Ask The Experts

Once you have viewed the property with your estate agent and want to secure it, you will need to put down a holding deposit equivalent to a single week's worth of rent. The agent cannot take the property off of the market until this is done!

Due to the changes in legislation in June 2019, tenants now only need to pay their one weeks holding deposit and either a 5 week cash deposit or zero deposit (fees apply) if they decide to go with that option. The aim of the Act is to reduce the costs that tenants can face at the outset, and throughout a tenancy. Tenants will be able to see, at a glance, what a given property will cost them in the advertised rent with no hidden costs.

A cash deposit is a 5 week deposit which would be returned to you at the end of the tenancy (subject to a satisfactory check-out report and no damages). Zero deposit replaces this 5 weeks deposit (fees apply) with a policy that provides 6 weeks of deposit cover. Tenants will still need to pass the referencing process regardless of which option they take.