Landlords Information

We have tried to answer the many common questions that we get asked. If you have a query which isn't explained here, please contact us.

Click here for details about our Landlord's Fees & Services or contact us for our Landlords Information Pack.

Get Permission

Before you go ahead with renting your property you must obtain permission from your Mortgage company (if applicable), your Insurance company and any joint owner or superior landlord. This could be the freeholder of your lease or Block Management company if you own a leasehold flat/apartment. They do not normally object, but they need to know otherwise they could object after the tenant has moved in which would be disastrous for you and the tenant. Some Block Management companies will require your Tenant to confirm that they agree to the terms in your head lease, so we may need a copy of this to attach to our Tenancy Agreement for signing.

Non-Resident Landlords

Non-Resident Landlords are those whose usual place of abode is outside of the UK. From 6th April 1996, if 1 or all Landlords are Non-Resident in the UK or intend to live outside of the UK for more than 6 months each year, you must apply for approval to receive rent with no tax deducted from the Centre for Non-Residents (CNR). We can provide you with the relevant application forms (NRL1) and guidance notes to complete and send off. The Inland Revenue will then send you an approval or refusal with a copy to us or your Tenant (whoever you stated on the application form). If we are collecting your rent but we do not receive approval from the Centre for Non-Residents, we will have to deduct tax (currently 20% as of 1/4/2008) directly from your rental payments and pay it over to the Inland Revenue quarterly. This is a legal requirement and we/your Tenant must comply or face penalties for non-compliance.

cmRENT's CNR Registration Number for your application form is NA 036 202

See http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/CNR/nr_landlords.htm for more information if you are a Non-Resident Landlord.

Flat / Apartment Service Charges

If your property is a leasehold flat/apartment, you will still have to pay your service/maintenance charges to your block management company. These are not paid by the tenant. If your service charges include water rates, please let us know as this is an attractive saving for the tenants and can help to rent your property before the competition!

Furnished or Unfurnished ?

95% of tenants are looking for unfurnished properties, in our experience. Therefore, we would recommend providing your property unfurnished in the first instance. It is not a necessity, but your property will have more appeal and therefore, be quicker to rent, if the following items can be included;

• Oven & Hob or freestanding Cooker
• Fridge/Freezer (a tall one if there is space)
• Washing Machine (or Washer/Dryer in flats/apartments)
• Dishwasher (if there is space)
• Curtains or blinds at all windows
• Bathroom fittings in bathrooms, en-suites & cloakrooms (towel rails, toilet roll holders, mirrors, cabinet or shelves)

If you do intend to let your property furnished, any soft furnishings must have the match-test symbol attached to show that they comply with 1988 Fire Safety Regulations. Although it is a limited market, you can sometimes be at an advantage if your property is furnished, as there aren’t many properties on the market which are. So although only about 5% of tenants require furniture, good furnished properties are hard to find. So if yours is furnished to a good standard it may rent very quickly. Also, you could obtain between £25 - £50 more for a furnished property but we feel it best to keep the price the same bearing in mind the limited number of Tenants looking for furnished properties. You will also get extra tax relief for a furnished property but it is best to talk to an accountant regarding such tax matters.

Condition

Brand new properties will rent quicker than old, tired ones. Today’s renters require the same level of home as you would expect for yourself, so if your bathroom or kitchen needs updating, or the decoration needs modernising, it is worth doing to rent your property quicker and avoid any prolonged empty periods. You will also be able to achieve a higher rental figure for modernised properties.

Preparation

Your property should be provided for rent in the condition which you would expect if you were moving in yourself. Therefore, everything should be thoroughly cleaned; oven, hob, fridge/freezer, carpets, walls, skirtings, light fittings, windows, blinds, curtains, etc. It is ideal if you can have the property professionally cleaned as the Inventory will reflect this and the Tenant is required to leave the property in the same condition at the end of the tenancy.

It is important to ensure that manuals/instructions for all appliances and the heating or alarm system are left in the property. It is best to provide photocopied manuals and keep the originals yourself in case they become lost or damaged.

If there are any special instructions for cleaning certain items, such as leather upholstery or upholstery with Stain Protection, please leave it in the property so that they are followed and any warranty is not invalidated by improper cleaning.

