OUR SERVICES FOR
LANDLORDS

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We aim to provide a high quality, reliable and personal service at fees which we believe are the lowest in the area

1. What services does Simply Rent offer?

We offer a:

full management service
tenant finding service

1.1 Full management service

If you ask us to provide our Full Management Service we will:

Provide you with advice relevant to the proposed letting.
Advertise and generally market the Property.
Interview prospective tenants, obtain written applications from them, and subject their application to appropriate credit and reference checks
Prepare the Tenancy Agreement in our standard form and provide copies to a designated advisor or building society
Take a holding fee from the tenant if, in our opinion, it would be advantageous to do so
Take and hold a tenancy deposit (bond)
Prepare an Inventory of the property and its contents and agree this with the tenant when we hand the property over to them
Arrange on your behalf safety inspections of the gas and electrical installations and appliances (if any) and maintain appropriate records of the checks
Read the gas, water and electricity meters at the start and end of each tenancy and advise the utility companies and local council each time a tenant moves in or out
Hand the property over to the tenant
Hold the tenancy deposit (bond) until the end of the tenancy when the Property and contents have been checked for fair wear and tear and then refund or distribute it appropriately
Collect the rent monthly
Pay the rent to you by direct bank transfer to the account specified by you
Inspect the Property at appropriate intervals in order to confirm that the Tenant is maintaining the Property
Co-ordinate the repair or maintenance of the property and arrange for tradesmen to attend the Property and obtain estimates where necessary
Make payments on your behalf from rents received for such expenditure as you shall specify
Carry out a property inspection and inventory check at the end of each tenancy and resolve to your satisfaction matters relating to unfair wear and tear before releasing the tenant's deposit
Carry out such additional items as shall be agreed with the you
Continue to repeat these actions for each new tenancy

1.2 Tenant Finding Service

If you ask us to provide our Tenant Finding Service we will:

Provide you with advice relevant to the proposed letting.
Advertise and generally market the Property.
Interview prospective tenants, obtain written applications from them, and subject their application to appropriate credit and reference checks
Prepare the Tenancy Agreement in our standard form and provide copies to a designated advisor or building society
Take a holding fee from the tenant if, in our opinion, it would be advantageous to do so
Take and hold a tenancy deposit (bond)
Hold the tenancy deposit (bond) until the end of the tenancy when the Property and contents have been checked for fair wear and tear and then refund or distribute it appropriately
Collect the first month's rent and hand it over to you (less our fee)

2. What would my responsibilities as the landlord be?

If we were providing a full management service you would normally be responsible for:

Arranging consent to the letting from any mortgage lender and/or head landlord
Arranging the insurance of the property
Arranging (or authorising us to arrange) maintenance and repairs for which you are responsible as the landlord

3. What are Simply Rent's business aims?

We aim to provide a first class, high quality, reliable and personal service at a fair cost to our clients.

We aim to enable our clients to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the residential rental market, free of the chores and worries sometimes associated with letting property.

We aim to deal fairly and equitably between the owners, landlords and tenants of properties we manage, and to build up a good relationship with our tenants. We realise that this gives our clients the best safeguard against tenants mistreating properties or failing to pay the rent.

We recognise, however, that our primary responsibility is to the owner or landlord who instructs us.

4. Would I need to sign a contract with Simply Rent?

We would ask you to sign our standard Agency Agreement authorising us to act on your behalf. We can incorporate special terms if appropriate.

We would act as your agent until you terminated our agreement. It is not our policy to restrict our clients by contract, and you would be free to terminate our agreement at any time without penalty if you were in any way dissatisfied.

We would not terminate our agreement without providing at least 3 months' notice unless you were in serious breach of its terms.

5. Is Simply Rent a member of any regulatory body or professional organisation?

We are a member of the Ombudsman Scheme for Estate Agents (OEA), the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) and the UK Association of Letting Agents (UKALA). We hold a current registration with the Information Commissioner authorising us to hold personal information. We are members of the the Tenancy Deposit Scheme and are authorised to hold tenancy deposits under statutory regulations introduced in April 2007.

