Landlord Terms Of Businesslettings and management, in full

1Letting your property

Valuation and advice

We visit the property and advise on the appropriate market rental value, recommend how best to present it, and brief you on the relevant legislation — including the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, the Tenant Fees Act 2019, the Housing Act 1988 as amended, and any applicable licensing schemes.

Marketing

• Property particulars with professional photographs and floor plans
• Advertising on our website and the major portals — Rightmove, Zoopla, OnTheMarket and PrimeLocation — plus social media and occasionally local publications
• A “To Let” board, where allowed
• Details sent to suitable applicants and relocation agents
• Accompanied viewings, arranged and conducted by us
• Regular feedback, and notification of all viewings and offers

We may occasionally appoint a sub-agent on your behalf. This involves no additional fees or costs to you — we are liable for any sub-agent’s commission, and your obligations to us are unchanged. We will require a set of keys to conduct accompanied viewings.

Securing the tenancy

• Interviewing prospective tenants and negotiating terms on your behalf
• Reference checks on tenants and any guarantor through an independent referencing provider
• Right to Rent checks under the Immigration Act 2014
• Preparing the Assured Periodic Tenancy Agreement, any Guarantor Agreement and related documentation
• Issuing the Government’s “How to Rent” guide before the tenancy begins
• Collecting the deposit and either protecting it with MyDeposits on your behalf and serving the Prescribed Information, or transferring it to you
• Arranging an inventory, prepared and checked by an independent clerk

Where the deposit is transferred to you, it is your responsibility to protect it with a Government-approved scheme within 30 days of receipt and serve the Prescribed Information on the tenant.

The contract for the inventory clerk’s service is between you and the clerk. We take great care choosing and overseeing them, but cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage caused by a clerk’s neglect or default.

If you decline to rent to a prospective tenant who has paid a holding deposit, except where they failed referencing, the holding deposit is refunded to them in full and you are liable for our reasonable fees and costs — see Abortive Transaction in the fees table. Where a tenant fails referencing, the holding deposit is normally paid to you, less the cost of referencing.

2During the tenancy

While the property is let, we will:

• Receive rent, submit statements of account, and remit rent to you at the agreed intervals — less our fees including VAT, sums we pay out with your authority, and, if you are not UK-resident, sums we must deduct and pay to HMRC
• Submit copies of statements to your accountant or another third party, with your permission
• Serve a Section 13 notice (Form 4A) on your instruction to propose a rent increase
• Re-let the property and repeat all the letting activities above where a tenant gives notice

If the rent falls into arrears

We attempt to contact the tenant by email and telephone once any instalment is more than 7 days in arrears. If we cannot secure payment within 7 days of our first attempt, we report the position to you. We continue trying, and if rent is more than 28 days in arrears we report again — at which point it is your responsibility to instruct solicitors or take other action.

We do not advise on the appropriate level of a proposed rent, and we do not represent you at any First-tier Tribunal referral.

At the end of the tenancy you must tell the tenant within 10 working days whether you propose to make any deductions from the deposit, and you are responsible for negotiating directly with the tenant over its return.

3Full Management

Full Management includes everything above, plus the following.

Visits

We visit the property at least twice a year and, if requested, report to you after each visit at no additional cost. Each visit is a brief inspection of general condition, considering only apparent or obvious defects. It is not a survey, and no report should be regarded as a guarantee or warranty as to the state of the property.

We will also visit when we judge it necessary — to inspect a serious defect, for example — at no additional cost. Where we must attend when the tenant cannot be present, we reserve the right to charge an attendance fee of £30 inc VAT, plus £30 inc VAT per hour waiting time.

Money

It is your responsibility to ensure we hold cleared funds in advance of any payment we make on your behalf. If we do not, we are under no obligation to make it. Cheques take 5–7 working days to clear; UK electronic transfers 3–5 working days; overseas transfers longer.

We pay current outgoings out of rents received — gas safety certificates and any works needed to make appliances compliant, insurance premiums, utility accounts, ground rent, service charges and similar. We query obvious discrepancies, but are entitled to accept and pay demands that appear on their face to be in order.

Contingency float. All managed properties are subject to a discretionary float of £300. Where a tenant has volunteered more than one month’s rent in advance, we set up a float of £500, taken from the initial rent and maintained from subsequent net rents. We may require additional funds if there is insufficient to meet outgoings.

Repairs and maintenance

We deal with day-to-day management matters, arranging repairs and renewals we consider necessary up to £300 including VAT without your prior written consent. Above that, we obtain estimates and submit them to you — unless it is an emergency.

In an emergency — no heating or hot water, no lights, a serious water leak, a gas escape, or damage from a break-in compromising security — we will still attempt to contact you, but if we cannot reach you in the time available we will take such action as we consider reasonably necessary to protect the property.

All contractors we employ are assessed by us for quality, reliability, trustworthiness and GDPR compliance. They are independent of us and we receive no payment or gratuity of any kind from them. The contract for any works is between you and the contractor.

Insurance claims

We lodge and oversee insurance claims on your behalf. For claims over £1,000, which would normally require a loss adjuster, we reserve the right to charge 12% including VAT of the total claim, subject to notifying you in advance. We try to include our fee in the claim, but some insurers decline to pay it.

Notices and disputes

We forward any party wall or planning notices to you for instructions, and can appoint a qualified building surveyor on your behalf. We are happy to act for you in neighbour disputes, or disputes with managing agents or freeholders. Straightforward matters carry no additional charge; where a matter becomes involved or prolonged we reserve the right to charge at the hourly rate, subject to notifying you in advance.

End of tenancy

On receipt of the independent inventory clerk’s report we will, if necessary, visit the property, arrange for items in the report to be costed, and submit an end-of-tenancy claim to you for approval and then to the tenant. You are responsible for the cost of both the check-in and check-out inventories.

4Statutory compliance and our authority to instruct

You authorise us to instruct, arrange, re-instruct and where required carry out remedial works for the following, and to debit the reasonable cost from rent received or call for payment where rents are insufficient:

We act reasonably, and where practicable obtain your prior approval before instructing work expected to cost more than £300 inc VAT. We may proceed without prior approval where the work is needed urgently to avoid criminal liability, enforcement action, invalidation of insurance or risk to safety; where you have not responded in a reasonable time given the urgency; or where the work is necessary to comply with a notice or order from a local authority or regulator.

Nothing in this clause obliges us to act as a “responsible person” under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. That responsibility remains with you at all times.