Energy Performance Certificate

From 1st October 2008 an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is required for all rental property whilst being advertised for Let. This must be carried out by a qualified Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA). They will assess the way your property is constructed, the heating system, the windows, lighting, insulation, etc. and produce a detailed report. There is no pass or fail, just a resulting energy assessment report plus 2 coloured charts showing the current and potential energy & co2 ratings. The assessment enables potential tenants to compare energy ratings of properties to help make an informed choice about how energy efficient the property is as this could effect the cost of their energy bills.

The EPC lasts for 10 years but may be re-assessed after improvements, such as better loft insulation or replacement double glazed windows, which may improve the energy rating. The EPC will need to be instructed and paid for before your property is advertised for rent as we have to be able to provide any viewer with a copy of the EPC upon request.

Viewings

We will need at least 1 exterior door key to gain access for viewings. Viewings can take place 6 days a week and are generally accompanied by us (dependant upon which service you choose). We will vet the viewers as much as possible at the time of booking the viewing, but it is not until the actual viewing that we will be able to find out the finer details to discover if they are suitable for referencing or not. Some viewers will be in and out in 5 minutes, others can take half an hour or more!

Credit / Reference Checks

We use a professional referencing agency for our Credit/Reference checking (we know of some agents who ask the tenant to provide their own references!) and we obtain the Rent Guarantee Insurance policy (if required) from the same company. If a tenant fails through a low credit score, they can sometimes have a Guarantor who also has to be credit & reference checked. Alternatively, they can pay the whole term in advance if you agree to this. In this case, if we are handling rent payment on your behalf, we will hold their up-front rent payments and transfer them to you monthly when it falls due. Our strict procedures ensure that we consistently find better quality tenants for your property.

The Tenancy Agreement

Our Tenancy Agreement is a very thorough 20+ page contract. It has been drawn up by our solicitors who specialise in property law and it is updated regularly in accordance with any revisions in Tenancy Laws, such as the recent Deposit Law changes. Cheap, off-the shelf Tenancy Agreements can be very basic and may not include some of the finer detail that ours does, which we include in order to protect you, the Landlord, in certain circumstances that we have experienced in the past.

Most Tenants in 1 or 2 bed flats usually request a 6 month initial tenancy period. We find that families in 3, 4 and 5 bed homes prefer 12 month tenancies. It is best to be flexible on tenancy periods to open yourself up to as many potential Tenants as possible. At the end of each tenancy we can produce a renewal Tenancy Agreement for a small administration charge, or you can roll-over to a Stautory Periodic Tenancy. Tenancies of larger properties usually run for a longer total term than smaller properties but the average total tenancy length is approximately 18 months according to ARLA statistics.

Insurance

You must continue with your Buildings Insurance throughout the letting period. If your property is a leasehold flat/apartment this is normally included in your service/maintenance charges to your block management company. We also advise that you take out Limited Contents Insurance to cover your Kitchen white goods, carpets/flooring, curtains/blinds & light fittings which would cover such items in the case of a flood for example.

We recommend our Referencing Agency, who offer various specialist Insurances for rented property. Your tenants will need to take out their own contents insurance to cover their own belongings which we will encourage them to do.

Please contact us for more details.

Gas Safety

A Gas Safety check must be carried out annually for all gas appliances in the property whilst it is being let. We can arrange this for you by an engineer who is registered with the new Gas Safe Register which took over from CORGI on 1st April 2009. This is usually done about 1 week prior to new tenants moving in and then on an annual basis. If you already have a current CP12 certificate, we will need a copy of this before the Move-In day to ensure that the property is safe. We will keep a copy on file and issue a copy to the Tenant which must be kept in the property at all times.

Electric Safety

Any new major electrical work which has been carried out since January 2005 will need to be tested in accordance with Part P of the current Building Regulations and a certificate provided by an IEE qualified electrician. Any known electrical problems should be addressed prior to renting your property and any faulty appliances should be repaired or removed.

It will probably become law in the near future, but it would be good, safe practice to have the electrical system tested & all electrical appliances PAT tested before renting your property. We can arrange for one of our IEE qualified electricians to carry out the relevant checks if required.

