have originally posted it to Contractor advice. So, please use this topic for answers. I think legal advice is more what I am after. Link to my other post (I don't know how I can delete previous post): I need your advice - I am having a difficult time with a contractor. I will keep my story very brief (as much as I can). So, the status is that: I have paid deposit £1000 (bank transfer) for stuff which hasn't been clearly specified on Friday. We discussed number of issues, however not in detail. I said my priorities are: boiler replacement, consumer unit replacement and roof maintenance. I understood that we would continue discussion on Monday, what is going to be done and have proper quotes. So, quote for the roof will be taken after he actually has seen the roof from a ladder. However, on Sunday the contractor asked me for my full address, so he can order "cherry picker" to my address - So, I said don't do it - I want to cancel the work. He said that he would come on Monday to discuss the issues and briefly mentioned that incurred costs already! Obviously, this is a lie - as he was pretty busy this Friday (he left at least 3pm in the afternoon) and he doesn't work on weekends. Plus, what costs he could incur? We didn't specify boiler apart from it has to be conventional with silencer - I need far more than that (in his head he knows what I want). So, I don't have quotes apart values taken on the spot on Friday. Which are not on company paper, etc. I have some numbers on my discussion list - which are totally unclear for a 3rd person what it is about. He didn't give me break down of fees, nor I signed any documents for. I am afraid that he can make false receipts or ask someone to create fake ones. So, he can claim the costs and get money back from his friendly tradesman. Obviously, on Monday he called me from hidden number (around 5pm) and we discussed issues briefly. I told him that I have 14 days cooling off period and I don't have to say the reason why I want to cancel. On Friday, he said he would come to mine around 6pm. However, on Monday's phone call he moved it to 7.30 pm or 8ish - because he is in London. So, he didn't come nor sent any message that he wouldn't come. So, I sent him signed cancellation letter via Facebook's messenger around 9 pm - I don't have his "trade address" or any other address (I have used template from the Internet - stating my rights and that I want my refund and I gave him 7 days from delivery of the message). He called me again from hidden number - which I have managed to record (unfortunately this is in Polish - but if I have to go to court I will be able to prove his practices). In the conversation, he also said that he can specify a service which didn't happen and this was payment for it (despite he doesn't have any signed paper from myself - apart from cancellation paper). So, I won't see my money back. I have managed to calm the situation down and ask him to come to mine on Friday to discuss the issues and get the proper quotes. I hope, I can get control of the process in the end. My main goal for this meeting is to get his address - just in case, if I have to sue him - So, I don't have to chase him to find his address (I am not sure, if I can take him to trade standards or court without having address). I consider that someone from his team could do electrics, if I have a good quote. And I have the control who is doing the work, that he has proper certificates, etc. However, I am not making free decision here. It is rather blackmail, than "cooperation". I am forced to it - but it might do a relatively "mild compromise", if anyone could say that. And I would avoid going to court. I wonder if you could suggest possible solutions. The case seems to be difficult - but not lost yet.

Please use this topic to reply: @Admin - please delete this topic, as Legal Advice is more appropriate ( I believe ). I need your advice - I am having a difficult time with a contractor. I will keep my story very brief (as much as I can). So, the status is that: I have paid deposit £1000 (bank transfer) for stuff which hasn't been clearly specified on Friday. We discussed number of issues, however not in detail. I said my priorities are: boiler replacement, consumer unit replacement and roof maintenance. I understood that we would continue discussion on Monday, what is going to be done and have proper quotes. So, quote for the roof will be taken after he actually has seen the roof from a ladder. However, on Sunday the contractor asked me for my full address, so he can order "cherry picker" to my address - So, I said don't do it - I want to cancel the work. He said that he would come on Monday to discuss the issues and briefly mentioned that incurred costs already! Obviously, this is a lie - as he was pretty busy this Friday (he left at least 3pm in the afternoon) and he doesn't work on weekends. Plus, what costs he could incur? We didn't specify boiler apart from it has to be conventional with silencer - I need far more than that (in his head he knows what I want). So, I don't have quotes apart values taken on the spot on Friday. Which are not on company paper, etc. I have some numbers on my discussion list - which are totally unclear for a 3rd person what it is about. He didn't give me break down of fees, nor I signed any documents for. I am afraid that he can make false receipts or ask someone to create fake ones. So, he can claim the costs and get money back from his friendly tradesman. Obviously, on Monday he called me from hidden number (around 5pm) and we discussed issues briefly. I told him that I have 14 days cooling off period and I don't have to say the reason why I want to cancel. On Friday, he said he would come to mine around 6pm. However, on Monday's phone call he moved it to 7.30 pm or 8ish - because he is in London. So, he didn't come nor sent any message that he wouldn't come. So, I sent him signed cancellation letter via Facebook's messenger around 9 pm - I don't have his "trade address" or any other address (I have used template from the Internet - stating my rights and that I want my refund and I gave him 7 days from delivery of the message). He called me again from hidden number - which I have managed to record (unfortunately this is in Polish - but if I have to go to court I will be able to prove his practices). In the conversation, he also said that he can specify a service which didn't happen and this was payment for it (despite he doesn't have any signed paper from myself - apart from cancellation paper). So, I won't see my money back. I have managed to calm the situation down and ask him to come to mine on Friday to discuss the issues and get the proper quotes. I hope, I can get control of the process in the end. My main goal for this meeting is to get his address - just in case, if I have to sue him - So, I don't have to chase him to find his address (I am not sure, if I can take him to trade standards or court without having address). I consider that someone from his team could do electrics, if I have a good quote. And I have the control who is doing the work, that he has proper certificates, etc. However, I am not making free decision here. It is rather blackmail, than "cooperation". I am forced to it - but it might do a relatively "mild compromise", if anyone could say that. And I would avoid going to court. I wonder if you could suggest possible solutions. The case seems to be difficult - but not lost yet.