All these bodies impose requirements or codes of practice and we fully comply with all these.

All money which we hold on behalf of our clients or tenants including deposits and rent is held in a Client Funds Account which is fully protected by an insurance bond.

We also comply with the requirements of the Code of Practice for the Management of Residential Properties issued by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and exceed the requirements in a number of areas.

6. How would Simply Rent advertise the property?

We employ the following marketing methods:

we advertise all properties on our own web site and on a number of other web sites such as Rightmove and Propertyfinder, the two leading property poirtals in the UK
we maintain entries in the local Yellow Pages and receive many spontaneous enquiries from potential tenants as a result.
we maintain a register of tenants who have called us and let us know they are looking for a property to rent.
we will erect a "To Let" sign at the property unless you tell us not to do so
we have links to many businesses in the area who regularly need accommodation for new or temporary staff.
we advertise properties in the local papers appropriate to the area in which the property is located.

7. Who would show potential tenants around the property?

We would normally show potential tenants around the property once you have given us the keys.

If you were still living in the property until it was let it would usually be better for you to show potential tenants around. In this case we would always make an appointment with you, and accompany the potential tenants if you wanted us to do so.

8. What type of tenancy would be used?

We would normally advise you to let the property on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy.

In some cases we may propose letting the Tenancy as a 'Company Let'. This is sometimes necessary if a company wishes to rent the property for its employees to live in (a company is prohibited by law from renting on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy).

9. What about the rent?

We would agree with you the rent at which the property would be marketed, and the minimum rent which would be acceptable to you. Before concluding any agreement with a potential tenant we would confirm that the proposed rent was acceptable to you.

In normal circumstances we would conduct a rent review on your behalf each year with a view to progressively increasing the rent if appropriate.

We would deduct our fees from the rent we collected from the tenant, and pass on the balance to you on the same day each month. You could, therefore, be assured of receiving the rent on the due date whether or not the tenant had made prompt payment to us providing that the tenant had not defaulted on the rent. The actual date on which we would make the payment would depend on the commencement date of the Tenancy.

We would pay the rent directly into your bank account via the BACS system.

10. What about deposits?

We would normally take a deposit equivalent to at least 1 month's rent from the Tenant prior to them occupying the property and would hold this as stakeholder until the Tenant departed at the end of the Tenancy. This deposit would provide security against damage to the property or non-payment of rent.

For tenancies commencing on and after April 2007 there are strict statutory regulations governing Tenancy Deposits. It is now unlawful for any person to take and hold a Tenancy Deposit unless they are authorised to do so. We are members of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme and are authorised to take and hold Tenancy Deposits

The process for distributing or refunding deposits at the end of the tenancy can be complicated but the basic process is:

we have 10 days from the end of the tenancy to tell the tenant of proposed deductions from his deposit
the tenant then has 10 days to dispute the proposed deductions
we then have 10 days to attempt to reach an agreement between the landlord and the tenant
at the end of that 10 days any dispute (and the disputed money) is passed to an arbitrator
any undisputed part of the deposit is paid to the appropriate person as soon as the payment is agreed

11. What about maintenance and repairs?

You would need to notify us of any ongoing maintenance problems with the property before we negotiated any Tenancy Agreement.

If any repairs or maintenance to the property became necessary we would ask you to arrange appropriate works unless we had agreed an annual expenditure limit within which we could authorise work to proceed. In this case we would authorise essential repairs within this limit and deduct the cost from the gross rents we collect from the Tenant.

If you did not want to arrange the repairs yourself we would obtain estimates from the contractors we normally employ, and would arrange completion of the necessary works once you had agreed the estimates.

In an emergency, or in a case of a statutory obligation, we would authorise or arrange essential work to proceed if we were unable to contact you. Tenants are also entitled to arrange or authorise work in certain circumstances.

12. Would Simply Rent arrange an inventory?

We would prepare an inventory of the property and obtain Tenants' agreement to it prior to their occupation.

Unless special arrangements were made this would be a summary inventory listing removable and significant items and their general condition. You whould need to advise us of any item which was of particular value to you or which you would wish to be specially listed in the inventory.

