A Manchester landlord has fought off an unusual claim by a prospective tenant who took her to court over an un-returned holding deposit.

Tenant Ameka Udeh had claimed to a First Tier residential property tribunal that landlord Rachell Kwan should return her one-week £311.54 holding deposit for the flat in the city’s fashionable Potato Wharf development (pictured).

What makes it unusual is that Kwan, Udeh and her co-tenant and sister Sammy Dabiri, all used separate Open Rent accounts to manage the negotiations and initial onboarding prior to agreeing the tenancy.

The unusual nature of the Tribunal ruling, which found in the favour of the landlord, means Kwan can now keep the holding deposit. Also, the two tenants set up and used separate accounts to apply for the tenancy.

One key problem, the court heard, was that the Open Rent platform could not join up the dots digitally between the three and before the problem could be resolved, the statutory 15 days had passed and the whole deal fell through, with Kwan keeping the deposit.

No fault

Udeh contended to the Tribunal that it was not her fault that it took so long for Open Rent to sort out the digital problems created by her and her sibling’s dual accounts, but Judge Phillip Barber disagreed.

He said: “We have decided that it is the [tenant] who has failed to take all reasonable steps.

“It seems to us that it is ab initio the [prospective renter’s] fault that this tenancy agreement could not complete using the Open Rent system and within the legislative timescale.

“It was her sister who paid the holding deposit via her sister’s account, that was obviously a mistake and probably an innocent one, but it would be unfair to effectively punish the landlord for that mistake by directing the return of the holding deposit.”

Read the ruling in full.