Inventory

A Contents & Condition Inventory is as important as the Tenancy Agreement itself. We employ an Inventory Clerk to carry out our Inventories and end of tenancy Check-Out’s. The Inventory ensures that the contents and condition of your property is recorded fully & accurately before you move into the property. Please ask us to see a sample of an Inventory prepared by our Clerk (You’ll be amazed at it’s level of detail!)

Tenants Deposit Protection

For details about the Tenants Deposit Protection Laws introduced in April 2007, click here

Mail Redirection

If you have previously lived in the property which you are now going to rent, we strongly advise you to set up a postal redirection service with the Royal Mail. It is not the tenants or our responsibility to forward your post, so we strongly recommend you use this service.

Move-In Day

Before the move-in day, we will require a set of keys for each adult tenant and a further set to keep if we are managing the property. Please ensure that you send these to us in good time. If we do not receive enough keys, we will arrange for copies to be cut and charge them to you accordingly. Such problems at the start of the tenancy do not set a good example to the tenants at this early stage.

If you choose our Management service, we will take the Gas, Electric & Water meter readings (if applicable), and advise all the utilities companies including the local Council Tax department of the new tenants details for billing purposes. It will help avoid any initial simple queries if you have provided copies of all instruction manuals for the heating and any appliances in the property. A 'Welcome' card and a bottle of wine always goes down well too!

Rent Payments

Rent payments are due monthly on the same date that the Tenants moved into the property originally. If you choose our Management or Rent Collection service, the payments are set up by Standing Order from the Tenants bank account and can take up to 3 working days to arrive into our account. The rent is then transferred online over to your bank account, which can take a further 3 working days to arrive.

If you choose our Let Only service, you will need to set up the rent payments with the Tenant yourself, once they have moved in.

Inspections

Inspections can be carried out at 3 month intervals. If not, the property condition could deteriorate rapidly with no inspections. Tenants must be given at least 24 hours written notice of any inspections and this usually ensures they have a chance to clean & tidy before arrival.

If you choose our management service, we will send both you and the Tenant a written report which will list any matters which need attending to. If there are urgent matters which are the Tenant's responsibilty, we may arrange a re-inspection to verify these have been dealt with.

Maintenance Issues

If we are managing the property, we are on-call for the Tenants 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if they have any maintenance issues. Any problems will be investigated verbally over the telephone, then (if necessary) one of our approved contractors will be called out to assess the problem and provide us with a quote. We will endeavour to gain your approval of all quotes before going ahead with any work. If there is an emergency, such as a leak and we are unable to contact you, we would have to call out an emergency contractor immediately to stop the problem without consultation with you.

We do not obtain 3 quotes for every maintenance problem as this simply takes too much time & aggravation for the Tenant, which is unnecessary. We have an experienced & trusted selection of Professional Tradesman who provide us with a high level of service & availability at competitive prices.

Final Check-Out

If we are managing the property, we will arrange a final check-out at the end of the tenancy. This will be carried out by our Inventory Clerk who produces the original Contents & Condition Inventory. The Check-Out ensures that the condition at the end of the tenancy is checked thoroughly against the original Inventory and any cleaning, repairs or maintenance necessary are recorded. This can often be a very difficult situation which is best handled by an independent, professional person who will be able to reach a satisfactory agreement between the Tenant & Landlord. Please ask us to see a sample of a Final Check-Out report prepared by our Clerk (You’ll be amazed at it’s level of detail!). We will also take the final meter readings and close off the bills in the tenants name, transferring it back to you, the Landlord.

Income Tax

The subject of income tax on rental property is best dealt with by a tax expert so we would suggest you emply the services of an accountant for this purpose. We would recommend Lambert Chapman LLP and you can visit their website here.

By the way, Paul Short of Lambert Chapman will give you a 1 hour FREE consultation if you mention that cmRENT sent you.

CLICK HERE for some very useful information on 'Tax on Property & Rental Income' on the DirectGov website.

If you have any further queries or would like to discuss your property with us, please contact us or pop into 1 of our offices at Chelmsford or Braintree.