Off the market

When a rental property is “off the market”, it means you have stopped actively advertising or accepting new applications for it. In practical terms, the listing is withdrawn or paused on portals and from your agent’s window, and you should not be lining up fresh viewings or encouraging new offers.

this most often happens when:

• You have accepted a prospective tenant, usually alongside a holding deposit, and are going through referencing checks and contract drafting, or

• You decide not to let for now. For example, you plan to sell, refurbish or move in yourself.

Under the Tenant Fees Act and the Renters’ Rights Act, if you have taken a holding deposit, you are expected to treat the property as off the market for that applicant during the agreed “deadline for agreement”. Taking multiple overlapping holding deposits, or quietly continuing to invite competing bids, risks being seen as unfair or misleading and may require refunds or trigger enforcement.

Good practice is to confirm in writing when the property is taken off the market, how long it will be reserved while checks are done, and on what basis it will be re-marketed if the tenancy does not proceed. For example, failed reference checks or the applicant withdrawing.

Also see our landlord blog articles.