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Rightmove

Rightmove is the UK’s largest portal with access to hundreds of thousands of tenants. 99% of estate agents list their properties here. Uniquely, Rightmove requires you to prove ownership, so please have this handy when you start the advertising process.

Zoopla

Zoopla has long battled Rightmove for the top spot. Like Rightmove, Zoopla lists properties nationally. Alongside its sister website, PrimeLocation, it attracts 55 million homehunters per month.

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Credit Check

Most of our landlords opt to run a credit check on their prospective tenants. Once we’ve got consent from the tenants, we check their credit history and flag anything that doesn’t look right. If tenants are happy for us to do so, we can verify their income directly from their bank account using Open Banking access, which takes only a few minutes.

References

For tenants whose salary payments can’t be verified electronically, we’ll take up references from previous landlords and their employer. This takes longer than our electronic checks, but as long as their referees are reasonably quick off the mark, it is normally completed within 24 hours.

Guarantors

Some of our tenants, like students, don’t have an income that is sufficient to pass our normal affordability checks. In this case, we can ask for a guarantor to cover their rent in the event that they can’t keep up with the payments. We recommend running a credit check on guarantors, to make sure they would be able to pay the rent if the tenants are no longer able to.

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Prescribed information

Legally landlords must provide tenants with information about their tenancy in writing this can be found in Prescribed Information. This must be provided within 30 days of the landlord receiving the deposit. This includes the amount of the deposit, the address of the property, the tenancy deposit scheme name and contact details and the details of the landlord and tenant.

Break clause

Assured shorthold tenancy agreements are normally for a fixed period of 12, 24 or 36 months, the landlord and tenant may agree to end the tenancy before the end of the fixed term, by using a break clause. This allows either party to terminate the contract at their discretion.

Landlord’s obligation

The landlord is obliged to allow the tenant to use the property without unlawful interruption as well as being required to maintain, repair and insure the building. The landlord must also comply with safety regulations including gas and electrical safety tests, and make sure that they have all the necessary licences and consents.

Deposit

The landlord must also include a leaflet supplied by the deposit scheme administrator, and outline the procedures that apply in terms of repayment of the deposit at the end of the tenancy including deductions and disputes.

Tenants’ obligation

This section outlines the key contractual for a tenant during the tenancy. These include paying rent, how a tenant can be replaced, how the property is to be used and how the tenant should look after the property. The tenant must make sure he or she does not invalidate the landlord’s insurance. Contents insurance is the responsibility of the tenant.

Special Conditions

Care should be taken when considering adapting the tenancy. Most tenancy agreements don’t allow pets or allow smoking inside the building. Some landlords may consider permitting these and other provisions, requiring the tenancy agreement to be amended within the contract itself or by reference to a separate schedule.

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30 days

Landlords must protect the deposit using a registered scheme within 30 days of receiving it. Custodial schemes require the landlord or lettings agent to transfer the money to be held in a ring fenced client account. Insurance backed schemes allow the landlord to hold the deposit, they are still required to register the deposit and issue a tenancy deposit protection certificate.

10 days

Landlord must return a tenant’s deposit within 10 days of both parties agreeing how much to return. However, in the event of a dispute, the approved tenancy deposit schemes; MyDeposits, Tenancy Deposit Scheme and Deposit Protection Scheme offers an adjudication process if the deductible amount can’t be agreed.

3x

If the landlord hasn’t registered the deposit with a TDS a court will likely order them to pay the deposit to the tenant or lodge it with a recognised scheme within 14 days. The court may also rule that the landlord should pay compensation up to 3x the deposit amount to the tenant. It’s essential that landlords register the deposit within the required timeframe and provide the required information about the scheme being used to avoid penalties.

5 weeks

According to the Tenant Fees Act 2019, the maximum deposit that landlords are allowed to accept in England is 5 weeks’ worth of rent for properties with rent under £50,000 per annum. Where rent exceeds this amount, the equivalent of 6 weeks’ rent is permitted. The rules in Scotland are different with the equivalent of 2 months’ rent permissable.

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