Renting a room - does this sound ok

Ilovelucy

My daughter put a tweet out that she is looking for a room. She gets a reply and daughter goes to see the room. Looks nice and is suitable for her needs. She has been asked to pay out the deposit to the girl leaving the house and the first months rent to another bank account (has been told this is the landlords by the leaving tenant) Both of the bank accounts are Irish banks.

Is this the normal procedure when you are taking over a room?

ec18

It's not unusual I've done it a few times, just get her to confirm the details

Ilovelucy

How do you mean confirm details - sorry a long time since I rented a room.

ec18

the bank details are correct for where the money is going

Ilovelucy

Thanks again I suppose if it was a scam the full amount would be going to the one person. I am just hovering in the background on this one as it is her first accommodation when she hasn't been a student.

Emma2019

You need to first confirm with the landlord that they didn't return the deposit to the girl that's leaving. The deposit should go to the landlord but sometimes if there's no issues with the room/house it's easier for the newcomer to pay the person leaving rather than having to involve the landlord.

Get her to make sure she takes photos of the house, especially her room as it doesn't sound like an inspection is being done when the other girl moves out so she should cover herself to make sure she doesn't get blamed for anything that was already there when she moves in. To make things less awkward in a new house I would just do it on the sly myself.

Ilovelucy

Good advice thankyou