landlords - advice needed
 

I'm currently renting a property through an agent who is useless. Both myself and the tenant agree that we are happy to deal directly with each other. The agent has been given notice and in a couple of weeks I will be in charge of the letting. The tenants have been there a while and want to stay on for a few years whilst their kids are at school. They are friends of a friend of mine who says that they are good people who'll keep the house in good order. So, whilst I trust them I still need to put a contract in place. Can anyone either suggest a good place to buy a standard 'short term assured lease' contract or maybe even email me a copy of one?

Thanks

Surely the agent gave you a copy of the lease for last time?

There are other documents you need to get done as well I believe, like to notice to quit etc.

I think you can buy a pack in whsmith (about £15), it will include everthing you need, or an online search may come up with the same thing for nothing,

taffy

Read the small print of your contract, some agencies have a 3 year clause stating they receive fee every time the tennant (they found) renews their tenancy agreement, irrespective of whether they manage the tennant or not.

As stated above you've paid the agency for the preparation of the tenancy agreement, so ask for it in electronic format and then you can edit it to suit dates etc. Or if nothing has changed, you can just issue a 1 page extention to the contract, stating T&C as per original contract bar the date changes etc.

From memory the agent is entitled to a renewal fee of half the original letting fee.

My sister-in-law recently had to pay 4% when the tenants renewed their contract for a further 12 months.

The agent didn't inspect at the intervals specified in the contract hence they're in breach of and have allowed me to cancel it!

Am I able to continue with the existing terms and conditions in the contract? Should I just issue some amendments, or should I issue a new contract?

I buy all my Housing contracts from here,

Formslink - Tenancy Agreements and other UK Legal Forms from Oyez

you'll need either a furnished or un furnish SHTA (Short Hold tenancy aggrement)


don't forget... don't take a deposit or you'll need to register it for the Tenacy deposit scheme.
Instead ask for ADVANCE RENT (I get this + an extra £100 on top)
this means with the one months rent & the advance rent you'll have just over two months rent when they move in.




cookstar
answering your other thread, I rent three of my flats out to people on housing benefit with Nottm city council, they pay 4 weeks in arrears :( BUT the money does then get paid every four weeks :)
problem is, if a tenant owes the council money the money gets taken out of their housing benefit that pays ME, this means they need to pay the short fall up themself, this isn't a problem if you have good tenants like I have and its only been a shortfall of £20.40 each 4 weeks when its happened. Once the 'debt' has been paid the council pay the full rent allowance the tenant has.

Things to check, will they get full housing benefit to pay all your rent, or how much will they get and what will they have to make up to pay it. Get a letter confirming it before you let the property.

One last thing... is your property a property you want council tenants in?????
Mine are suitable for them, but I wouldn't want to rent my own flat out to them!!!



Phil

Thats a good idea about the two months rent, although were does that leave you if there is damage to the property once they have moved out?

my rents are between £380-£455 per month.

when they move in I take £860 if £380 a months rent etc (£480 being advance rent)
£455 pcm will be £555 advance rent.

if they do a runner mid way through a nine month contracr, they lose the 480!

any damage comes out the £480 if they move out after the contract.




referances mean nothing, get a copy of their passport/driving licence and see a mobile fone/utlity bill etc if they lived else where before. Just to check they pay bills.

Thanks for the reply guys, most useful. :thumb:

I just used some clever program that converts a scan into a word doc for my contracts. Happy to mail you a copy OF A CONTRACT i obtained this way... PM

I deal with professional tenants so their deposit is held by the DPS scheme. You cant hold it yourself anymore as you may know.

D

you could try Rental Property Knowledge - LandlordZONE quite a useful place :) alot of free form ands information although their tenancy docs are quite expensive, the forum is quite useful too.

If you know someone who has a SHTA form electronically already you can crib that and enter the information you need from the generic set.

Your inbox is full, can I have a copy please

cookstar2005@yahoo.co.uk


Cheers :thumb:

I just checked the link given above - it seems just what you need and free??!!

http://www.oyezformslink.co.uk/forms...ates/01040.pdf