When I was housesharing, the new tenant paid the deposit to the one leaving. We never told the landlord,( but there was 4 of us) they were only concerned that they got their money every month. However, given your brother's circumstances, and likely need for a signed tenancy agreement & sorting out of deposits, it would seem advisable to contact the landlord first. He might be a stickler and insist on loss of deposit due to break in lease, but if s/he's reasonable he should be able to negotiate. Only issue might be if damage occurred already, and the new tenant didn't get their deposit back. But maybe a visit from the landlord prior to change-over might overcome this, so that it's a clean handover.