Tenant Guide

Tenant Guide
Prior to moving into the property
Liaison with your Landlord
Contractual Arrangements
Rent payments
Repairs and Maintenance
Avoidance of Condensation
Administration
Keys
Giving notice on your tenancy
Staying longer than 12 Months?
How do I Prepare for Leaving?
Holding of Security Deposit
Contents insurance

Liaison with your Landlord
Once you have moved into your property, all contact would be with your Landlord. You will be given the contact details when you move into the property.
Prior to moving into the property
You will have provided us with a holding deposit of £500 to take the property off the market. This holding deposit does not imply a tenancy and is normally refundable if the tenancy cannot be provided. However, if administrative work is undertaken or the property is taken off of the market and you decide to cancel there is a charge of £500. Where possible and appropriate we will refund the holding deposit in the form in which it was received.

Each tenant will be required to undergo referencing and a credit check. These will be undertaken by our reference agency.

In some instances, for example if you are a student, have been self-employed or employed only for a short time by your employer you will need a financial guarantor, who must be a resident of the UK, have full-time permanent employment and earn at least three times the rental annual rental income they are guaranteeing. If you cannot provide a guarantor you may be required to supply the equivalent of two months rent as a deposit.

You will be required to provide an administration fee to us, which will cover the referencing, drawing up of your tenancy agreement and the administration to move you into the property.

You will need to pay the full balance before we can issue a tenancy agreement, we will ask you to pay the balance of your first month’s rent and administration fee. We will ask you to do this a minimum of 10 days before you are due to move into the property. You will be issued with a receipt for these monies and they are fully refundable should the tenancy not proceed. The monies must be paid in the name of one person only and should be in cleared funds, such as a credit or debit card. Your Lettings Consultant will advise you of the balance of these monies.

When you come to sign the tenancy you must make an appointment with your Lettings Negotiator. Appointments can be made 9am-6pm Monday to Friday or Saturday’s before 11.30am.
Liaison with your Landlord
Once you have moved into your property, all contact would be with your Landlord. You will be given the contact details when you move into the property.
Contractual Arrangements
You may request a specimen copy of our standard assured shorthold tenancy agreement. Points on this Contract which commonly require clarification are:

The Tenancy Agreement is between you and the Landlord. City Move are not a party to this Contract and are not appointed to arbitrate its terms. All parties will also be asked to sign a Rider Sheet when they sign the Tenancy Agreement. You should ensure the Rider Sheet details everything which was agreed with the Landlord prior to move in – for example the provision of extra furniture or repairs.

Tenants should note that the Landlord would not have an obligation to carry out pre-contract additional items of furnishings or works of repair unless they have been listed on the Rider Sheet attached to the Tenancy Agreement. This does not apply to items that are required by statute or properly arise after occupation.

All Tenants have joint and several liabilities under the contract. This means, for example, that if one of you does not pay their share of the rent, the others are liable for it.

Where a Guarantor has entered into an Agreement, this means that in the event of a Tenant not meeting the obligations under the Tenancy Agreement, the Guarantor would be liable to accept these liabilities under the Contract.

The arrangement in the large majority of cases is that the Tenant has to pay water rates, gas, electricity, telephone and local authority council tax. You are to make your own arrangements for putting these services in your name and terminating them at the end of the tenancy.

Your Landlord holds your deposit not City Move. At the expiry of the Tenancy Agreement, the Landlord has the right to deduct monies for such things as arrears of rent, cleaning of the property not being done in accordance with the contract, breakages etc.

The tenancy agreement is a legally binding document.
Rent Payments
Rent payments are usually payable monthly. For example, if you moved in on the 28th March the rent payment would be on the 28th of each month thereafter. Rent must be paid by Standing Order Mandate. Standing Order dates must allow time for the monies to be transferred into the Landlord’s Account at least by the date stated in the Tenancy Agreement.

Rent payments will not be accepted at the local City Move Office.

Rent will only be accepted in the name of persons not tenants, on the basis that the person making payment does so as agent for the tenant.
Repairs and Maintenance
Over the course of a tenancy it is likely that repairs or maintenance will be necessary. Your Landlord will undertake the work himself or have his own Contractors undertake repairs. In this case City Move have no control over the expediency or quality of the work.

All gas appliances and associated pipework must, by law, be maintained in a safe condition and be checked for safety at least every 12 months by a Corgi registered engineer. Before moving into the property, you must be handed a copy of the current record of inspection. In addition, a record of these checks is to be kept on the property. Similarly, instructions for these appliances should be in the property.

The furniture and fittings should comply with The Fire and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations. Amongst other things, this Act requires that all furniture must have a label clearly showing that it is fire resistant. Any new or additional furniture being put into the property must also comply with these Regulations.

Electrical appliances must comply with the Low Voltage Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1989. These desire appliances to be checked before every letting. It is the Landlord’s obligation to ensure appliances comply with this Act, but it is in your interest to verify this happens.

