A deposit or bond is a payment made on the property to protect the landlord against any damage to the property during your tenancy.
The amount depends on your circumstances and can range from 1 month's rent - 2 month's rent. You can pay this amount and the deposit administration amount before, or up to one week after, the contract signing by bank transfer (providing you don't need to move in). Or you can pay on the contract signing day in cash.
Your deposit will be held in one of the authorised deposit protection schemes. The scheme used will depend on which landlord you have and you will be given this information at your contract signing.
Your deposit is paid back to you at the end of your tenancy. In order for it to be refunded you will need to do the following:
We will send you a damage report within two weeks of the tenancy ending. If you disagree with the charges, you will have seven days to respond. We will consider your comments, review the case, and negotiate in cases where we think it appropriate.
If we are still unable to reach a satisfactory position, the disputed amount will go into dispute with the deposit protection agency. We will refund the balance that is not in dispute within two weeks of receiving confirmation that payment of all the final bills has been made.