Letting Faq’s

The holding deposit you pay reserves the property for 7 days whilst we complete your references. When you pay the holding deposit we cannot provide guarantees that you will be accepted by the landlord of the property as we do not know what the references will say when they are returned. Rejected applications are very rare (if we think there is a reason you won’t pass, we won’t take your money!) but most rejections are due to adverse credit history.

If your application is rejected as you have failed to disclose material information (such as a County Court Judgement) your holding fee will not be refunded. If your application is rejected by us or the landlord for another reason you ‘may‘ be due a refund of your holding deposit. If however you have passed our references and you subsequently choose to pull-out of the application, the holding deposit will not be refunded. We do everything we can prior to taking a holding deposit to ascertain whether a tenant will pass referencing.  We will ask you for a verbal signature when we take a holding deposit to ensure that you have fully understood the process.

Our properties are priced fairly and maintained to a high standard. This can only be maintained if we have good tenants that pay their rent promptly. Our level of referencing reflects this requirement.

We need to complete as comprehensive a picture as possible. If you have recently changed jobs, or have only been at your current address for 6 months we will need to speak to your previous employer or landlord to obtain a reference from them as well as your current ones.

Once your referencing has been signed off, we will usually e-mail your Tenancy Agreement to you to be signed electronically along with other relevant tenancy documents e.g. standing order mandate, and utility transfer form.

Your check-in will take place at our office. You will have a pre-arranged 30-minute appointment where we will go through our check-in pack, discuss any questions that you have, and handover keys to your new home.

If there is anything in your inventory that you don’t agree with, or if there is something that you feel was missed, you should advise us within 7 days of collecting keys. To do this, please email us noting what the discrepancy is, note down the time stamp, and preferably include a photograph. We will then respond to confirm receipt. Please make sure that you have an acknowledgment of receipt as we cannot accept amendments after the 7 day period and your inventory will be used when you come to check-out of the property. Should we disagree with your amendments we will call you to discuss.

It is a condition of your tenancy that payment is made by standing order.

You can put up a reasonable amount of pictures in your rental property. A reasonable amount would be considered to be 1 or 2 pictures in each room. These must be hung using proper picture hooks and any damaged caused to the wall must be rectified at the end of your tenancy.

We would not encourage you to decorate the property but if you wish to we can ask for permission from your landlord. If you are given permission then we would insist the painting be done to a professional standard, i.e. paint should not mark skirting, door frames, ceilings or carpets. You would normally only be allowed to use neutral colours.

If there are items of furniture you do not require in your rental property you should highlight this before your tenancy commences and we can try to arrange removal with your landlord’s permission. Should you need something removed once you have moved into the property we will always do our best to arrange this, however, in most cases, the landlord will ask that you store the item in a secure place and then return it in its original condition to its original location at the end of your tenancy.

Under the Renters’ Rights Act 2024, you have a statutory right to request permission to keep a pet, and your landlord must consider the request and cannot unreasonably refuse. Please contact us before signing your tenancy or before getting a pet, and we will pass your request to your landlord for their formal consideration. Your landlord may require you to hold pet damage insurance as a condition of consent, but they cannot charge a separate pet deposit or additional pet rent.

It is a requirement by law that the landlord ensures that all gas appliances within the rental property are safe. A qualified gas engineer carries out the necessary checks and produces a certificate; this certificate is valid for 12 months. Our gas engineer would normally collect keys from our office to carry the inspection out, alternatively, you can be present if you wish. If we are unsuccessful in obtaining access to your property to carry out the safety check before the certificate expires we may have to send an engineer to disconnect the supply.

If the property is managed by Granger & Oaks you should call us if something is broken. If the landlord manages the property themselves you should contact them directly. For items in the communal areas, you would need to contact the management company. The landlord would normally cover the cost of repairs in your property unless it is considered that the item has been broken due to misuse or neglect. Items such as changing light bulbs, removing insect infestations, replacing shower curtains, smoke alarm batteries, topping up boilers and bleeding radiators, tightening door handles & hinges are considered to be tenant responsibilities.

We take a pro-active stance on property maintenance. For instance, a loose door hinge can cause damage to the floor-covering, an unventilated house will suffer from black mould, and a frosted freezer could result in cracked and broken trays. We inspect the property to ensure there are no immediate & forthcoming maintenance requirements. These inspections have to be carried out during normal office hours, normally take around 15 minutes, and you do not have to be present.

