DancingQueen

Hi All, Could you please share tips on how to manage the rent increase process with my tenant in London? This is a very good tenant - low maintenance, always pays on time - and I would like to keep him. The TA has a rent increase clause (increase in line with latest published annual CPI change) so I can do it contractually but I want the whole process to be as 'pleasant' as possible (e.g. giving him an informal heads up on WA and only sending the notice once we agree). Do you have any templates of messages you've sent to your tenants to ensure they receive the news well and stay? Any help would be really appreciated! Kind regards, Claudia

Hello, I was thinking of having two different periods for the serving of notices: A) 2 months for the exercise of the break clause 3 months to break the tenancy Is it okay to have two different intervals (2 vs 3 months)? Also, is it legally enforceable to say the tenant must serve notice to end the tenancy at the end of the initial term (I.e. It does not auto terminate)?

Hello, were just drafting the AST for a new tenancy and wondering if anyone has any sample wording for the following custom clauses: 1. Requiring the Tenant to keep the balcony clean, free of bird droppings and to clear any nesting immediately after becoming aware of it. Would also like to ask them to look after any plants that remain on the balcony on a best efforts basis. 2. Adding a point stating that the rent is inclusive of cleaning paid for by the Landlord. Want tenants to be happy :-)! Preference would be not to commit to exact number of hours or frequency. 3. If there is any correspondence to the Landlord, allowing the tenant to open the letters and take photos instead of posting it to the Landlord. Any help would be super appreciated 🙂

Amazing! Do you have any recommended rent guarantee insurance providers? Again, first timer here so wanted to hear feedback from experienced landlords before making a decision!

Thank you Richlist! Exactly, and openrent does a lot of this. Do you or anyone in this forum have any experience with them? I worry that by paying as little as 49 GBP I may realise later on the quality of the service is awful. Practical experience / recommendations of providers to us would be super appreciated!

Hi All, Wondering which reference checks provider to use - and how much to pay for these checks. I am renting my flat for the first time to a couple, who I found through my university's network. They both have solid profiles and one of them just moved from the US. Do you have any sites you'd recommend for reference checks? I have a voucher for 2 free Lettingref credit checks. However, the quality of the service seems poor and it seems all it does really is a quick / instantaneous credit check. Does anyone have any experience with it? Kind regards,

Hi Team, I have found my tenants and am trying to find the most cost-effective online agent. Wondering if Openrent is too cheap to be true (49GBP for AST drafting and rent collection)? Do you have any experience with them? Would you recommend / suggest other sites? I am planning to ad custom clauses (RPI adjustment annually from Y1 even though its a 2y contract), inclusion of cleaning lady (paid by me) and also separate blling (bills to be sent by me) of hot water (it's a communal hot water system) based on tenant's consumption. Thank you in advance for your help! Kind regards,

Hey guys! I am trying to follow Richlists advice and find a tenant on my own. If I go it alone, I might as well do all the checks / inventory / AST without a high street agent. Do you have any online agents that you'd recommend? Some of them offer very low prices (£12 reference checks, as well as £49 to set up a tenancy and manage rental payments, deposit registration, etc). In your experience, are these prices too good to be true?

Incredible advice! Thank you very much, especially Richlist for returning here and there and emphasising the importance of finding the right tenant. Grampa is also right, the estate agents are putting me under a lot of pressure and promising the world... by mentioning specific situations, not at all comparable to mine, where they've had success vs their competitors. My thinking is to aim for corporate tenants - hopefully this means they'll be cleaner and more civilised, especially if their employment contract is tied to the tenancy? Just simulated estate agent costs (not just fees but also setup, maintenance, renewal and closing costs) and they are SO HIGH (c20% of my total income from the rental... ). Would love to find a tenant independently and avoid these charges but I feel like gumtree/local press will definitely not be targeting the “model tenant” that I’m after Back to reading estate agent contracts I go... Oh dear, landlording really is a business of its own.

Hey Richlist! Thank you for replying. *Private Sounding = Checking interest from individuals/corporates based on pre-existing enquiries before it goes public (Zoopla, Rightmove etc) *More estate agents = more chances of success (esp in the private stage) *De-instructing without incurring costs (ie. if they dont find a tenant in the first 4 weeks, de instructing) Hope this clarifies my questions!

Good morning! I will be letting my properly in 3 months and am thinking of appointing 6-7 estate agents for an initial private sounding exercise and then reduce them to 2 closer to the start date. Has anyone ever done this and is it possible to de-instruct letting agents flexibly? Their contracts say I'm only due to pay fees once the tenancy contract is signed by tenant and landlord.