Landlords
It can be a
complex and lengthy process to find a suitable tenant for your
property, it is important to find a licensed agent that can
successfully help let and manage your investment. Dickinson Bowden is
a Licensed Member of The National Approved Letting Scheme. Whether it
is a town centre flat, a terraced house or a country cottage we have
a friendly and efficient team that will help you get your property
ready to let as soon as possible. We can provide a number of
different services, our two most common being a Full Management
Service or Tenant Find, further details are explained below.
1. Book a
Valuation
It is important
to get the rental value of a property right in order to attract
potential tenants as quickly as possible. We would be very happy to
have a look at your property, discuss any minor works you may wish to
do and agree with you a suitable monthly rental figure. This price
would be agreed based on the condition of your property, the
additional space available, such as garden and garage, and the rental
price achieved on other rental properties in the area.
2. Advertising Your Property
To market your home effectively we
like to have a good selection of high quality photographs. We are
happy to revisit your home as many times as necessary to ensure we
present your property in the best possible light. As soon as we have
the appropriate photographs we will prepare property details, window
cards to be displayed in our two prominent office windows, and
advertise your property on multiple websites including Rightmove,
Zoopla, Prime Location and many others. We will also contact
applicants that have registered with us who are looking for a home
just like yours.
3. Viewings
Once the property has been
advertised we will carry out viewings, these will always be
accompanied by an experienced member of our team. These viewings will
be arranged with permission from any existing tenants and we will
always give you a call afterwards to let you know how it went and
provide any feedback.
4. Finding The Right Tenants
Finding the right tenants for your
property is very important to us, we want to ensure that the people
moving in to your home will look after it and enjoy being there. We
work with an external referencing company called Rent4Sure who carry
out a thorough reference check looking specifically at employment
history, proof of address, qualification of income, search of local
records, search for county court judgements and previous residential
references. Once the references have confirmed a tenant is acceptable
we will agree a move in date.
5. Preparing The Property
There are a number of essential
items that you will need to consider before the property is ready to
let, we would be very happy to arrange any of the works below on your
behalf as part of our Full Management service:
Any
white goods left in the property would be subject to a Portable
Appliance Test
Any
soft furnishings that are left in the property must comply with the
Furniture and Furnishing (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988. These
regulations do not apply to curtains, carpets and antique furniture
manufactured before 1950.
It
is a legal requirement to provide smoke detectors and there has to be
one on every floor
If
you have gas appliances within your property, it is recommended to
fit a Carbon Monoxide alarm.
It is always advisable to have
fire extinguishers and a fire blanket available in the kitchen.
If you have gas at the property it is a legal requirement that an annual Landlord's Gas Safety Certificate is carried out. We would recommend a boiler service is carried out at the same time.
6. Moving In
We will prepare all of the
relevant paperwork for your tenants in preparation for them taking on
the property. This will include the Assured Shorthold Tenancy
Agreement, the Prescribed Information that accompanies the protection
of the security deposit, a copy of the Energy Performance
Certificate, gas safety certificate, portable appliance test
certificate, buildings insurance and lease information if
appropriate. Their security deposit will be secured with an
independent company called The Tenants Deposit Solutions Scheme, both
the tenants and yourself will receive a copy of the certificate. If
you have signed up for our Full Management Service there will also be
a thorough inventory and schedule of condition which will be given to
the tenants to check once they arrive at the property.
7. Ongoing Service
Depending on whether you would
like us to carry out a Full Management service or just a Tenant Find
the ongoing service that we provide will be different. If you have
chosen to manage the property yourself then the ongoing management
will be between yourself and your tenants. If however you would like
us to look after your property and the tenants throughout their
tenancy we will carry out visits to your property every three months
to ensure that there are no ongoing problems and to check that it is
being well cared for. You will be sent a report detailing the outcome
of these visits. If there is anything that requires any attention we
will arrange for a contractor to quote for this work, if you are
happy to accept this quotation, we will arrange for all necessary
works to be carried out.
When the time comes for your
tenants to move out of the property we will carry out a thorough
�check out� of the property, this includes ensuring the property
is returned in the same state that it was handed over at the start of
the tenancy, if there are any works that are to be carried out these
will be arrange and where appropriate any dilapidations will be
charged to the tenants. Final meter readings will be reported and the
property will be prepared for the new tenants moving in.
We our very thorough in our
approach to looking after your property and you will be consulted
with at appropriate stages throughout the tenancy, your home will be
in safe hands.
8. Our Fees
Our fee for Full Management Service is 15% + VAT. There is a £250.00 set up fee at the beginning of each new tenancy. Please note where we arrange major works to be carried out at the property, and the final invoice is £300.00 or more, a works arrangement fee of 3% + VAT is applicable. It is a legal requirement that all properties have a valid EPC, we can arrange this for £114.00 + VAT. As of 01 June 2020, it is a legal requirement that all new tenancies have a 5 Year Electrical Test, we can arrange this for £175.00+VAT. Gas safety certificates are charged at the individual companies rate.
Our fee for our Tenant Find Service is one full months rent at the beginning of each new tenancy.
