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Tenants Guide |
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Introduction This part of the guide is dedicated to the landlord and presumes that you already have a property to let on a ‘buy to let’ mortgage. Preparation What rent should I charge Legal Marketing your property If you would like to market your property further you can take out a private advert in the newspaper. Free papers (such as AdTrader) are a good place to start with text ads or you can pay a small fee to have a picture with your advert. Alternatively you can pay for an advert in your local paper which will cost more but will probably get a better response. Another good place to advertise is your local newsagents’ windows for a little extra exposure. It is a good idea to print out a few property brochures of your house and leave them in your house and car in case you have an unexpected visit from a potential tenant or just bump into someone that is looking to rent in the area of your property. Make sure that you email all your friends and relatives with a link to your Sell4Less Advert so they know that your house is to let so if they meet anyone who is looking to move to the area they can let them know about your house. Always speak well of the area it is in, especially to any potential tenant, but DO NOT lie about your area or your property as you will be agreeing to the terms set out in the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 in order to advertise your home on Sell4Less or Let4Less. To Let Boards You can purchase a bright, eye catching, professionally printed Let4Less ‘To Let’ board from Sell4Less and additionally we can put the board up at your property for a very small fee. Buy a To Let Board. |
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Creating your Private Online Advert It is very easy to create your private advert on www.Sell4Less.co.uk and www.Let4Less.com. A small amount of preparation will help you a lot. Things to prepare are as follows:
Perhaps the easiest thing to do is to click the following link, it is free to register and create an advert, when you are 100% happy with your advert simply build your advertising package. [Let my property now] Alternatively: Now it’s time to create your advert. Open your internet browser and go to www.Sell4Less.co.uk. Click on Login on the top bar: If you have already signed up enter your email and password followed by the login button or if you are a new customer press the ‘Register as a new customer for free’ link. Enter your email and password, then confirm your password and press next. The next page requires you to fill in your personal details, then press submit. Now you have registered, you will be taken to your personal admin area.
To create your advert - click on the ‘Create a FREE Advert’ on the Selling tab, or from the left hand menu. You will then be required to choose either a property for sale or to let. The next page will appear with the details that you filled in whilst registering. You can change these details if you wish to let a different property. Enter the details you require in the address boxes and select the options that apply to your property.
Click next to be taken to the next tab. Once you have pressed next you will be taken to the Property and Room Descriptions page.
Firstly Click on the Overview Add/Edit link. The property overview edit page will appear. In the dialog box on the left you will need to leave a brief description of the property you are selling. There is a list on the right hand side of the page that you should think about whilst writing this section, but remember to keep it simple, get the good points of your property across and keep it brief, there is plenty of time later to add detail to the individual areas of your house. Photos can be added in the next section. Once you have finished writing about the overview of the property click the ‘submit’ button. Then click on the ‘Add New Room’ button. This will bring up the Room Descriptions dialog box. Fill in the room title (Kitchen, Bathroom etc), then fill in the dimensions that you took earlier into the dimension boxes. Give the room a brief description (there’s a good guide for things to say on the right hand side of the page). Photos or videos are added later. Repeat this process for each room in the house. Once all the rooms are added you can drag and drop them into the order you wish. Normally we would advise separating the floors into groups starting with the ground floor and putting the rooms from the largest to the smallest or from ‘best’ to ‘worst’. Now click on the Outside Spaces ‘Add New Area’ button to add the details of your garden, roof terrace, separate garage or any other outbuildings you may have. Again, photos can be added later. Once you’re happy with your overview, room descriptions and outside space description check the box to agree that you are the legal owner of the property and have the right to sell it, check the box to say that you agree to Sell4Less Ltd’s terms and conditions. Now press the ‘next’ button to be taken to the photos and video section.
Start by clicking the main image button and select a photo to use as your main image (normally the front view of the property). Then click on ‘upload additional images’ button to upload your next image. In the type caption box, write the name of the room that the image relates to, then browse to the image and upload it. Repeat this process for all the images you wish to use (max 20). If you have a short video of your property or a ‘virtual tour’ you may wish to add this to your advert. To do this click on the ‘Add Video button, browse to the video file. Give the video a name (such as ‘virtual tour’) and description and click ‘submit’. Your video will now be uploaded to your advert. Once you have added all the photos and video you want click on the ‘next’ button to go to the advertising package page.