Note that if a repair is adjudged to be as a result of abuse by the tenant the cost of the said repair may be charged to the tenant.
Avoidance of Condensation
Condensation often occurs due to the way lifestyles have changed. Older buildings especially, were not designed for current day lifestyles. People now tend to bath, shower and wash clothes more frequently and all these activities generate considerable water vapour. Coupled with this, modern central heating, double glazing, etc have greatly reduced the ventilation in some properties. Because of this water vapour does not have the opportunity to escape. This can cause walls and ceilings and sometimes floors to become damp and sometimes discoloured and unpleasant as a result of mould growing on the surfaces.

Your Tenancy Agreement obliges you to keep the property at all times well and sufficiently aired. This therefore puts the responsibility on you to ensure this happens.
Administration
The Tenancy Agreement provides that your Landlord is able to visit their property if they give you reasonable notice to do so (in our opinion this is 24 hours). You do not have to stick to this notice period if you are happy for your Landlord to access the property giving less notice.

Our Tenancy Agreement also provides that within the last 2 months of your tenancy, the Landlord might like to show their prospective Tenants around the property. Your co-operation would be appreciated in permitting these visiting arrangements. Keys

Under no circumstances are locks to be changed by the Tenant without the prior approval of the Landlord. At the end of the Tenancy all keys are to be returned to the Landlord and where this is not done, the Landlord will usually make a charge out of the deposit monies for replacing locks.

City Move do not keep a set of keys in our offices.
Giving notice on your tenancy
The Tenancy Agreement contracts you to stay in the property for the duration stated in the Tenancy Agreement. However, in some instances there is what is called a 6 months’ break clause. This means you can serve a 2 months’ notice after 6 months, making the total stay at your property 8 months.

The Landlord has already served formal Notice to you to give up possession on the end date stated in the Tenancy Agreement (see Tenancy Agreement).

There are certain procedures necessary if you wish to serve notice on your property lease.

To serve notice you need to write to the Landlord giving notice. Note in particular that this has to be in writing and signed by all the tenants on the Tenancy Agreement.

There is no provision under the Tenancy Agreement for the replacement of individual tenants during the term of the tenancy. Therefore if you wish to break the tenancy and replace someone, contact your Landlord for his agreement in principle that he will allow the breaking of a contract and the starting of another.
What if I Want to Stay on for Longer than 12 Months?
About 2/3 months before the Tenancy Agreement is due to expire (about month 10), City Move will write to you, asking if you wish to stay longer than 12 months. If you do, and your Landlord is agreeable to this, City Move will arrange the necessary formalities.
How do I Prepare for Leaving?
On leaving, you need to particularly bear in mind the following:

The property has to be professionally cleaned as stated in clause 3.7 of the Tenancy Agreement. This requirement disregards the condition of the property on the day you moved in.

You have to make arrangements with the utility companies (gas, electricity, telephones, etc.) for terminating services. For telephones, arrange for a final bill but do not disconnect the service

The keys must all be returned and a forwarding address left with the Landlord before they could consider returning a deposit.
Holding of Security Deposit
It must be stressed that the Landlord normally holds your deposit (see the front page of your Tenancy Agreement). The Landlord would decide if any monies are to be withheld to offset dilapidations, breakages, etc.

How much is deducted and when it is returned does rest with the Landlord, not City Move. It should be noted that City Move will not be involved in arbitrating any dispute – this is because the contract is between the Tenant and the Landlord and we are not appointed to arbitrate.

This security deposit would not be transferable by the Tenant in any way or at any time during the tenancy against the payment of rent and no interest would be payable on this Deposit. The Deposit will be paid to the Tenant only after vacation of the Property.

The Tenancy Agreement states that the Landlord is to return the deposit within four weeks of the Tenancy expiring: if the deposit is not returned within four weeks the reasons for not doing so must be stated in writing by the Landlord and sent to the Tenants.

The Landlord is obliged to return the full deposit to you only in the event of there is no breach of the contract, for example there is no unpaid rent, or damage to the property and correct notice to vacate has been served. Contents Insurance

If you would like help or a quotation on your contents insurance, please contact your Letting Consultant.

SUMMARY OF OUR STANDARD FEES FOR LETTINGS

This document is intended as a summary of our standard fees and charges. We are happy to discuss varying our fees and charges based on your circumstances. Any variation must be agreed in writing – all oral discussions are subject to contract.

Tenant Fees & Permitted Fees

• rent
• a refundable tenancy deposit capped at no more than 5 weeks’ rent where the total annual rent is less than £50,000, or 6 weeks’ rent where the total annual rent is £50,000 or above
• a refundable holding deposit (to reserve a property) capped at no more than 1 week’s rent
• payments associated with early termination of the tenancy, when requested by the tenant. The tenant is responsible with the remaining months of the tenancy.
• amendment fee of £50 inclusive of VAT during tenancy for contract negotiation, amending terms/names, and updating your tenancy agreement.
• payments in respect of utilities, communication services, TV licence and Council Tax
• a default fee for late payment of rent: Interest payments for the late payment of rent – can be charged up to 3% over the Bank of England base rate
• £50 inclusive of VAT, or reasonable cost if higher, for replacement of a lost key/security device or changing locks giving access to the housing, where required under a tenancy agreement