Lestons guide to renting a property

Gaining an understanding of the fundamentals on how to go about this makes the process much easier and puts you in a better position than having little to no knowledge. 

 

Beware – Essential elements to choosing a property

 

When it comes to buying and renting properties, scammers are everywhere it is important to be able to discern what is and is not a scam, and these days scams can be very intricate and sophisticated. To avoid scammers, you need to be aware of: -

• Unrealistically low price
  • If the price advertised is questionably low, then there is probably an issue with the property or it’s a scam.
• Spelling Errors
  • Estate agents use excellent English, if the advert has spelling errors etc then it's probably been written by a non-professional.
• Fast deposit
  • If the landlord is applying considerable pressure to ensure money is transferred without haste and without a good explanation then avoid it!
• The “Fake” estate agent
  • Here someone pretends to be an estate agent and shows you round a lovely home, there is furniture and belongings about – “they are moving out next month”, you sign up and pay the deposit only to find out that the owners were on holiday and the whole thing was a scam.
• Illegal charges
  • Charging a higher deposit or charging for something which isn’t in the tenancy agreement, the tenant is under no requirement to pay this.
• Illegal subletting
  • This is where the person offering you a property claims to be the landlord (when in fact they are a tenant for the property), here you pay who you think is the landlord every month, however, they do not forward the rent to the real landlord, pocketing the rent money. The first you hear of this is when the bailiffs come to repossess the property.
• One just like it.
  • This is where a landlord shows you a property in pristine condition and you start the paperwork, just for there to be an issue at the last stage, the landlord says he “has one more just like it” round the corner so you sign up thinking of life in a pristine let, however when you get there it's nowhere near as nice. The golden rule – don’t sign for a property until you’ve seen it.
• Illegitimate property
  • Mainly applicable to renters who are moving to the UK and do not have the chance to view a property, many use an online company that offers to sort out a property for them, there are obvious warning signs here. Some fraudsters use a different photograph of a house to the one they are looking to let, stealing images off other estate agents’ sites, an easy check is to compare the front of the property with images of Google Maps, if the image is not of the same houses, then it’s a scam.

There are many more scams like these but these are common popular ones, it is important to pay due diligence to avoid scams.

 

Renting - Bills and Taxes 

Before you rent a property, you should make yourself aware of the bills and taxes that you will be paying during your whole tenancy. You could ask the landlord or letting agency to give you an estimation of the overall amount of expenses you will be paying and the energy efficiency of the property in advance.

When renting a property, depending on the type of tenancy agreement you have, there will be different types of rights you may have access to.

 

As a tenant the basic rights you have are:

• To live in a safe property, in a good state of conditions;
• Get repairs done, when required;
• Receive a written agreement of the tenancy;
• Protection from unfair eviction or rent increases and the right to challenge it;
• Getting your deposit back, once the tenancy has ended;
• Know who the landlord is;
• Receive information about the property’s Energy Performance Certificate;
• To terminate the tenancy agreement earlier by giving notice (Depending on the type of tenancy agreement and if your landlord also agrees to it);
• To live in the property undisturbed; and
• Receive copies of all electrical and gas safety check certificates.

 

How Lestons can help.

Your caseworker can be of huge assistance in making sure your tenancy is legit and fair. To gain our assistance you need to open a case, this is done by taking advantage of our free consultation service, activated by the link at the top of the page, should you wish to start a case the caseworker will send you the suitable payment link.

 

We hate to see people scammed, as such your caseworker can: -

• Search for a property for you – tell them your parameters and they will start collating potential properties;
• Negotiate terms with the landlord;
• Arrange for a surveyor to visit the property to look for issues such as dampness, pests and give a condition report;
• Check that the letting agent is properly registered;
• Complete ID checks to ensure your landlord is the actual owner, or if working on behalf of a company, has the relevant authority to arrange the let; and
• Manage warranty and any other legal issues.

 

Please note your caseworker can only give generic advice, their role is to prepare your details for checking / handling by our legal team and to act as your point of contact, they will also issue you with your Password and PIN, these will be needed to log onto your client dashboard. From your dashboard you will be able to manage and view every aspect of your case, upload documents, images, files etc.