Today my advice to any landlords or prospective landlord is quite simply shop around for an agent even if you are totally happy with your current one or prefer to do it yourself. Not all agents offer the same service, sure we all use the same websites, newspapers etc to get your property let and charge similar fees (although I bet our TT find only service beats most people locally) but some agents will give the reassurance of service more than others. Ask them in depth questions regarding your responsibilities and see if they appear knowledgeable. Ask them what is the penalty for failing to register a tenant’s deposit? How long have they got to do this? Is this for all tenancies?
The deposit needs to be registered within 14days of receipt for all AST agreements or a fine of 3 times the deposit plus the deposit could be payable!
Ask them when would you not use an AST agreement? If the rent was over £25k pa (or £100k pa after Oct 1st 2010) or if it was let to a company and not an individual, or not their main home or if they enjoy diplomatic immunity, if it is a holiday let, is the landlord resident....these are just some of the factors affecting the type of tenancy.
The bottom line is, if you get the agreement wrong you may struggle to get repossession of your property!!
Specialist Letting agency based in Guildford. Offering Landlords free advice on property sourcing, mortgages, wealth management, tenant placement and property management
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