Rent in Advance and Deposits: Moving After a Death

If you have just been bereaved and you are trying to work out how much money you need up front to rent somewhere you can afford on one income, the honest answer is larger than most people brace for. Moving to a cheaper home costs, in ready cash, a little over two months' rent before you have slept a single night in the new place — and that is before the removal van turns up.

The cost of moving house after a bereavement is really several bills landing in the same fortnight: a holding deposit to take the property off the market, a tenancy deposit, the first month's rent in advance, and the move itself. Most of these are capped by law, which helps. But the caps are set as multiples of the rent, so on anything but the cheapest home they still add up to a sum you have to find in one go.

The cruel part is the timing. The deposit on the home you are leaving does not come back until after that tenancy has ended and any deductions are settled — which almost always falls after the new landlord wants their money. So for a few weeks you are funding two deposits at once. That overlap is what makes moving so expensive so soon after a death, and it is why "just move somewhere smaller" is rarely as simple as the advice makes it sound.

The short answer: a bit over two months' rent, all at once

Line the pieces up as multiples of the new rent and the picture is clear. A holding deposit is capped at one week's rent. A tenancy deposit is capped at five weeks' rent on most homes. The first month's rent is due before you get the keys. Add those together and you are already at around ten weeks — roughly two and a half months' rent — landing in the space of a fortnight, and the removal is on top.

The one piece of good news is that the holding deposit is not usually lost. If the tenancy goes ahead it is normally credited towards your first rent or your deposit, so it is not money on top so much as money you have to have ready first. The deposit and the first month's rent, though, are genuinely additional, and they are the bulk of the bill.

None of this is the landlord being difficult. The amounts are set by statute, and a reputable letting agent is simply passing on figures they are not allowed to exceed. Knowing the caps is useful for a different reason: it lets you check that what you are being asked for is lawful, and it lets you plan the total before you fall in love with a flat you cannot yet fund.

The holding deposit: one week's rent to reserve the property

When you find somewhere and want it held while references are done, the landlord or agent can ask for a holding deposit. In England the Tenant Fees Act 2019 caps this at one week's rent, and it must be put towards the rent or the deposit if the tenancy proceeds. If you pull out, or give false information, you can lose it; if the landlord pulls out, or simply lets the deadline pass, it should be refunded.

The practical point after a bereavement is that this is the first cash you need, often within a day or two of viewing, and often before you have had a benefits check or worked out whether you can really afford the place. Do not hand it over until you are as sure as you can be, because that is the one part of the bill you can actually lose.

Source: gov.uk, Tenant Fees Act 2019: guidance, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The tenancy deposit: five or six weeks, on top

The tenancy deposit — the money held against damage and unpaid rent — is the biggest single piece. In England it is capped at five weeks' rent where the total annual rent is under £50,000, and six weeks' rent where the annual rent is £50,000 or more. It must be protected in a government-approved scheme within 30 days, and you should be given the prescribed information telling you which scheme holds it.

This is the amount that most often stops a move in its tracks, because it is real money you cannot get back until the end of the new tenancy, and you need it before the old one has released yours. It is worth asking the new landlord whether they will accept a deposit replacement scheme instead, though these charge a non-refundable fee and are not always cheaper in the long run.

Source: gov.uk, Tenant Fees Act 2019: guidance, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Rent in advance: what the Renters' Rights Act now caps

Until recently some landlords asked bereaved or single-income renters for several months' rent in advance in place of a guarantor — sometimes six months, sometimes a whole year. That could put a home out of reach for exactly the households most likely to be offered the demand. The Renters' Rights Act limits the rent a landlord can require in advance to one month, which removes that particular barrier.

So the advance you need to budget for is one month's rent, not a lump the size of a car. If you are being asked for more than a month up front, that is worth questioning. The rule sits alongside the wider changes the Act made to what happens to a tenancy on a death, which we cover separately in what the Renters' Rights Act changed when a tenant dies — the same law that caps the advance also decided whether you could have stayed put in the first place.

Why your old deposit is stuck, and the rest of the bill

The deposit on your current home is only released once that tenancy has formally ended and any deductions are agreed with the scheme. Between handing back the keys and the money arriving there can be weeks, and if there is a dispute over cleaning or damage it can be longer. The new landlord will not wait for that. So the working assumption should be that you fund the new deposit from your own resources and treat the old one as a refund that arrives later, not as the money you are moving with.