Hi, I am thinking about starting a limited company SPV for my next and subsequent purchases, so that their tax treatment is more favourable. I am thinking about affordability criteria for mortgage lenders. Clearly there will be affordability criteria and rent : mortgage standards of a similar nature to the personal mortgages market and I get that interest rate and set up costs are likely to be higher. However in order to get the company started I will clearly have to fund it in order for there to be money there for deposits, legal fees etc. Here are some questions that I would appreciate advice on: 1) Would a mortgage lender expect the company to have some cash reserves to help through voids / unexpected expenses etc, and if so are there set proportions for this? If so this would affect the initial amount needed to be put into the company. Alternatively do they presume that the individual setting up the company will fund those issues until the companies profit has built up to do this for it? 2) When I inject cash into the business to start it up, is this considered a debt that the company owns the individual who creates it? And if so, when considering affordability of the loan / LTV, would the lender take that into account. I am hoping that it can just be assumed that when starting the business the funds are in there and are the property of the business and therefore this does not make the mortgage application look unaffordable. Grateful for your thoughts on these. Steve

Hi all, Looking at two developments up north where the developers are asking for 25% and 35% deposit respectively. Is this standard for a development? Lawyers have said developers shouldn't require more than 10%... Pretty much everything I'm seeing on the market is 25%+ however. Sincerely, Confused member

Hello Everyone, I am planning to embark on a BTL journey via the SPV company route. I have got enough funds in my limited company to cash buy 1-2 properties but am a bit unsure about the best possible way to transfer the same into the new SPV. Any advice would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Arunjay

Hi guys could really do with some advice and guidance on the below! Developer gave me the below response when I asked how my deposit would be protected. Your thoughts? Thanks in advance! "With regards to the protection, upon exchange of Contracts you become a shareholder within the LTD company that the development is under. The developer has to be working in arrears at all times on the build meaning that if they was to go bust you would have a development part completed but the building would be worth far greater than what your initial 25% along with whatever funds was still remaining in the accounts of the company, this would enable the shareholder to then re appoint a new construction company to finish the remainder. This is a far better security than usual with normally only 10% of your deposit being covered by the majority of developers.In any case, with this being a renovation of an existing building the likelihood of them not completing is very slim."

Hello, I am a new investor to property, but have many friends who are in the game. I have a cash fund however, my strategy was going to be 25% LTV buy to Lets, aim to negotiate a good price, in 1 years time refinance. My strategy would have been to use a mortgage, at fixed rate for longest erm possible, 10 years if possible and go interest only. Now my question is what happens to my strategy when interest rates start to rise. Historically in 1989 they were as high as 13.5%. When I come to remortgage what if I'm in a slump. What if interest rates are 8-10%, what would be the exit strategy, as worst case scenario if I was in a position where we were in slump I couldn't sell, and to get a mortgage at 8% would likely put property into negative cash flow? What are peoples thoughts.

Hi all, Anyone here know much about the MCOL / small claims court process? I've got as far as "Notice of Judgement Entered" but not sure what happens next.. The situation follows a deposit deductions dispute, couldn't reach agreement on deductions directly with the tenant so had to refer to TDS. However due to various things happening in my life I only managed to get round to submitting the dispute to them online on the last day - and it took WAY longer than expected spending many hours on this, I ended up finishing the process and submitting an hour after midnight.. which TDS then refused to adjudicate due to being too late! So TDS say I need court order via small claims court now aka Money Claim Online for them to release the deposit. Now what needs to be done to get said court order now that I've got as far as this notice of judgement? All I've read so far is as clear as mud and TDS are about as useful as a chocolate teapot as usual.. Suggestions / links much appreciated! Thanks, Justin