sha Posted January 16, 2014 Report Share Posted January 16, 2014 HI is there any one on here that can give me a bit of advise please. I am a newbie and waiting to buy my first property etc. I would like to manange the property myself. Ok i know about the damage deposit, elec/gas cert etc want i would like to know about how to get the forms etc about reference for tenants and guart, etc and what else i would need to do. I have been told that i need to get the deposit, tenency agreement etc, but where do i get these forms from and what else. i would need to do ie for a new tenant thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave A Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 This is a huge subject which really needs breaking down into smaller parts. It also needs backing up with a lot of research and learning. Reading through past posts on here will be a good place to start. There are also some excellent books out there, again a search on here will bring up some good titles. We manage our properties completely and below is a very basic summary of what we do when a property of ours becomes available. It is very important to remember though that this process suits us and the type of business we run. We have a very precise type of tenant we are looking for and the type of properties we have means that we have a niche market. We are also fairly new to this business (5 years) and are constantly learning. In the past 12 months we have attended three seminars run by a company specialising in Landlord law, and find a massive amount of new information as we go along. Unfortunately there is no better way to learn than diving in and having ago, just do as much research as you can. Our process: - advertise the property ( a search on here will give lots of suggestions for this) - Save yourself time by having a website with as much information about the property as possible on it, this costs me £30 per year, I do it myself, it's not polished, but it works. - Determine the type of tenant you are looking for, draw up a check list and stick to it, Richlist has a very good one if you search on here. - Interview your prosepctive tenants on the phone before agreeing to meet them, get the important issues out of the way before you meet them. Do they have a pair of giant bull mastiffs?, do they work?, how old are they?, can they afford a months rent in advance and the deposit? etc. - Meet the tenants at the property, if it meets their requirements, find out if they meet yours. DO NOT ACCEPT ANY CASH at this stage, and do not commit to anything. People do change their minds after a nights sleep and so may you. Give yourself time to check out other possibly better applicants. - Take up references, previous landlord, employer etc. You do not need a form, get the tenants to arrange for them to be sent to you personally, and check up with a phone call if you are unsure. - Complete credit checks, if necessary, there is lots of info out there on doing this. - Obtain a garuntor if you have any doubts about the tenants financial position. Credit check the garuntor and ensure that they have the means to satisfy the tenants financial obligations if anything goes wrong. - When everything is ok, draw up your tenancy. I use an online service which I pay for, there are many other ways of doing this. I like this method because the tenancy is kept current by a professional specialising in this field of law. -Give the tenant plenty of time to read through and obtain legal advice about the tenancy. I always go through it with them and ensure that they understand that it is a legal contract and their obligations. They must sign it and have it witnessed by an independant person. You keep a copy and they have a copy. - Complete a detailed written and phtographic inventory of the property with the tenant, get them to sign and date a copy. A video tour of the property can also be useful, Include specific details about the conditon of all items in the property. This might seem arduous, but it is a very worthwhile exercise if things go wrong. - read the meters, record oil tank levels and include these on the inventory. - take the tenants deposit in cash and their first months rent. Provide the tenant with the prescribed information on the deposit and get them to sign a copy for you to keep. - repeat the above with the epc if relevant. - insert a frsh battery, check the smoke detectors function and get the tenant to sign an agreement to check monthly. - give the tenant the keys, shake hands and leave. - inform energy companies, you insurer, water provider and local authorities, that the new tenant has moved in. - protect the deposit immediately. Failure to do this can land you in the financial muckheap, even if things do not go wrong. Follow up with regular inspections, and ensure you are aware of your legal responsibilities towards the tenant. I am sure that others will have different views on the above and will add details that I have omitted. I must re stress that this is the method that suits us and is a very basic summary. It might not suit you or your type of business. It's also worth saying that gut feel comes into tenant selection, if they don't feel right, we don't go any further. Good luck Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortitia Posted January 17, 2014 Report Share Posted January 17, 2014 Dave you have the patience of Job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave A Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 Waste of time as well, OP hasn't been on forum since I posted the above. Never mind. