Student Lets - What to Look for
The academic year for most universities and colleges begins this week and it won’t just be Freshers’ Week that consumes students’ energies.
Most first year students will never have lived away from home before and the likelihood is that the majority will be resident in first year halls, however, many students will be living in properties owned by private landlords, properties that they viewed and chose a year ago, but many students will have forgotten what the property looked like, some may not have even been present, leaving the decision making up to their friends.
The first thing which you to establish before looking for a place to live for second and third year, is finding a solid group of friends that you will enjoy living with. You do not have to be best friends but at least get on with them well enough that you can commit to living with them for the next couple of years.
ONS - Index of Private Housing Rental Prices, UK: February 2023
Over the last 12 months there has been a lot of discussion surrounding rent increases on the private rented sector. Many landlords took the decision not to increase rent during the Pandemic or post Pandemic, however, due to the cost living crisis, the cost of energy and increases in interest rates, landlords took the decision to increase rents.
Landlords are permitted to increase rent at the end of every 12-month term. This can be done by relying on the rent review clause found in the tenancy agreement. If the tenancy is periodic and the tenancy is silent on rent increases, the landlord must serve a Section 13(2) notice (Form 4).
Importantly, a discussion with the tenant before increasing rent would be sensible as this allows both landlrod and tenant to negotiate on an increase which suits both parties.
A Guide to Protecting Rental Properties against Snow and Ice
With the onslaught of winter, action is required to keep properties/homes in good working order, especially in these times of the cost of living crisis. Differing extremities of weather can bring the need to adapt general maintenance and upkeep of the dwelling.
Preparation – Having an early ongoing contingency plan in place is far wiser than leaving the whole winter extreme weather to chance. Risks, hazards, and legal claims can be an easily avoided expensive outcome. Ensuring both Landlords and Tenants work together, putting winter protocol briefings in place before the bad weather hits is a surefire way of making it through the cold snap unscathed.
There is no room for complacency. It is prudent for all to take protective measures. Even the most experienced landlords need to be ahead of the game.
Keeping properties safe and functional can be achieved by taking on board some practical guidelines. From the outset, good, clear communication between landlord and tenant is a must. This will cancel out any future awkward, unnecessary and/or uncomfortable accidents, misunderstandings, or claims.
Compliance & It’s importance for your Letting Agency
Compliance features heavily on the list of priorities for the letting agent - with health and safety matters at the forefront of the duties letting agents must deal with. However, compliance must also be taken into consideration when dealing with administrative processes, ranging from AML checks to ensuring who ownership of the property is verified.
The reasons behind having strong systems in place to ensure that a letting agent is compliant are multi-layered and can raise concern if there are gaps in the letting agents processes. For example, the introduction of the Deregulation Act 2015 (1st October 2015), changed not only the section 21 notice template in England (the Form 6A was introduced), the additional documents required to ensure validity of the notice, as well as the period during which the notice could NOT be served, caused confusion and placed great emphasis on the importance of compliance and demonstrating to a very strong audit trail.