Then there is the move itself. A removal firm, or a van and a couple of days off work; the overlap where you are paying rent on both homes for a week or two; redirection of post; possibly a period without broadband. None of these is huge on its own, but together they are why the true cost of moving runs well past the deposits. If the person who died was the tenant and their bank account has been frozen, be aware that money owed to their estate cannot simply be tapped for your move — a problem we look at in the context of handling a bank after a death, where the rules on releasing funds differ from one part of the UK to another.

Does moving somewhere cheaper actually save you money?

This is the question the arithmetic exists to answer, and the answer is often "not as much, or as soon, as you think." Set the up-front cost of moving against the monthly saving, and see how many months it takes to break even. If the move costs you the thick end of two months' rent to make, and the cheaper home saves you a tenth of your rent each month, you are into your second year before you are genuinely ahead. Move again in the meantime, or change a child's school, and the saving can vanish entirely.

There is a supply problem underneath this too. A genuinely cheaper home has to exist and be available in an area that works for you, and private rents have risen across the UK in recent years, which has thinned out the bottom of the market. The Office for National Statistics tracks this in its monthly rents index, and the direction has been upward almost everywhere.

Source: Office for National Statistics, Price Index of Private Rents, UK, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

None of that means staying put is always right — sometimes a smaller place near family is exactly the answer. But it does mean the decision deserves the sums, not just the instinct that cheaper must be better. Our guide to renting and tenancy after a death gathers the other pieces that feed into it, from succession rights to what a landlord can and cannot charge.

Where the up-front cash can come from

Before you assume the money has to come out of thin air, check what you are entitled to. Bereavement Support Payment includes a lump sum for those who qualify, and it can be claimed even months after a death, though claiming promptly matters — we set out why in whether a bereavement claim is still worth making years later. A benefits check from Citizens Advice will also tell you whether your Universal Credit housing element, or Housing Benefit if you are a social tenant, would cover more of the new rent than you expect.

It is also worth asking the council about a discretionary housing payment towards a deposit or moving costs, and asking the new landlord whether the deposit can be paid in instalments over the first months. Free help is available from Citizens Advice and the government-backed MoneyHelper, neither of which will sell you anything.

The deeper point is why a move like this hurts so much: one income has gone, and the household's costs have not. This is the gap that a family income benefit policy is designed for — cover that pays a regular, tax-free amount for the rest of a set term, so the rent and the move do not have to come out of savings at the worst possible time. If you are the person still earning and reading this because you have realised how exposed the household would be, you can get life insurance quotes and have an FCA-authorised broker size it against your actual rent and the years your family would need it.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

The shape of the bill is similar across the UK, but the caps differ. In Scotland the deposit is limited to no more than two months' rent under the tenancy deposit rules, and it must be lodged in an approved scheme; there is no separate holding-deposit regime like England's, and the private residential tenancy works differently again. In Northern Ireland deposits are also protected in a scheme, but the framework and the caps are set separately from Great Britain.

Wherever you are, the timing trap is the same: the deposit you already have is tied up until the old tenancy ends, so you almost always need the new one first. And wherever you are, the honest sum to do before deciding is the up-front cost of the move set against the monthly saving. If you rent in Scotland and are weighing whether you could even stay in the current home, our guide to tenancy succession in Scotland when a tenant dies covers who is entitled to remain before a move is forced at all.

Frequently asked questions

How much can a landlord ask for up front?

In England, under the Tenant Fees Act, a holding deposit is capped at one week's rent, and a tenancy deposit at five weeks' rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, or six weeks' rent where it is £50,000 or more. The Renters' Rights Act limits rent in advance to one month. Anything beyond that combination is worth questioning, and the deposit caps in Scotland and Northern Ireland are set separately.

Will the old deposit come back before I need the new one?

Rarely in time. The outgoing deposit is only released once the old tenancy has ended and any deductions are settled, which usually falls after the new landlord wants their money. Most households have to fund both deposits at once, and that overlap is what makes moving so expensive so soon after a death. Treat the old deposit as a refund that arrives later, not as the money you are moving with.

Is moving somewhere cheaper always the right answer?

Not automatically. Set the up-front cash — holding deposit, tenancy deposit, first month and removals — against the monthly saving, and see how many months it takes to break even. If the household might move again soon, or children would have to change school, staying put can work out cheaper overall. Do the sum before you decide, and check what you could claim before you assume a move is unavoidable.