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 I hope not Dave - excellent response, except I can't see the bit about being available to react kindly all 24 hours of every day and night for problems like water dripping through kitchen ceiling light fitting - Yes, it's happened! Also sorting out and clearing up after eventual departure - arrival is usually the easiest bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acura Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Dave you have the patience of Job! I agree! What a detailed response! Shame the OP upped and left without reading your reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sha Posted January 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2014 Dave thank you for all the info been busy looking at site and checking about inventry/tenants agreement and lots more been a bit of a head ache, we are just about to buy our first buy to let and the funny thing is the person who is selling to us know's some one who want to move in just about to send them a form called a tenancy application form, sorry not been back on here, but had accident and had to have finger glue and sterry stiches being that i am right handed i am finding it hard to type on here. the people have already seen property etc, ie not through me but the person who is selling,( they are being transfer with there work to the area ) i have to day spoken to them regarding if everthing all check out and is ok there there should not be a problem them moving in have said that we will be doing 3/4 monthly checks, ( heard all about the nightmare of landlord not checking there property out ie growing drug etc ) she said that they have an alarm system with smoke detector s that they would like to have fitted at there expense as a friend works for a firm that does this and it works on a remote ie call to there mobile if any one breaks in so not to sure about this any helpfull comments on this one would help, ie would you let your tenant do this ???? thank you once again for all the usefull info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sha Posted January 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2014 This is a huge subject which really needs breaking down into smaller parts. It also needs backing up with a lot of research and learning. Reading through past posts on here will be a good place to start. There are also some excellent books out there, again a search on here will bring up some good titles. We manage our properties completely and below is a very basic summary of what we do when a property of ours becomes available. It is very important to remember though that this process suits us and the type of business we run. We have a very precise type of tenant we are looking for and the type of properties we have means that we have a niche market. We are also fairly new to this business (5 years) and are constantly learning. In the past 12 months we have attended three seminars run by a company specialising in Landlord law, and find a massive amount of new information as we go along. Unfortunately there is no better way to learn than diving in and having ago, just do as much research as you can. Our process: - advertise the property ( a search on here will give lots of suggestions for this) - Save yourself time by having a website with as much information about the property as possible on it, this costs me £30 per year, I do it myself, it's not polished, but it works. - Determine the type of tenant you are looking for, draw up a check list and stick to it, Richlist has a very good one if you search on here. - Interview your prosepctive tenants on the phone before agreeing to meet them, get the important issues out of the way before you meet them. Do they have a pair of giant bull mastiffs?, do they work?, how old are they?, can they afford a months rent in advance and the deposit? etc. - Meet the tenants at the property, if it meets their requirements, find out if they meet yours. DO NOT ACCEPT ANY CASH at this stage, and do not commit to anything. People do change their minds after a nights sleep and so may you. Give yourself time to check out other possibly better applicants. - Take up references, previous landlord, employer etc. You do not need a form, get the tenants to arrange for them to be sent to you personally, and check up with a phone call if you are unsure. - Complete credit checks, if necessary, there is lots of info out there on doing this. - Obtain a garuntor if you have any doubts about the tenants financial position. Credit check the garuntor and ensure that they have the means to satisfy the tenants financial obligations if anything goes wrong. - When everything is ok, draw up your tenancy. I use an online service which I pay for, there are many other ways of doing this. I like this method because the tenancy is kept current by a professional specialising in this field of law. -Give the tenant plenty of time to read through and obtain legal advice about the tenancy. I always go through it with them and ensure that they understand that it is a legal contract and their obligations. They must sign it and have it witnessed by an independant person. You keep a copy and they have a copy. - Complete a detailed written and phtographic inventory of the property with the tenant, get them to sign and date a copy. A video tour of the property can also be useful, Include specific details about the conditon of all items in the property. This might seem arduous, but it is a very worthwhile exercise if things go wrong. - read the meters, record oil tank levels and include these on the inventory. - take the tenants