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The Lettings Doctor |
Lanes Lettings are introducing the Lettings doctor at their weekly surgery to answer all your Lettings questions. With all the legislation surrounding the Lettings industry, a lot of landlords can sometimes find themselves on the wrong side of the law, so we at Lanes Lettings are giving you an afternoon to answer any questions you may have.
Every Wednesday afternoon the Lettings Doctor will be at hand to answer your questions via email, phone or face to face. Any problems, queries or if you just need some straight forward advice the Lettings doctor will be able to point you in the right direction.
Here is a recent question from the last surgery
Q, What kind of tenancy agreement will be used for the letting of my property?
A, The most common form of tenancy agreement used is an ‘Assured Shorthold’ (an AST) under the 1988 Housing Act (amended 1996). This type of tenancy offers the most flexibility to both landlord and tenant; has straightforward notice procedures for bringing the tenancy to an end and a special Accelerated Possession court procedure should tenants fail to vacate.
If certain specific conditions are met relating to the proposed letting, a ‘contractual’ non-housing act tenancy must be created. One example of this would be what is commonly referred to as a Company Let where the tenant is a bona fide registered company; another would be where the annual rent equates to over £25,000.
Very rarely, a prospective tenant may be offered a full ‘Assured’ tenancy that gives very significant and potentially long-term security of tenure to a tenant. In this instance a landlord can only get possession in very limited circumstances.
Feel free to contact us with any Lettings questions, and look out for some interesting topics over the coming weeks....
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or call me on 01273 60068
any help would be appriciated
the law is quite clear on this A landlord, or someone authorised to act on his behalf has a right to view the property to assess its condition and to carry out necessary repairs, or maintenance at reasonable times of the day. The law says that a landlord or agent must give a tenant at least 24 hours notice in writing, except in the case of an emergency. However, if the tenant does agree, on the odd occasion to allow access without the 24 hours prior written notice, that's acceptable. A clause in the tenancy agreement which tries to override a tenant’s rights in this respect would be deemed unfair and therefore unenforceable.
It is usually down to the tenant to pay the council tax and utility bills, it is usually mentioned in the assured shorthold tenancy agreement.
If i can help with anything else please let me know.