Being a Landlord and Renting your property can be a challenging endeavour, especially if it's not been a regular occurrence. However, understanding some of the basic legislation and legal requirements will help relieve those anxious feelings that most new and old landlords experience.
Often, Landlords will choose to instruct an agent to source the appropriate tenant and manage tenancy from start to finish. However, Grantco lettings agents recommend that landlords should still have a basic understanding of tenancies and legislation.
So, where should you begin?We'll strive to keep it straightforward and cover some key points.
Before Marketing: To market your rental property, there are a couple of checks to do beforehand. Check to see if your property has a valid EPC (Energy performance certificate). You can do this by checking on https://www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate. If your certificate has expired, you can book one through our landlord services https://grantco.co.uk/services.
It is also important to check you have valid GAS safety and EICR (Electrical installation condition report). Both these are highly recommended to be done before marketing as additional work may be required in some cases. If you don't have valid certificates, you can also book through our landlord service with one of our qualified contractors. https://grantco.co.uk/services
It also advisable to check if your mortgage company allows you to rent a property often. This can be an oversite for most landlords.
Are you an expat? If you have resided overseas for more than six months, different taxation applies, and you will need to apply for the NRL1 form.
Valuation: It's important to note that achieving the highest rental price should not be the top priority when letting a property. Based on our experience, pricing your property modestly in line with general market expectations is of utmost importance. This approach tends to attract higher-quality tenants and results in a quicker turnaround for tenants moving in, which means shorter void periods.
Marketing: Advertising your property across various platforms, including Rightmove, Zoopla, and others, provides nearly 100% exposure to tenants looking to rent in your area. On average, Grantco Lettings Agent rents properties within six days of being listed.
Referencing and terminology:
At Grantco, we aim to provide excellent customer service to both landlords and tenants; we have bullet-pointed some of our tenant references:
- Six to three months' bank statements
- Credit check
- Three-month payslips
- Tenant information
- Income check
- Right to rent check
- Landlord reference
Terminology:
AST – Assured shorthold tenancy.
Guarantor – A person who guarantees that they will pay if rent isn't paid.
Deposit – Maximum of five-week deposit under current house legislation
Deposit protection scheme – Legal requirement that all deposit is registered under one of the following providers: My Deposits, The Deposit Protection Service or The Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme.
EPC -This is a report which shows how efficient your property is and its environmental impact. Valid for ten years
GAS SAFETY – Yearly requirement assessing all gas appliances in the home.
EICR – An electrical report that assesses the condition of the wiring within this home, which is valid for ten years. This is different from PAT testing, which is required for any freestanding electrical appliance left in the property.
Periodic tenancy: A tenancy that has now finished its fixed term of six or twelve months and is now on standard one-month notice for the tenant and two months' notice for the landlord.
Section 21 Notice: It is also commonly referred to as an eviction notice or notice to quit once the tenancy has ended its fixed term and requires two months' notice.
Section 8 notice: Section 8 notice is often used and has several grounds for serving, such as rent arrears anti-social behaviour, amongst other conditions.
How to rent guide: Legal requirement when issuing a tenancy is a guide for tenants to understand their rights and responsibilities.
Prescribed information: Legal requirement when issuing a tenancy, a is document outlining where the deposit is held along with the conditions.
Conclusion: Grantco Lettings Agents is not only a highly regarded letting agent when it comes to outstanding customer service but also gives landlords in Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch total peace of mind when opting to use our fully managed lettings service. To understand more, speak to one of the team or see our agency costs https://grantco.co.uk/landlord-fees