You can choose which package you wish to use here and add the relevant items to your basket. Firstly choose the board you would like by pressing the ‘add to basket’ button, then choose which advertising service you would like by adding it to your basket. When you have chosen a ‘To Let’ board and/or one of our advertising services you will need to click on the ‘click here to purchase’ button at the top of the page to be taken to the Protx secure payment site. Follow the instructions on the Protx site to pay for your items. |
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Now your property is advertised you need to prepare yourself for viewings. This is where people decide if they like the property or not and hence whether they’ll rent it from you or not, so in many ways it is the most important part of the letting stage. People will either email you or call you through Sell4Less.co.uk to arrange a viewing of your property if they found it through your marketing with us. You should try to accommodate a time when they wish to view if you can. Remember to take a note of their name and telephone number in case you need to call or follow up with them again, and so you can remember their name when they come to view your property. You can list your viewings in the calendar in the admin area of your Sell4Less.co.uk account. You should always be at your property at least 10 minutes before the arranged time of the viewing. Show people around the house and do your best to keep out of the way, let the visitors into the rooms first as this will make the rooms seem bigger. Just point out the important parts of the rooms and answer any questions that the potential tenant may have. Always be polite to the tenant as they may not want to rent from a rude, grumpy landlord. |
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There are a few key points you should keep in mind:
Screening and referencing tenants is one of the most important things you can do as a landlord so it is not something you should take lightly. Most landlords get a little twitchy when they have a property standing empty, however an empty property is one hundred times better than a property with a bad tenant! You probably will not appreciate the enormity of a bad tenant until you have experienced one! A good landlord will eliminate 95% of their problems by getting the right tenants in through careful screening procedures. The way to eliminate the non-payers and “unclean yob-like tenants” is to get a strict screening procedure in place and stick to it by the letter. So, I hear you asking, how do I screen out bad tenants? The first step is the advert. You need to focus the advert on the type of property you have and the suitability of the tenant to that property. You may have a high end of the market property, or a mid range suited to families or professionals or a low end suited to students, unemployed DSS etc. You should word your advert clearly to attract the type of people who will be interested in that property and making it deter those who are not. The next stage will be the first contact, probably by telephone. You will need some pre-prepared details or a checklist and be ready to quickly and comprehensively describe the property and the letting arrangements: location, amenities, facilities in the property, rent and rent payments, deposit - putting the property in the best possible light as does you advertisement. You’ll also need a set of qualifying questions for the prospective tenant: Name, address, telephone number (home & mobile) reason for moving, employment, date required and length of stay, number of people, children?, pets?, smoking?, credit checks and other references. It is unlikely that anyone who struggles to answer your questions, or becomes agitated or annoyed, providing you put them in a polite way, will qualify for the property. A serious tenant will be anxious to answer all your questions correctly and the whole process will save you both time and trouble later. There are always a few who will go through the process and fail to show for the viewing. You are left waiting and fuming at the property. This is much less likely to happen if you have all the person's contact details - a mobile number is a bonus if they get lost on the way. When the potential tenant turns up at the property you will need to show them around, be positive about the property and show off all its good points. You will get a feel for the type of person the prospective tenant is at this stage, for example if they’re reliable they will have turned up on time or at least called ahead to let you know that they can’t make it or they’ll be late. Take a look at the car, is it clean and tidy? This will tell you a lot about how much the tenant cares for property. Look at their personal appearance, did they make an effort to look presentable? What is their attitude like, are they polite, did they take care of the property while they were viewing? Was the potential tenant positive or negative towards the property, its facilities and rental? If not they may not respect the property if they move in because it is not what were looking for? If the tenant likes the property they will be keen to secure it. So take some application forms and ask them to fill them in there and then (if you like the tenant) and try to get a refundable holding deposit. Then get your checks done as quickly as possible as both parties will probably want a quick transaction. If, however you don’t like the tenant now is the time to reject them. Remember discrimination laws if you do reject a tenant. You cannot discriminate on terms of race, religion, gender, disability etc but you can discriminate on the merits of the individual/s as qualifying tenants. You must use a comprehensive application form to let a property. Also one form is required for each and every adult occupant. For forms please refer to: http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/agreements.htm. The application form is a critical part of the application process as it records permanently the tenant's declaration as to identity, accommodation and employment histories, income status, references, and personal details - Smoker? Pets? Other Occupants, Children etc. It also confirms the tenant's understanding