deposit in cash and their first months rent. Provide the tenant with the prescribed information on the deposit and get them to sign a copy for you to keep. - repeat the above with the epc if relevant. - insert a frsh battery, check the smoke detectors function and get the tenant to sign an agreement to check monthly. - give the tenant the keys, shake hands and leave. - inform energy companies, you insurer, water provider and local authorities, that the new tenant has moved in. - protect the deposit immediately. Failure to do this can land you in the financial muckheap, even if things do not go wrong. Follow up with regular inspections, and ensure you are aware of your legal responsibilities towards the tenant. I am sure that others will have different views on the above and will add details that I have omitted. I must re stress that this is the method that suits us and is a very basic summary. It might not suit you or your type of business. It's also worth saying that gut feel comes into tenant selection, if they don't feel right, we don't go any further. Good luck Dave Dave thank you for all the info been busy looking at site and checking about inventry/tenants agreement and lots more been a bit of a head ache, we are just about to buy our first buy to let and the funny thing is the person who is selling to us know's some one who want to move in just about to send them a form called a tenancy application form, sorry not been back on here, but had accident and had to have finger glue and sterry stiches being that i am right handed i am finding it hard to type on here. the people have already seen property etc, ie not through me but the person who is selling,( they are being transfer with there work to the area ) i have to day spoken to them regarding if everthing all check out and is ok there there should not be a problem them moving in have said that we will be doing 3/4 monthly checks, ( heard all about the nightmare of landlord not checking there property out ie growing drug etc ) she said that they have an alarm system with smoke detector s that they would like to have fitted at there expense as a friend works for a firm that does this and it works on a remote ie call to there mobile if any one breaks in so not to sure about this any helpfull comments on this one would help, ie would you let your tenant do this ???? thank you once again for all the usefull info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sha Posted January 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2014 I hope not Dave - excellent response, except I can't see the bit about being available to react kindly all 24 hours of every day and night for problems like water dripping through kitchen ceiling light fitting - Yes, it's happened! Also sorting out and clearing up after eventual departure - arrival is usually the easiest bit. no please not never though about this one ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave A Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 I would be wary about letting tenants fit a speech dialler alarm. For a good wireless system, you are looking at min. of £1000, what happens when the tenants move out? If they take it with them, you'll have holes in the walls all over the place. They should also be serviced annually so there would need to be a contract in place, who would this be with and could you utilise the system if they leave? You will have a charge to pay to the company maintaining it. If you really want these tenants, I would suggest fitting the system your self and owning it. I would then ammortise say 50% of it's cost in with the rent over say 18 months. That ways it's yours, you can have an access code for it, and if the tenants don't want to do this, you probably need to ask why. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sha Posted January 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 thank you will keep this in mind regarding the alarm etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let-Quick Posted January 30, 2014 Report Share Posted January 30, 2014 I would just like to take an opportunity for any private landlords to have a read of this. Let-Quick is an online agent, we will offer to do all your advertising on Rightmove and Zoopla for £19.00 inc. VAT We understand that you may want to stay a private landlord but will need the advertisement, If you would like to read more into this service please visit www.let-quick.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joybells Posted January 31, 2014 Report Share Posted January 31, 2014 We do everything ourselves with our properties my husband is a carpenter/builder so that helps. Initially to start you off consider buying all the forms you need on line i.e. tenancy agreement etc then once you have the documents scan them into your computer and you can use them time and again for different tenants as they come and go. Your son sounds handy but for back up when he's not around consider a handyman on a when you need him basis and for anything more technical plumbing/electric etc plenty of other trades advertise work wanted on postcards in shop windows just a matter of finding a good reasonably priced one. I always advertise property to let on gumtree and usually get a very good response, also check out and use facebook/twitter. As far as letting agents go if you are taking on housing benefit they will charge them a few hundred pounds - and you for the privilage tenants know this and will avoid them. Far cheaper to do it yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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