Renting Guidance & Tips
Guide To Renting
Step 1 - Setting Your Budget
Step 2 – Book an Appointment to View
Step 3 – Make the Decision
Step 4 – Completing the Paperwork
At this stage you will be asked to pay a holding deposit. Then the referencing process begins, including ID, Right to Rent, employment, a landlord reference, proof of income and overall affordability as needed.
Landlords are responsible for ensuring a tenant has the right to rent in the United Kingdom so this needs to be checked too. In some circumstances, you may be asked to provide a guarantor. The same reference checks are then carried out for your guarantor. We will then inform you if your application has been successful.
Step 5 – Signing the Tenancy Agreement & Paying the Tenancy Deposit
A tenancy agreement is drawn up which details all the legal and contractual obligations that both you and your landlord must adhere to. It is important that you are familiar with the agreement before you sign it. The security deposit and the first rental payment is then taken. It is a legal requirement for landlords to protect your deposit by holding the monies in an approved Deposit Protection Scheme (DPS).
Austin Hawk is also a member of “Safeagent”, an accreditation that focuses on consumer protection, ensuring landlords and tenants’ money is handled responsibly through a Client Money Protection (CMP) scheme and other measures. Before you can move in you must pay the balance of any monies owed such as the first months’ rent and deposit.
Step 6 – Moving In
Before you move in, Austin Hawk (or the Landlord) will have had an inventory prepared. This document describes the condition of the property and anything left behind by the landlord. The inventory is reflected on when you vacate the property to ensure that the condition that you leave it in can be fairly assessed and if any deposit deductions are required. Your landlord is responsible for the insurance of the property and their possessions but you will need to take out your own contents insurance.
Step 7 – During the Tenancy
Both you and your landlord have responsibilities while you are living in the property
As the tenant you are expected to:
- Pay the rent on time
- Pay the council tax
- Pay all the utility bills and the TV licence unless otherwise agreed
- Do general household and garden maintenance
- Dispose of all rubbish
- Clean the windows
- Carry out basic maintenance such as replacing light bulbs
- Keep the property secure at all times
- Advise of any repairs or maintenance needed as soon as it arises
- Ventilate property
- Not create unnecessary noise for neighbours
- Regular testing of the carbon monoxide and smoke alarms
In return you should be able to expect to:
- Live in the property undisturbed.
- Given 24 hours’ notice if access to the property is required
- Property to be maintained by the landlord to a good state of repair (unless you are
responsible for the damage) - All gas, electricity and water supplies to be in working order
- Charged a fair market rate
Step 8 – Ending the Tenancy
Step 9 – Moving Out
At the end of the tenancy, we provide a neutral 3rd party inventory clerk who is a member of the
Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC) to conduct all check-outs. It is always beneficial to the landlord and the tenant to have a professional checkout report, complete with photographs and details, in case there should be any deposit disputes.
When moving out, you will need to:
- Have paid all of the rent due
- Ensure all your belongings have been removed from the property
- Hand back all keys
- Ensure that the property is clean (to a professional standard) and that all contents are left intact
- Take a note of the meter readings
- Redirect mail & cancel all media services
- Cancel your standing order (we can’t do this for you)
- Furniture must be left in the same place as stated on the inventory
- Replace light bulbs that are not working
- Ensure the garden has been tended to and left in the same condition as stated on your inventory and move in photographs
- Put the rubbish bins out
