At lettingaproperty.com we try to do our best to offer tenants practical advice about renting a property either through a private landlord or through a high street letting agent.
In this week’s post, we are giving you our top 5 tips for renting a property.
NUMBER 1 – MAKE SURE YOUR CREDIT IS GOOD.
95% of the time, you will be asked to provide a credit reference. If there is a letting agent that does not ask for references, there is something seriously wrong about their practice and I would be very careful with your money.
Landlords and Letting agents reference their potential tenants so that they can get a picture of your financial history and whether you have had any County Court Judgments (CCJ’s). If your credit reference shows a CCJ, generally landlords would be a little uncomfortable in accepting a tenant. There is usually a way around this and that is to offer say 3 – 6 months rent in advance, if you can afford it! We recommend that you check your own credit report in advance.
You can do this for free and it is supplied to you by a very well know credit agency Experian. Click on this link for your own free credit check. Don’t worry either, if you check your own report, it will not show up on future reports.
NUMBER 2 – DON’T BE AFRAID TO NEGOTIATE
There has been an explosion of properties available over the last 12 – 18 months which means that their is more competition between landlords to find a tenant. If you are in a strong position, i.e. no kids, no pets, non-smoker, professional person – then you are in a strong position to negotiate on the rent payments. Think of it this way, a Landlord would prefer to have his / her house full and receiving some money than an empty property. The amount you negotiate is up to you however, as a guide price, I would look at around 10% of the monthly rent i.e. you offer £450 on a £500pm property.
NUMBER 3 – DID YOU GET A COPY OF YOUR GAS SAFETY CERTIFICATE?
Landlords, BY LAW, must issue you with a copy of a gas safety certificate BEFORE you move into a property. The gas safety certificate must be carried out by a registered engineer of the Gas Safe Register. If you have moved into a property without a gas safety certificate, your lives may be at risk and you must contact your landlord or letting agent as soon as possible to get the issue rectified. Learn more about the Gas Safe Register.
NUMBER 4 - FIND OUT WHERE YOUR DEPOSIT IS BEING HELD?
Another legal requirement for landlords and letting agents is that they must place your deposit with a deposit protection scheme. The most common are the Tenancy Dispute Service and the Deposit Protection Scheme. You must receive confirmation within 2 – 3 weeks letting you know where your deposit is being held. If you do not know where your deposit is being held because you have not been informed, you may be eligable for compensation up to 3 times the deposit amount. Learn more about the Tenancy Deposit Scheme
NUMBER 5 - YOU MUST PROTECT YOUR CONTENTS AND DEPOSIT
Always take out some sort of Tenant insurance for your contents and the landlords! Why? Because if you want to make sure you get your deposit back at the end of you tenancy, you will protect it with contents insurance. Around 80% of claims on tenants contents insurance are for red wine spills. I can believe it too.
You can use our Free contents insurance quote tool to provide you with specific tenants contents insurance that will not only cover your goods, it will also cover the landlords contents too. Get a quick quote here and find out how much it will cost you to insure your contents and deposit.