of the property to be let, the type and length of tenancy and basic terms, the costs and expenses to be paid and the rent and deposit required. This form is an important document which forms the basis of the tenant screening process. It should provide sufficient information to enable the landlord to contact the tenant, or his relatives, even if he absconds. It also clearly informs the tenant that credit checks and references checks will be made in accordance with the 1988 Data Protection Act. Inform the prospect/s that the form/s should be returned as soon as possible so that references can be taken up quickly and a credit check carried out. We strongly recommend that credit checks are always carried out. You may wish to charge the prospect a fee for this process, in which case the form should state this. Once you have made your decision about who the successful applicant is you should phone them to let them know that they have come out above the rest, most people will be happy and relieved that they have qualified and will be looking to complete quickly. Remember the deal can still fall through until the candidate has signed the letting agreement, so keep your eyes and ears open until then but get that signature as soon as you can. It is well worth a drive to meet the candidate and get their signature rather than post it and allow them to sit on it. Normally this will be done at the property to be let. Remind the tenant to bring the necessary paperwork, their identification and the guarantor (if applicable) to the agreement signing. Remember to do the inventory (preferably with photos) and take the meter readings and get them signed off. Try to get the rent and deposit, preferably in cash. If a cheque is given it is advisable not to hand over the keys until it has cleared. Use a quality agreement or lease. You can buy one from a legal stationers in most big towns or cities. Alternatively you can have a custom one drawn up by a solicitor if you wish. Before you sign the paperwork, check through it carefully as one little mistake on a date or interpretation of a word can be disastrous as far as legal documents are concerned! Also ensure that you have an independent witness (or two, one from each party) present when you sign so they can give a confirmation signature. Due to the difficulties sometimes encountered when serving eviction notices, some landlords serve the two month eviction when the agreement is signed – it is well worth considering, go to http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/agreements.htm to find the forms. You now need to inform the prospects that you turned down that the property has been let to someone else. You should be prepared to give factual justification as to why they did not qualify. Keep all application forms just in case you may be accused of discrimination. |
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Tenants Guide Introduction Tenanting a property is a big responsibility, it is also a responsibility that you are bound to by law for a time of contract. Before you enter a contract make sure that it is the place that you want to live for the agreed time of contract and look after the property otherwise you may lose your deposit. Searching for property Your local newspaper will probably have several properties to let in the local area (only good if you’re looking to remain in the same area). If you are looking in the local area, many landlords will advertise in newsagent windows. Viewings Once you have wooed the landlord with your politeness and helpfulness on the phone he/she will invite you to view the property. Arrange a time and date, make sure that you turn up on time and if you are running late phone ahead to let the landlord know why you’re going to be late. Look around the property and make sure that it is clean and tidy. If it is what you are looking for and in a suitable location and the landlord likes you then it is time to fill in the application form. Fill the application form completely and to the best of your knowledge. It is best to be completely truthful in the application form as the landlord will perform checks and it will only look bad on you if they find you have lied on the form. If you are not interested in the property feel free to let the landlord know and keep looking around. Your individual circumstances will depend on how quickly you need to get a property but don’t necessarily settle for the first one you see, arrange as many viewings as you can in the time you have. What to do when you’ve found a property If you have been successful the landlord will arrange to meet you (probably at the property) for you to sign the contract. You should take a friend and your guarantor (if applicable) to the property for the signing of the contract. Make sure that you read the contract thoroughly and it is what you expect it to be (check dates in particular). Once you have decided that the dates are correct you should check the meter readings with the landlord, then check through the inventory (preferably with photos). If everything seems in line with the readings, the inventory, the term of contract & dates, the rent and the deposit then it is ok to sign the contract. If there is anything that you feel is incorrect with the contract or any of the other factors, then ask the landlord to amend them and sign them off, most landlords will do this willingly, if they will not, don’t sign the contract and walk away from the property. The landlord may need your friend to sign the contract as a witness to the signatures. The landlord will probably need a deposit for the property (normally a month’s rent) which you can pay in cash or by cheque. If you pay by cheque the landlord will probably not hand the keys over until it has cleared. Once the contracts are signed, the deposits are paid and the keys are handed over, you can move in. This date of completion will be stated on the contract. The contract will usually be 6 or 12 months although other options are sometimes available. Also note that the landlord can no longer keep your deposit, it must be kept by a third party such as a solicitor, estate agent or a government body on the landlord’s behalf. If there is any dispute regarding the deposit these people will get involved. |