Landlords - Lettings Guide

1. Your property

Is the property you want to let an investment or your home? This will often determine your priorities and getting the help and advice of a property professional can be essential at an early stage.

We advise you talk to your mortgage lender as early as possible to make sure you can get consent to let your property.

2. Advised timescales

We would recommend that we bring your property to the open market no more than 6 to 8 weeks before you want it let. The standard length of a tenancy is 6 or 12 months.

3. Talk to an experienced agent

We will help guide you through the lettings process from start to finish and will always be on hand to answer any questions you may have.

4. Lettings Appraisal

We will inspect your property and advise you on the achievable monthly rent, supported by comparable evidence of other recently let properties in the area. We will discuss our property management service, associated costs, compliance issues, local market information, rent guarantees and insurance policies.

5. Instruction

When you instruct your agent, they will book an appointment to come and take photographs and arrange for an Energy Performance Certificate to be produced to start marketing your property.

6. Agency Agreement

You should receive and sign the Agency Agreement and complete the landlord information forms and return them.

7. Marketing

We will begin marketing your property to our database of potential tenants as soon as we have agreement from you. In the following few days, we will order To Let board, upload your property to our website, match with our database, contact prospective tenants and place your property on Rightmove and various other Websites.

8. Viewing

We pre-qualify all potential tenants and accompany all viewings; this will allow us to advise you on who we feel is the best and most secure tenant for your property.

9. Feedback

We will ring your prospective tenants 24 hours after the viewing for their feedback and comments. We will then contact you with the outcome and any necessary actions required as soon as we have it.

10. Offer

When an offer is made, we will try to contact you immediately to advise you on the strength of the offer and update you on any other interest. Once we have discussed the offer, we can confirm on how you would like to proceed.

11. Referencing Process

When an agreement is reached, we will start the referencing process which usually takes about 7 working days. This covers credit history, employment history, previous landlords and any reference guarantors if required.

12. Tenancy Agreement

Providing the references have passed, the Tenancy Agreement will be drawn up and sent to you to sign and return to us.

13. Deposits

Tenants are required to pay a deposit prior to the start of the agreement. All deposits will be registered, and proof of registration will be provided.

14. Inventory

We will arrange for an inventory of your property to ensure the condition is agreed upon and documented. We will advise you on and action any compliance issues e.g. Landlords Gas safety certificate, EICR to ensure the property is legally compliant.

15. Check in service

We can offer a check in service to ensure your tenants are met at the property on the day they move in.

16. Standing order

We ask that the tenants set up standing orders to pay their rent on the date due which we process and pass onto you, less any management fees.

17. Property Management

We take great pride in knowing that our dedicated Property Management Team will ensure that your home or investment is very well looked after.

We work closely with landlords and will take all steps to make sure the rent is paid on time, that your home/investment is looked after and that any necessary maintenance is dealt with promptly.

18. Renewals

2 months prior to the end of your fixed term will contact you to discuss your future plans for your property. We will assess the current market position and advise accordingly and then contact your tenant to discuss their plans.

19. Tenancy renewal

This allows further commitment, planning and budgeting for another fixed term. The process replicates the start of the original tenancy.

20. Serving notice

If you wish to serve notice to regain possession of your property, we will advise on the necessary steps given the circumstances and act on your behalf.