Tenants can offer a holding deposit at any point during the time your property is advertised.
Until you accept that holding deposit, your property will remain online. You will have 96 hours to respond to a proposed holding deposit before we'll automatically refund it.
When you accept the holding deposit we take your property offline and inform all previous enquiries that the property is no longer available.
You can find out more about why your property is taken offline here.
There's no need to get back in touch with tenants to cancel viewings - we do this for you by informing them the property is no longer available upon you accepting the holding deposit.
You can find out more about the next stages in Rent Now here.
What if I'm not ready to progress the application?
Once you confirm you wish move forwards with a set of tenants, you have 96 hours to progress the application. Most people will do this straight away. Progressing means doing one of the following:
- Ordering referencing on OpenRent as part of the Rent Now application (any references you have already ordered will need to be linked and the Rent Now application moved to the referencing stage)
- Issuing the contract to the tenants for their signature
- Returning the deposit to the tenants
We understand that some people may want more time to make a decision or wish to reference tenants off-platform, but it is important that tenants holding deposits do not remain in limbo. Ultimately, we require a decision to be made on site within the 96 hour timeframe, and a landlord can never claim the deposit unless they have progressed with option 1 or 2 above.
We therefore suggest returning the deposit to the tenants if you do not intend to progress within this time frame. The tenants can always place the deposit again later when you are ready to progress with their application. A landlord cannot claim the holding deposit before this as they cannot be said to have taken all reasonable steps to enter the tenancy at this point. If a tenant pulls out before that point, or no action is taken within 96 hours, the deposit will be refunded to them.