Will my landlord ask for a deposit?

Landlords will almost invariably ask for a deposit. They will then return this on your departure unless there has been damage to the property or if you have failed to honour your lease. The Housing Act 2004 protects a tenant's deposit from being unfairly retained. More information on this. Additionally, future legislation to be brought in on 6 April 2007 will require all deposits to be protected by a tenancy deposit protection scheme.

What are the advantages of renting property from an independent landlord over renting from an agent?

Renting property from an independent landlord appeals to some people because of its flexibility and lack of official bodies. You can deal with an individual person, often one who has a vested interest in taking care of the property and ensuring it is rented to the right kind of people (a landlord might not want to rent out their late Grandmother's cherished house to someone messy or destructive, for example). It can be possible to forge a real relationship with the landlord, with the corresponding advantages that go along with that. They might be easier to get in touch with outside office hours, and they might respond more quickly when you call about repairs.

Independent landlords may have more room for negotiation when it comes to rental price - and of course, they don't have to include agents' fees. Similarly, they might be prepared to be more flexible about terms and conditions: that "no pets" clause in the lease might be a catch-all intended to avoid noisy dogs and they could be very open to amending it for your tank of goldfish. However, the lack of red-tape and paperwork could also be a potential disadvantage. An individual landlord could be unhelpful, prejudiced, disorganised or dishonest, and getting problems sorted out is more difficult when there's no official complaints procedure. For these reasons, some people prefer to deal with a letting agent – someone to negotiate with the landlord on their behalf. A larger company will have official standards of service to meet and it may be easier to approach them with problems.

Case 1

Name: Amy
Age: 23
Occupation: Art student Lives: Brixton, South London, with 2 others in a 3 bedroom flat with an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement. Rent: £90 per week plus bills; water rates are included. Amy chose the flat after looking at adverts in Loot magazine. She has found her landlady to be very friendly and helpful, particularly when emergency repairs were needed on a leaking shower – "she sent a plumber round straight away". However, they have been involved in a long-running dispute about the fact that the flat has mice: the landlady feels that the students encouraged the mice by leaving food around, and wants to take the money needed for a rodent catcher out of their holding deposit.

Case 2

Name: Chris
Age: 26
Occupation: Floor manager at WH Smith Lives: Willesdon, North London, with his girlfriend, a student, in a resident landlord property. Rent: £70 per week each for their large double bedroom, bills included. Chris and his girlfriend rent the top-floor bedroom in the house of an older lady called Angela. The couple get on well with Angela, and spend several evenings a week with her. They get relatively cheap rent in a nice house, while she enjoys the company and has the peace of mind of knowing she's not living alone.