Landlords

How it works

This is why you must work with Reay Smith Property:

In a Nutshell

We are offering a fairly simple deal. At a very basic level, we lease the property from you for 3+ years and become your tenant. If needed, we bring the property up to the requirements of our customers. We then rent the rooms on individual ASTs (Assured Shorthold tenancies – tenancy agreements) and take care of everything. As we are your tenants you will only ever have to deal with us.

When renting a property there are of course lots of variables to consider – as you can see from the chart above. Too many hidden costs eat away at your monthly profit. At the end of the day you ask yourself ‘why you are doing it?’

We start paying you your guaranteed rent as soon as the property is ready to let. This could be from the day we sign the lease or as soon as any refurb is carried out.

Landlords

Most of our landlords that take advantage of and benefit from our service have found that they never leave us, and instead choose to extend their contracts. We work hard to consistently retain the best standards in all areas.

We are not like high street agents – in fact we couldn’t be more different! Can you imagine a high street agent offering to refurb your property or arranging a weekly cleaner or a gardener? We take such great care of the properties that they are often in better condition on the rare times that we return one to the owner!

How do we do it? Well for one thing, we don’t have the overheads most agents have.

Tenants

We have been both Landlords and Agents for a long time and therefore really understand the importance of selecting only the best quality tenants for the property. After all, from day one we are responsible and will have to deal with any lost rent, potential damage or misbehaviour. We also deal with calls, emergencies and in fact ALL tenant issues! You will never again have to worry about voids. A recent survey by Spare Room showed that most properties have a void period of at least 6 weeks per year!

Too Good to be True?

Some Landlords have initially said no to us as they can’t see where we would make our money, and experience has taught them how tough this industry can be!

As we said it’s a simple concept – this is how we do it;

• With all the benefits and guarantees we offer, we pay you a reduced rate.
• As you can see from the chart, you actually earn more at the end of the month.
• We become completely responsible for management, with all/any risks.
• The high end service we offer attracts slightly higher rents.
• We collect the rent, pay you, pay the utilities.
• Our profit is the difference. Simple.

Our Guarantee to You

• You will ALWAYS get paid even if the property should be empty.
• Money will arrive in your bank account on the same day every month.
• We will never charge you any fees or commission.
• There will never be any sneaky ‘hidden’ or ‘unforeseen’ costs.
• We will take great care of your property.
• You will at last have a truly ‘Passive Income’

Gas Safety Certificates

We can help organise this on your behalf and arrange access at the property for the engineer. We keep one copy of the certificate and send one to you.

This test is a legal requirement to ensure that all gas appliances in a property are safe. It must be renewed annually and there are heavy and serious penalties for not having a valid certificate.

Legislation

We will take care of any legal obligations and can help you to comply with all current relevant legislation, ensuring everything is current and up to date. This would include PAT certification, furniture/fire regulations, smoke/carbon monoxide detectors and an Energy Performance Certificate.

Deposits

We take deposits from all our customers which are then secured in a Government-backed deposit protection scheme. We use DPS – Deposit Protection Service. This money would be used for repairs if the tenant caused any damage the property.

Insurance

As the owner of the property you are responsible for buildings insurance which usually includes an amount of contents insurance. A residential insurance will not be adequate and you will need either a buy to let policy or a specialist HMO policy. We have public liability insurance. We advise our customers to obtain their own contents insurance.

ID

Before we take control of your property we would need 2 x proof of ID and proof of ownership of the property.

Inventory

Before we take over the property you may decide to obtain an inventory from an independent company. Or if you prefer we can arrange this for you.

Inspections

You are welcome to inspect the property at any time by giving us at least 24 hours notice. We also carry out regular inspections and deal with any issues as they arise. We have good relationships with our customers and quickly deal with any issues they may have.

Legal

If you have a mortgage you will have to obtain ‘Consent to let’. If we agree to multi-let your property, you will need to be on the correct mortgage product. You will need to sign a warranty in our contract to confirm that this is the case.

During an on-going contract, allowances should be made for the standard of the property at the start of the tenancy and for fair ware and tear during the tenancy.

Complaints 

At Your Local Lets we understand the importance of customer service and aim to offer 100% at all times. If however you are not happy with any aspect of the service we offer we will deal with your complaint in an efficient and professional manner.

Maintenance

We will take care of small maintenance jobs without bothering you. For anything over £50, we can organise the work on your behalf and issue you with the invoice for your tax records. Alternatively you can instruct your own tradesmen.

Termination 

Should you decide for any reason to terminate the agreement between us, we would need at least 6 months notice. This is because we may have just signed a tenant in on a 6 month AST, and we want to ensure that we can return the property to you in vacant possession.

Court 

If there is ever a time when we have to remove a tenant via the court process (it has never happened to us yet in 8 years) we will take care of the whole procedure and update you if so requested. This would not affect your monthly payments.

Professional Bodies

We are members of the National Landlords Association.

Useful links

HRMC www.hmrc.gov.uk
The Property Ombudsman www.tpos.co.uk
Gas Safety www.gassaferegister.co.uk
Register of Electricians www.niceic.com
Safe Agents www.safeagents.co.uk
Deposit Protection Service www.depositprotection.com
Government Information www.gov.uk
Approved Letting Schemes www.nalscheme.co.uk