There are a number of things to check before reporting a fault. You should first check that it has not been accidentally switched off, secondly check the pressure gauge to see if the pressure has dropped below 1.5 bars, and if so, take measures to top it up. Thirdly check the pilot light is lit and if not re-light it. If the boiler still isn’t operating you should report the fault to us, or your landlord (depending on who looks after your property). As with any repair, you should report it first on this website – see link here  – and for boiler failures we always recommend calling us to so the repair is actioned quickly.

If only one radiator is not heating it is likely that there is an air block within it and it just needs bleeding to release the air. Bleeding a radiator is quite simple, you should follow these steps:

Firstly switch off your boiler so the pump is no longer running. Use a radiator key, (can be purchased from a hardware store), to open the valve which is normally located at the top of the radiator at either end. Hold a rag or tissue under the valve because as soon as the air has escaped water will come out. This water is usually black from being in the system so you must take care of carpets below; you need to ensure you screw the valve back up quickly and tightly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL4ot-MNYfE

The sooner you inform us that you cannot pay rent the better. In most cases, if you have a valid reason for not being able to meet a payment, your landlord may be willing to negotiate a repayment plan. Any plan that is agreed to must be kept to. Failure to inform us or keep to any arrangements could ultimately result in you losing your home.

Under the Renters Rights Act, where one of the joint tenants serves notice, it is effective from all joint tenants i.e. it will be as if all joint tenants have given notice even if only one tenant has given notice. Your landlord might willing to relet the property to you on a new tenancy, subject to references, once notice on the orginal tenancy has expired. Please do call us if you need clarification and help – we appreciate that these may be difficult circumstances.

Tenants are required to give two months notice to expire at the end of a period of rent i.e. two months notice to expire the day before your rent is next due. As a guide, say you want to move out in December and you normally pay rent on the 15th of the month. We should have received your notice in writing by the 14th October at the latest. If you are late handing in your notice and we don’t get it until the 18th October, you would have missed the rental period so your tenancy wouldn’t then end until the 14th of January.

This is the time period your rent payments cover. Rent is normally paid 1 month in advance and the full rental period normally runs from the 1st day of the tenancy, unless you have requested to change your rent payment dates. For example: if your tenancy started on the 7th of a month your rental period would be from the 7th of the current month to the 6th of the following month.

Once you have found somewhere new to live we will certainly be able to complete a landlord reference for you (providing we managed the property during your tenancy). You will need to ask your new agent or landlord to send over the reference request. If your landlord managed the property himself, you will need to contact him to complete the reference for you.

You are obviously welcome to be present for viewings however we only conduct accompanied viewings so you do not need to be at the property. We will have a set of keys so will be able to arrange access without you being present.

We conduct viewings between 9:30am and 7:00pm Monday to Friday. We always give 24 hours notice of any viewings that are arranged

You cannot be present whilst the check-out is carried out by us, but, you can meet us at the property straight after check-out to discuss the findings. It is very important that the check-out is carried out as accurately as possible, so we can assess whether your landlord will need to instruct any repairs and potentially make any deductions from the deposit. We encourage tenants to attend post check-out walk-throughs wherever possible.

A check out inspection will be carried out to ascertain if there are any dilapidations to be made to the deposit. We will contact you to make you aware of the proposed deductions. Once any dilapidations have been agreed, we will notify DPS of any deductions and they will then contact you for your agreement. Once an agreement is reached by both parties, DPS will return funds by bank transfer. If we cannot agree on deductions, DPS will ask you to complete the deposit dispute paperwork and the case will be considered by one of their adjudicators.

On the day, or before, your tenancy expires you will need to bring your keys to our office (during office hours). If your tenancy expires on a Saturday or Sunday you can return the keys to us 1st thing on the following Monday. Please bear in mind that rent will be charged at a daily rate where keys are returned late.

The House of Lords defines fair wear and tear as “reasonable use of the premises by the tenant and the ordinary operation of natural forces”. ‘Reasonable’ depends on the type of property and who occupies it. For example, mid to low level minor scuffs to a busy magnolia painted hallway would constitute wear and tear. A burn or a stain on a carpet would not constitute wear and tear and would be considered damage.