Holding deposit

Letting Agents

An agent has been advertising my property for a while now; there have been some viewings but nothing concrete yet.

There was an offer after the first viewing; but later the agent told me the tenant never paid the holding depoits hence it didn't work out.

Now I want to change agent so I am telling current agent to take the propery off the market. Right after I told them, I was told there has been a new offer already but no holding deposit yet; they forgot to update me on the offer and still waiting for the holding deposit. Just one more reason to dislike any agent!!!

My question is, as a landlord, how do I know whether a holding deposit has been paid? Is it paid to the agent's account or mine?

Normally how soon should a holding deposit be expected to be paid once an offer is made?

If the holding deposit is paid to the agent directly, and the agent doesn't tell me it has happened and subsequently the tenant failed the referencing checking, can't the agent just keep the holding depoit and I would have no idea all this has happened?!