Trust us to manage and let your property

Ensure you have an appropriate mortgage or permission from your lender in place. Obtain the freeholder's consent to sub-let. Check your tax obligations as a landlord and instruct us to help you.

We can ensure that you comply with all of these:

• Make sure that the property is fit for human habitation and free from hazards at the beginning of the tenancy and throughout.
• Abiding by the provisions in the tenant fees act 2019 which bans charging unfair fees to tenants in connection with a tenancy and caps tenancy – and holding – deposits
• Protecting tenancy deposits in a government-approved scheme.
• Providing your tenants with a copy of the “how to rent: the checklist for renting in england” (how to rent guide).
• Keeping the property in a good state of repair.
• Carrying out gas safety checks and giving a copy of the certificate to the tenant(s) before the start of the tenancy.
• Obtaining an energy performance certificate (epc), if required, and giving a copy to the tenant at the earliest opportunity. Epcs must show a minimum rating of no lower than e is met.
• Ensuring electrical installations and appliances are safe.
• Installing smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
• Make sure that your tenant has the correct contact details for you or your agent, including a telephone number they can use in case of an emergency. Under section 48 landlord and tenant act 1987, you are required to provide your tenant with your name and with an address (which must be in england or wales) where they can serve any notices on you. The rent due under the tenancy agreement will not be ‘lawfully due’ until you have done so.

We can assist you to make sure that your property is fit and ready to be let:

• You should check to ensure all that products, fixtures and fittings provided are safe and that there haven’t been any product recalls.
• To prevent accidents associated with blind cords, blinds should be safe by design and not have looped cords, and this is especially important in a child’s bedroom.
• You must ensure an annual gas safety check on each gas appliance and flue is carried out and keep a record of each check. Once this has been done you’ll be given a Landlord Gas Safety Record or Gas Safety certificate which you must provide to current tenants within 28 days or new tenants at the start of their tenancy.
• Electrical installations and fixed appliances must be safe. Under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, you will have to get your property electrics checked at least every five years by a properly qualified person.
• Working smoke alarms must be installed on every storey of living accommodation. If your property has any rooms that contain a solid fuel appliance, such as a wood burning stove, working open fire etc., you must also install carbon monoxide alarms in those rooms.
• You must provide tenants with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) (except some HMOs, for example bedsits or where you let out individual rooms) at the earliest opportunity. You will not be able to obtain possession of your property using a section 21 notice unless you provide this.
• Since April 2020, all privately rented properties must have a minimum EPC rating of E. Where a property qualifies for an exemption, this must be registered on the National PRS Exemptions Register.

You must ensure that any furniture supplied has the required fire safety labels and is fire resistant. You can find further information on product safety. You must ensure the water supply is in working order and carry out a risk assessment to assess the risk from exposure to Legionella.

To let your property and collect the rent, we charge a fee of 12% of the rent for whole term of the tenancy including any extension or renewal. To include managemnet of the property, our fees are 18% of rent for the whole term of the tenancy including any extension or renewal.

Even if you own just one buy-to-let property, this has to be treated as a property business. You are required to declare your income and expenditure on your tax return, and so you may have to hire the services of an accountant to prepare your accounts for you. If you run your business as a limited company, you may also have to submit accounts to Companies House. Depending on the complexity of the work you can expect to pay anything from around £200 to over £1,000.

If you’re buying property investment, or you have tenant problems and need to go to court, you may have to hire a solicitor to assist you.

If you’re using a mortgage to buy your property investment, it can pay to speak to a mortgage broker. They can scour the market for you in order to find the most appropriate product and a lender that will agree on the mortgage you need. Many mortgage brokers charge a fee for their services, ranging from £250 to 1% of the loan amount. If you have taken out a mortgage to buy your property then your mortgage is likely to be one of your biggest expenses.

Any surplus earnings from your buy-to-let property are subject to tax at your marginal rate.

You can deduct certain allowable expenses from any rental income you receive. These expenses include property repairs and maintenance, professional fees, and buildings insurance premiums.

New rules for tax relief on mortgage interest payments came into force in April 2017 and these restrict the tax relief you can claim on these interest payments. From April 2020, only basic rate tax relief will be available.

While buildings insurance is not a mandatory requirement for landlords (unless you have a mortgage, in which case your lender may insist on this), it’s recommended that you protect your property against damage or destruction by taking out suitable buildings insurance.

One of your major expenses as a landlord will be repairs and maintenance to the property. This can range from redecorating between tenancies to repairs to the structure of the property. There may be other maintenance costs: for example, the installation of a new boiler.