According to Landlord today, “one if five landlords felt unprepared when they first started letting properties - and it’s identified the parts of the job that were most daunting.”
Letting a property correct is not an easy task.
The areas Landlords felt they were lacking in knowledge were drawing up tenancy agreements, eviction rights, public liability and tenant security deposits.
So let’s break it down..
Tenancy Agreements.
A written tenancy agreement is the proof of evidence which make things clear between you (landlords) and the tenants. But, there are essentially six different types of tenancy agreements which according to the needs and circumstances can be given to a tenant in the UK. Deciding what type of tenancy agreement is right for a tenant requires some deeper knowledge about all the types of tenancy agreements.
Do you use an AST, Company Let, Non AST etc ..
The Tenancy Agreement must contain a prescribed form of acknowledgement under which the tenant agrees to pay off the Green Deal charge. When a new tenant becomes the bill payer, they must be given a copy of the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). It must be given before they view the property or at the first viewing and then sign the required acknowledgement in the Tenancy Agreement itself to say that they agree to pay the ongoing Green Deal charges.
Eviction Rights
With Lock down in England now upon us..
Evictions effectively halted across much of England and Wales
Bailiffs have agreed to a government request not to enforce court orders against tenants in Tier 2 and Tier 3 locations.
This means evictions can still proceed through the courts, but bailiffs will not enforce court orders in areas such as Greater Manchester, Merseyside, London, Wales and much of the north east of England.
Justice Secretary Robert Buckland has written to bailiffs’ trade associations requesting they do not carry out physical evictions in those areas with the strictest Coronavirus controls.
Public Liability
Did you know Landlord liability insurance is a type of public liability insurance that’s specifically designed for landlords. It can help to cover your costs if a tenant, visitor or other third party (such as a tradesperson or courier) has an accident on your property and takes you to court.
Policies vary from one landlord insurance company to the next, so it’s important to check the terms and conditions set out when you’re comparing quotes. Generally speaking, though, you can expect liability insurance for landlords to cover:
Legal fees that you incur because a liability claim has been made against you
Compensation if the court chooses to award this to the claimant
The cost of repairing damage done to other people’s property
Medical costs if the NHS decides to claim for them.
The Landlord need to get this right as policy wording can vary and cover can range from £1 million to up to £10 million. The amount of cover you actually need will depend on your own circumstances – for example, how big the property is, how it’s being used as well as the number of tenants you have.
Tenant Security Deposits
A tenancy security deposit is an amount you can ask your tenant to pay. This can cover you in the event there are damages to the property or the contents at the end of the tenancy. The amount is typically one but not more than two months of the rental value of the property.
Every letting agent will have different rules , some charge a deposit and some do not.
If you are charging a deposit, you MUST enter the deposit protection scheme. You should be aware you can only ask for two months’ rent as a deposit so you won’t be protected for costs incurred above and beyond this amount.
We at Letting Options 4U do not charge a deposit as we do our due diligence carefully and have protection in place to cover unpaid deposits. Visit this page to see how we do things differently at Letting Options 4U.