Tenants - How to secure a rental property

 

Identify a property to rent

 

Prospective tenants should contact our office to view any properties considered suitable. Once a suitable property has been chosen an application can be made, subject to your circumstances, please contact our office for advice on submitting applications.  

 

All properties are usually available on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement for a minimum of 6 months, with longer tenancies possibly agreed by separate negotiation.

 

We do not operate a tenant mailing list due to the current extreme volume of applicants and rapid turnover of properties, to register to receive our new listings please just use this link below to our Rightmove home page, then click `Create Alert’  at the top, and follow the on screen instructions; 


https://tinyurl.com/LetsafeSearch

 

 

The application process

Application forms are issued by Letsafe and completed online, and we may ask for a holding fee of one weeks rent, our application forms explain the terms of placing a holding fee.

 

Applicants may be asked to include a suitable guarantor with their application, depending on circumstances and findings of the referencing process. Please ask our office for advice on this requirement.

 

As letting agents we will require references which may be gathered by our office or via a referencing agency, before agreeing to any tenancy.

 

Any applicants not in secure permanent employment, or with poor credit rating, will likely be asked to provide a guarantor who is willing to be referenced, and who will be responsible for non payment of rent and damages for as long as the applicant resides in the property, and who will sign the tenancy agreement with the tenant.

 

All applicants will be required to produce identification before a tenancy is completed, we would require photographic ID (passport or driving license), together with proof of address (like a recent utility bill or bank statement)

 

Our Policy on Tenants in Receipt of Benefits

We are pleased to be a 'DSS / Universal Credit' friendly agency, with many such tenants already in our landlords properties.  We routinely advise our landlords to consider such applications.

 

All applications are subject to usual checks carried out during our standard application and referencing process, these checks include an affordability assessment based on the property and rent versus your income using an industry standard calculation, various references including any employer, previous landlords, and a standard credit search.  We would require supporting evidence of income and expenditure to assess affordability for the property.  Such applicants may be asked to provide a suitable working & homeowner guarantor who is locally based.  

 

The property

Please check with our office in regards to any furnishings included, if not clearly stated on our advert, some properties may be photographed or viewed with items not included in the tenancy.

 

Unless we are instructed otherwise an inventory will be prepared on the opening condition of the property and signed with the tenancy agreement. Excluding fair wear and tear, tenants are responsible for any damages caused during their occupation and such damages can be deducted from deposits or in some cases pursued via the court process at the end of the tenancy. This policy would include external garden maintenance and damages.

 

All tenancies are exclusive of any utility bills (for example gas / electric / water / council tax / phone / tv supplies). Tenants should make arrangements for supplies to be online before they move into any property.

 

Tenants should arrange their own contents insurance when renting part or unfurnished properties.

 

Payment of rent & deposit

Rent will be payable weekly or monthly in advance, tenants should set up a standing order for rent payments to the bank details noted on the tenancy agreement. Initial period rent and deposit monies are payable upon signing the tenancy agreement.

 

Damage deposits are usually calculated at 5 weeks normal rent for the property, unless otherwise stated. If a ‘pet increase’ is applied to rent, please ask our office for confirmation of any adjusted damage deposit figure.

 

Pets

Pets may be considered in some properties, please speak to our office for advice on this before viewing suitable properties to save any inconvenience. Most properties would usually include a premium on the advertised rent to reflect landlords additional risks associated with pets. Due to the government deposit cap (5 weeks rent) we are now unable to take a higher security deposit to reflect this risk, so a rent adjustment is usually required by landlords.  

 

Smoking

Many properties have a no smoking policy. If you are smokers please speak to our office before viewing any properties to check on any policies applied to individual rentals.

 

Who will be managing your property

We will inform you at the start of your tenancy who will be responsible for managing the property and we will provide the necessary contact information. This would usually be either Letsafe, or the landlord direct.