All landlords need to be aware of the rules and regulations that must be adhered to when renting a property. Valid gas safety certificates, EPC’s & electrical safety certificates must be in place before contracts are signed. It is also imperative that any deposit that is taken from a tenant is placed in a government approved deposit protection scheme.
HMO licenses may also be required for certain types of properties, for further information on this topic please contact our member of the Landlord Accreditation scheme Marios Gavriel on 020 3744 1200 or
info@treewoodproperties.co.uk.
Whether you have single or multiple properties to rent, Treewood have a range of letting services for residential landlords. Marketing on property portals such as Zoopla & Prime location comes as standard for any package you choose to go with.
Let Only – We will carry out viewings and on finding a suitable tenant, with your approval, reference them, collect at least 1 months’ rent in advance and Damage Deposit (usually equivalent to 1 months’ rent), draft the tenancy agreement and arrange signing of the same on the specified move-in day.
Rent Collection – As with let only but we will also collect and forward monthly rents to your designated bank account and lodge the damage deposit with a Deposit Protection Scheme.
Full Management – Treewood will take care of all aspects of renting your property; including finding the tenant, arranging inventories, obtaining valid Gas Safety Certificates and Energy Performance Certificates, Deposit Protection, setting up standing orders for rent payments, administration of essential maintenance (with the landlords prior approval) and forwarding rents to landlord.
Our Company Are Members Of
The Property Ombudsman – The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme has been providing consumers and property agents with an alternative dispute resolution service for 29 years and provides consumers with a free, impartial and independent alternative dispute resolution service.
Client Money Protect – In England, it is a legal requirement from 1st April 2019 that all letting agents and property management companies to be a member of an approved Client Money Protection Scheme. In Scotland, the legal requirement was inforce from 31st January 2018 and in Wales from 23rd November 2015.
Client Money Protect (CMP) is a government approved Client Money Protection Membership Scheme that protects any money held by Members on behalf of their clients should the member misappropriate it.
Our Fees
Full Management 12% + Vat of the annual years rent deducted on a monthly basis
Rent Collection 10% + Vat of the annual years rent deducted on a monthly basis
Let Only 7.5% + Vat of the annual rent
Additional Fees
Gas Safety Certificates £80 + Vat
Electrical Safety Certificate £150 +Vat
EPC £70 + Vat
Inventory £200 + Vat
Tenants letting guide
We aim to make the letting process as seamless as possible. Our company fully appreciates that applicants may not be available to communicate via phone due to their busy work lives, we therefore fully accept correspondence via email.
Finding the right property
When you contact our office we will ask you to give us a brief description of yourself and your property requirements. It’s important that you are honest from the beginning specifically with regards to your affordability, usually, your income (or combined income) needs to be 2.4 times greater than the annual rent you intend paying. In some instances, applicants may require guarantors. To search properties on our website click here.
Referencing
Once you have viewed and decided you want to proceed with renting a place, a holding deposit of one weeks rent in cleared funds is required prior to the property being taken off the market. If for any reason, you decide not to go ahead or your references are not acceptable, the holding deposit will be retained, otherwise, it will be offset against the first rent and full payment.
In addition to copies of the applicant’s passports, we will collect as many of the following references as necessary (applicants will need to give their sign consent for our company to undertake the referencing procedure):
- Bank
- Employment/College
- Previous Landlord
- Character and Guarantor (where applicable)
- You will also be asked to provide a credit report.
All references responses must be received by us at least 48 hours before you are due to move into the property. It is your responsibility to chase them and make sure they are back. There is a charge made by your bank or building society for the reference, it must be paid by you. We will issue each tenant with a form to give to the bank. We do not write to the bank.
The letting process
Tenancy agreements can either be for 12 or 6 months depending on the preference of the landlord, at Treewood about 80% of our lettings are on 12-month contracts.
With most rentals, tenants are expected to pay one month’s rent in advance and one month’s rent deposit. If references are not as strong as they should be in some cases applicant may be asked to pay a higher deposit or rent in advance.
Deposit
The deposit you pay must be held in a deposit protection scheme, with properties that our company manages we will lodge your deposits with the DPS (Deposit Protection Service). They are authorised by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to provide tenancy deposit protection in England and Wales.
