Yes. Your mortgage lender needs to give you permission before you can let your property, and they may impose special conditions. If you are buying a property with the intention of letting it out, you may be able to obtain a buy to let mortgage.
At Chancery Lettings, we’re experts in the market, so we can tell you how other rental properties are doing in the area, and what kind of yield you can hope to expect.
This depends on the type of let you are seeking and the services you require. Our 'landlord fees' page will detail all prospective fees.
All landlords could be liable to pay tax on their rental income, whether they live in the UK or are based overseas. Further information can be found on the Inland Revenue’s website.
The tenant is responsible for the council tax (unless you decide to include this in the rent) but this needs to be clearly stated in the tenancy agreement. If the property is standing empty, it is the landlord’s responsibility to pay.
Choosing a fully managed service allows you to completely relax. You never have to worry about the let. It creates a professional distance between you and the tenancy, and means you can avoid having to deal with the day to day duties of being a landlord.
If you choose a Rent Collect or Fully Managed service, we will organise for the tenant to pay the rent via standing order or direct debit. We will then transfer the money to your account minus our commission and any outgoings or fees (such as maintenance work fees). You will receive a statement every month.
Landlords and letting agents are required to register tenants’ deposits with an approved Tenancy Deposit Scheme. At Chancery Lettings, we register deposits with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS). The deposit is then held by the scheme itself. The Tenancy Deposit Scheme is there to protect the tenant’s money and help to resolve any disputes at the end of the tenancy.
An inventory is a detailed list of the contents and condition of your property taken before the tenant moves in. It is important that if there is a dispute over damage at the end of the tenancy, you have proof of the original condition of the property and its contents.
Either the tenant pays to fix the damage, or the cost for fixing the damage is removed from the tenant’s security deposit at the end of the tenancy. However, fair wear and tear should be allowed for.
You need to give the tenant appropriate notice before you enter the property.
An Energy Performance Certificate, or EPC for short, is a report detailing the energy efficiency of a property. It gives a property an energy efficiency rating from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient) and is valid for 10 years.
All landlords are required to purchase an EPC for a property before they let it and, from 1st April 2018, the property must have a minimum rating of E on its EPC. It will be unlawful to rent a property which breaches this requirement with a penalty of up to £4,000.
There are a few easy and cheap ways to improve your property's EPC rating. Ensuring all your lightbulbs are energy savers is a simple change. Check your loft insulation is at least 270mm too, and if you have cavity walls ensure these are filled with insulation.
More expensive ways to improve your property's EPC rating include replacing an old, inefficient boiler; adding modern controls like room thermostats; or adding renewable technologies like solar panels to the property.
A Gas Safety Record (GSR) is in place to ensure that all gas appliances, pipes and flues are in safe working order. It must be carried out by a qualified Gas Safe Register engineer. This needs to be checked every 12 months.
Yes, to comply with legislation an EICR must be carried out before you can let your property. Am EICR lasts for 5 years..
It is recommended best practise to have a Portable Appliance Test (PAT) carried out to make sure the appliances included in the let are safe.
You must ensure that all furnishings comply with furniture and furnishing regulations. All compliant furniture must display standard labels in a prominent position. This is to reduce the risk of fire within the property.
Yes, legislation states it is mandatory for a working smoke alarm to be installed on each floor.
The Right to Rent scheme, which helps to make sure that people renting property in the UK have a legal right to be here, was rolled out across England in February 2016. At Chancery Lettings we’ve been completing tenant right to rent checks as part of our referencing process. If we don’t currently handle tenant checks for you, we’d be very happy to discuss how we can help you with this.
If you are on our fully managed or guaranteed rent service, we take full responsibility liaising with the tenant and coordinating any necessary works approved by the landlord. We have an extensive network of trusted local tradesmen and contractors who are regularly used to complete repairs or vital maintenance work when needed.
Circumstances change, and sometimes a landlord is required to give their tenant(s) notice to end the tenancy. This is commonly done by issuing the tenant(s) a Section 21 notice. It’s important that the Section 21 notice is served correctly, please speak to a member of our property management team who will be able to advise on current legislation and next steps.
If the tenancy agreement is periodic (or commonly referred to as rolling), you’re usually limited to one rent increase a year and will need the tenant’s agreement for anything further. If the tenancy is in a fixed-term (running for a specific period) you’ll need the tenant’s permission before you can increase the rent. If they don’t agree, you can’t make any changes until the fixed-term ends.
The landlord or the letting agent gives the tenant notice that they will be visiting the property to check it is being looked after, and to check for any potential maintenance issues.You need to give the tenant appropriate notice before you enter the property.