Full deposit demanded immediately after provisional offer
Hi everyone, looking for a sense check on a letting agency process in Edinburgh. We received a provisional acceptance for a rental property, and the agency says we must pay the full tenancy deposit immediately to take the property off the market. However, affordability checks, referencing and document checks would only happen after payment, and no tenancy agreement has been signed yet. They say the deposit is refundable if the application is not verified or the offer is withdrawn.
My concern is that this seems to operate like a holding deposit in practice, but for the full tenancy deposit amount, which locks the applicant in much more tightly immediately after a provisional offer. If we pay now, they could later say we do not pass affordability unless we provide a guarantor or pay rent in advance. If we cannot agree to those later terms, I worry they may treat it as us choosing not to proceed rather than the offer being withdrawn, and the refund could become subjective and in their favour because the tenancy has not started and the deposit is not protected yet.
I am new to renting in Edinburgh and would like to know: is this common practice here? Any local insight would be hugely appreciated.