We would provide a draft copy of the inventory to you prior to letting the property (unless your instructions to let the property quickly prevented us from doing so).

We would check the condition of the property and the contents against the inventory when a Tenant departed and would only return the deposit to the Tenant when we were satisfied that the property and the contents were complete and in at least as good a condition as when the Tenant occupied the property (fair wear and tear excepted) subject to the rules regarding tenancy deposits.

13. Would Simply Rent give the tenants instructions about the property?

We provide a leaflet entitled "Tenants' Instructions" to all incoming Tenants. This provides general information about the property and includes instructions relating to safety.

We would provide a draft copy of the instructions to you prior to letting the property (unless your instructions to let the property quickly prevented us from doing so). It would be particularly important to include any safety features as their inclusion in these instructions would help to establish, in the unfortunate occurrence of an accident, that the Tenant had been given the information.

14. Who is responsible for maintaining appliances?

Our standard Tenancy Agreement would make you liable for maintaining essential services including fixed heating and water heating appliances (you cannot legally avoid this responsibility)

Under the terms of our standard Tenancy Agreement you would not be responsible for maintaining other appliances in working order. If they needed repair the tenant could choose to have them repaired at his/her own expense, or to manage without them.

15. Would Simply Rent take care of general safety matters?

We would make a general check of the property before letting it, but we could not undertake to detect defects.

We would provide you with advice concerning any aspect which you drew to our attention, and we would assist you in obtaining and dealing with specialist advice if you wished.

16. Can Simply Rent help with the gas appliances?

It is a legal requirement that the gas installation and any appliances provided by the landlord are checked annually.

If you wished to arrange the annual check yourself you would need to instruct any CORGI registered gas installer.

If you did not wish to arrange this check yourself we would arrange for the check to be completed and would deduct the cost from the net rent we pay to you.

The statutory Safety Check does not include servicing or repairs. We strongly recommend that gas appliances are serviced at regular intervals. This not only improves their efficiency but, in our experience, also reduces maintenance bills in the long term.

We have negotiated special rates for gas central heating systems and other gas appliances which can include all or some of:

annual Landlord's Gas Safety Checks
annual "parts and labour" maintenance contracts
annual service contracts

17. Can Simply Rent help with electrical safety?

The recommended method of ensuring that the electrical installation is safe is to obtain a "Periodic Inspection Report for an Electrical Installation" from a contractor approved by the NICEIC..

Although these checks are not mandatory by law we insist that any property let or managed by us is covered by a current certificate.

We can arrange this inspection and normal remedial work

18. Can Simply Rent help with electrical appliance checks?

We require that all portable electrical appliances provided by the landlord are checked by a competent person to ensure that they are safe to use.

We have negotiated the special rates for this work with a local contractor.

19. Can Simply Rent help with the safety of furniture and furnishings?

All upholstered furniture (excluding carpets, curtains, bed-clothes and furniture made before 1950) provided by the Landlord of rented residential property must comply with the Fire and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988.

We can arrange a professional inspection if required.

20. Can Simply Rent help with other safety items?

We can arrange the supply and/or fitting of the following items which you may wish to install in the property:

smoke alarms
fire blankets
fire extinguishers

21. Can Simply Rent help with insurance?

We are able to arrange insurance tailored to the needs of Landlords at preferential rates.

22. Can Simply Rent help with mortgages?

We can offer advice on availability of mortgages for rental property.

We do not, however, recommend any particular lender.

This information is offered free of charge as part of our normal management service.

23. What will happen to my mail?

You should inform as many people as possible of your new address if you have been living in the property yourself.

Identity theft is an increasing problem in the UK, and mail addressed to you arriving at a property at which you do not live is dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands. We strongly advise all our clients to divert as much mail as possible at source, and to use the Royal Mail redirection service to catch the remainder.

If we managed the property we would ask tenants to forward mail for previous occupants to us for onward forwarding to the addressee, but they do not always do so.

OUR SERVICES FOR LANDLORDS