rental deposit

[ubercal]

Question ... Ive been renting at a specific place for the past 11 months.the current lease agreement is between myself and the estate agent.Now i will be staying on for another year , but myself and the landlord have agreed to not use the estate agent for the renewal.Now how does it work for getting my deposit back ?

 

[saor]

Your initial deposit went to the estate agent?

 

[ubercal]

Your initial deposit went to the estate agent?

Yes

 

[Grubscrew]

Uhm, what does your lease say? And what was the initial mandate from the landlord to the estate agent?

 

[saor]

Your lease with the estate agents is coming to an end / being terminated - assuming things are ok they should return your deposit. Then you give a new deposit to the landlord, whatever their terms are.

 

[Venomous]

The estate agent needs to trf the deposit over to the landlord.


Also note that while not that common yet more and more landlords request, and are entitled to, that the deposit amount be topped up to match the new rental amount, this can be done anually or whenever lease increases occur.

 

[Splinter]

Question ... Ive been renting at a specific place for the past 11 months.the current lease agreement is between myself and the estate agent.Now i will be staying on for another year , but myself and the landlord have agreed to not use the estate agent for the renewal.Now how does it work for getting my deposit back ?

The lease has to be between you and the owner. The deposit might have gone into the rental agents trust account so you can get interest on it.

The issue of the deposit, seeing as you are staying in same place, is between your landlord and the rental agent. Why would you expect to get your deposit back if you still renting at same place?

 

[Splinter]

Also note that while not that common yet more and more landlords request, and are entitled to, that the deposit amount be topped up to match the new rental amount, this can be done anually or whenever lease increases occur.

Since when? Only if the lease agreement makes provision for it?

 

[ubercal]

thanks guys , just wanted to be clear on the process

 

[Tomtomtom]

Also note that while not that common yet more and more landlords request, and are entitled to, that the deposit amount be topped up to match the new rental amount, this can be done anually or whenever lease increases occur.

Since when? Only if the lease agreement makes provision for it?

It's a new lease though, so the terms are free to change.

Deposit amount needing "topping up" cynically assumes the rental is increasing by more than the compounded interest on the deposit... which shouldn't be standard and tenants should use this as an opportunity to query interest rates and/or rental escalation.

Tenants should expect reasonable interest on their funds held in deposit by landlords or agents. The former tend to spend the deposit and sometimes don't have the cash flow to repay the principal, nevermind interest. Agents are better but they get away with offering minimal interest rates, of course keeping part of the underlying earnings for themselves ("commission").

 

[Splinter]

It's a new lease though, so the terms are free to change.

Deposit amount needing "topping up" cynically assumes the rental is increasing by more than the compounded interest on the deposit... which shouldn't be standard and tenants should use this as an opportunity to query interest rates.

Tenants should expect reasonable interest on their funds held in deposit by landlords or agents. The former tend to spend the deposit and sometimes don't have the cash flow to repay the principal, nevermind interest. Agents are better but they get away with a minimal interest rate, and of course keep part of the underlying earnings for themselves ("commission").

There has been no info as to this being a new lease. Even so, the deposit issue is not something a tenant should be worried about.

But I agree with you about the deposit thing. This also needs to be covered by the lease. You need to put it away in a separate account. The costs of doing so often would outway the minimal interest a rental deposit would earn though. That's why rental agents could get your business, seeing as they have "trust" accounts.

I have just done this with my latest tenant because I could open a small interest bearing account with my current bank at no extra charge.