A deposit can occasionally mean a payment in the world of lettings, and students, in particular have seen huge sums taken out of their tenancy deposits, perhaps for damage or using up the landlords time. This is however, unlikely if you have kept your house in good conditions.
An inventory is a valuable document both for landlords and tenants, and it can help make sure you receive your tenancy deposit. An inventory gives the tenant an opportunity to note down the condition of the home, therefore when they leave, they can say ‘the damage was already there’ or ‘I didn’t do this’.
We recommend you take images with a camera that records the date and time, so that the images can be looked at, at the end of your tenancy, meaning the landlord will have to give your deposit back, else you can take them to court.
When it’s not your own home, you may not feel obliged to maintain the garden in the same way you would if it was your own house. Bu you do have to consider taking some sort of responsibility, and to make sure you keep your landlord or lettings agency happy, we’re proving you with some tips.
You shouldn’t have to spend hours on a garden, but the following garden work is important, and it’s common throughout the year:
- Picking up leaves
- Mowing the lawn
- Sweeping the patio
- Removing weeds
- Watering plants
These steps are typical in any garden, and it won’t take up a significant amount of time, depending on the size of your garden, so if you want to make sure you’re not charged extra at the end of your contract due to poor garden maintenance, this type of straightforward gardening can keep your landlord happy.
If you’re a college or university student looking for a house to share and rent, we’re providing you with some key pieces of advice. There are plenty of landlords out there who may be looking to take advantage of you, and as a tenant it’s important to make sure you don’t come away ripped off.
Firstly the inventory is one of the most important documents when signing a letting contract. The inventory gives you the chance to note down any issues with the house, perhaps a stain on the carpet or damp on the ceiling, and it’s ultimately your chance to describe the property before you move in. This form should be filled out carefully, perhaps even taking images with evidence, and it ensure you do not get charged at the end of your contract due to damage that wasn’t your fault.
Students tend to have most trouble at the end of their contracts, and you if you take detailed pictures of your room before you move in, you can then take detailed pictures when you move out, proving no damage was done.
Of course this is just a precaution, and you may have a reasonable landlord who is not out fine you with extra costs. So keep it as clean as you can and prove you’re a tidy tenant, and you’re less likely to run into any issues.
If you’ve been a town or city person throughout your life, then moving to the country can be a big change. You may want to break away from the busy life, and live in natural surroundings with nothing but ducks, foxes and birds to keep you company.
Many people will argue that renting in the countryside is not always cheap, and some could see lining out in the open country as a luxury, which is why prices are likely to be higher than those homes on the outskirts of towns and cities.
There are plenty of reasons why you may not want to move too far out in the country, and the main reason involves amenities. Bus routes, shops, supermarkets, schools and main roads are important to our daily lives. Commuting on long exhausting country roads can be problematic especially in the winter when the gritters may have ignored your area.
If you have children, the school run shouldn’t literally be a school ‘RUN’, and it’s always good to have one nearby within walking distance.
Before you make the move to rent or buy a home out in the open country think carefully about your daily life, perhaps even your future, because while there is plenty of grass in the countryside, it may not be greener.
Property block management and estate management agents can offer professional guidance and advice about commercial and residential multi-unit and multi-floor properties. Experienced managing agents will be flexible in their terms and can fully manage or assist a person in managing his leasehold or freehold estate.
A block management company will have expertise in all the aspects of managing blocks of flats and apartment buildings and should also be able to demonstrate compliance and qualifications with regulations in this regard.
Some of the areas a person should consider when it comes to the property leasehold or freehold management agents are discussed below.
Employment and management of property staff- This can be staff employed for the maintenance and security of the building, estate and renovation staff, direct staff and subcontractors, or staff employed by the individual leaseholder.
Health and safety is a key consideration in the management of any property. This includes ensuring the estate or apartment block complies with all the required building regulations, as well as all aspects of risk assessments, fire safety and evacuation procedures and regulations. This should also include regular testing of the procedures and all fire safety equipment like emergency lighting, alarms and fire extinguishers.
Another important consideration is the need to perform an asbestos survey and to put in place a formal strategy for the management of asbestos in any structure. Any time work is needed on the structure the asbestos information and report must be made available to the contractors or suppliers so that that any particular safety arrangements can be made.
Security – This includes both infrastructural and staff security measures. Maintenance of phone systems, car parking, electronic gates, and building access controls are all essential elements of any security strategy for a leasehold or freehold property.
Building Maintenance and Repairs – This includes things like gardening, cleaning contracts, window cleaning, outdoor spaces and lighting. Regular maintenance and servicing of lifts, fire equipment, boilers, security equipment and fire escapes is not only necessary but in many cases is normally a legal requirement for the safe operation of the block in compliance with statutory regulations.
Service charge administration – It includes forecast expenditure budgeting, all aspects of customer responses and service, client reporting, management of cash flow and accounts. Arrears collection is a very important aspect where a robust system needs to be adopted in order to recover any unpaid service charge money owed by the leaseholders.
Lease compliance and management must form part of the block management. Problems with noise, nuisance, neighbour disputes and other breached of the lease must be dealt with properly and courteously by the professional block management agent.
If you still want to manage your block, luckily a block management firm can handle all these tasks and more, and no longer do people have to go through a painstaking decision process as to how much the service charge should be, or the contractors to hire as block management firms can help you with all of this.