Landlord Information

Apple can offer a taylor made service to fit your requirements, whether your an experienced investor or first timer. Our aim is to make letting simple. From your initial phone call you will be given your own account manager to handle your property and enquiries from a let only to full management.

You will deal with the same person for all your transactions. You will be given your account managers contact details including mobile telephone number so you can call whenever you want and get answers quickly.

Landlord and Property Requirements

Maintainence

The property should be in good decorative order, clean and tidy internally and externally, and all windows should be cleaned. Gardens should be tidy and in ‘cared for’ condition and, should the tenant be required to maintain the garden, the appropriate tools must be provided.

If the landlord intends to appoint a gardener the appropriate arrangements must be finalized prior to commencement of the tenancy. Either way, the arrangement will be recorded in the tenancy agreement.

All appliances, including the central heating, should be checked and serviced before the tenant occupies the property. Where possible, maintenance contracts should be taken out and unless we are managing the property, details of these contracts and the Companies involved should be provided to the tenant along with operating manuals and guarantee cards.

Insurance

We suggest that you advise your insurance company of the proposed letting at an early stage to ensure that cover for the property is not prejudiced in any way. Failure to inform your insurance company may result in the company refusing to meet any claim made.

Building Society or Mortgage

If your property is mortgaged, you will require approval from your Building Society or Bank etc., before you let. In most cases consent is given readily but it is wise to seek this consent as early as possible.

Leasehold

It is wise to check that your lease does not have a covenant which forbids letting. You can check with your solicitor if necessary and if so your freeholder should be notified of the proposed letting.

Taxation

Your rental profit will be unearned income and is liable to taxation whether you are resident in the UK or not. We must point out that we are unable to agree your assessments with the Inland Revenue and therefore recommend that you consult an accountant or professional adviser to ensure that maximum relief is claimed on all expenditure.

Gas Safety Regulations

Before the tenant moves into the property you must obtain a certificate from a Corgi registered engineer to confirm that the gas appliances and pipe work installed in the property conforms with the Gas Safety Regulation Act. We can arrange for this test to be carried out on your behalf by one of our recommended engineers. You will of course be responsible for the cost.

However, we can provide competitive prices on works carried out to any of our properties. This is due to our relationship with local tradesmen and the volume of work we provide them.

Fire and Furnishing Safety Regulations

If your property is furnished you will need to ensure that your furniture complies with current fire resistant requirements which apply to all upholstery and upholstered furniture manufactured after 1950.

Electrical Safety Check

Since January 2005 it has become a building regulation that most electrical work in the home must be carried out by a government approved electrician. The aim is to reduce death and injury caused by faulty electrics or by shoddy work done by DIY enthusiasts or cowboy electricians.

We would suggest you get a electrical safety check done before renting out your property to stay in line with new regulations and protect yourself again possible action that can be taken by tenants, in the future.

Letting Your Property

We will advertise your property extensively in the most appropriate media, we understand the local property market and know how and where to attract the best tenants for each area, typically this could include;

• Rightmove.co.uk
  (79% market share of property websites, this is the 12th largest website in the UK)
• Apple Property Services
• Local press
• Leaflets
• Direct mailing
• Company listing
• Advertising boards
• Text messaging

Finding The Right Tenant

This is one of the most vital parts of the whole process, we extensively advertise in various forms of on-line and off-line media to ensure that we are attracting from the widest possible audience, correct procedures here can save significant time and money in the long run, we pride ourselves on the our ability to accurately match tenants with properties and landlords. Full references are taken as appropriate for each tenant, we believe finding the right tenant for individual landlords is a skill and not simply an exercise.

Once we have found a suitable tenant and references are satisfactory we then;

• Prepare an Assured Short hold Tenancy Agreement
• Prepare an inventory and schedule of condition of the property and contents
• Collect one months rent in advance and hold a further months money as a deposit against breakages etc. This deposit is returned to the tenant at the end of the tenancy, subject to the property being left in a satisfactory condition
• Inform Gas board, Electricity board, Water Board & Council Tax Department of the local Authority of the new occupier

In addition to this letting service we can be your link to the tenants with full or part management:

Full Management

This service is for all landlords who want an investment but none of the hassle. We will undertake all activities associated with letting the property and

• Fully computerised management system
• Rent collection and payment in specified manor
• Managing all general upkeep/maintenance issues
• Managing tenant problems and property issues
• Ensuring both parties are keep fully informed of situation
• Rent reviews and appraisals
• Legal advice and procedures
• Check in/out procedures
• Holding deposit and arbitration on check out
• Maintenance contractors and estimators

Partial Management (bespoke)

This service is completely negotiable with Apple undertaking as much or as little of the process as you require.

Preparing Inventories

It is important that Inventories are correct and accurate, we undertake to safeguard your property and to ensure that accurate inventories are taken and agreed with all tenants prior to the beginning of the tenancy agreement.

Rent

Apple Property Services will collect or ensure that all rent is collected on time and pay the correct sum direct to your account each month. It is a fact of life that on occasions, people will have challenges paying their rent, we maintain accurate accounts and have immediate access to our banking records, we do not allow our tenants to accumulate arrears. We safeguard our clients investments and will take action immediately in the event of any difficulty.

Regular Visits

We visit every property regularly to ensure that it is being cared for in the correct way and that there are no problems. The frequency of these visits will vary according to the tenant, the landlord and the property. This decision is made in partnership with each landlord.

General Upkeep/maintainence

All properties will on occasion require maintenance. We keep lists of tradesmen that we use on a regular basis and we constantly refine these lists to ensure that the best service is always received, all work will be quoted on by at least two tradesmen and we will take the cheapest price. All work is checked after completion to ensure its accurate completion.

Regulatory Compliance

We will keep our clients advised of any new regulations that may come into force and will report in plain terms on their potential impact. We will ensure that the properties that we manage adhere to all current regulations (safety certificates, etc)

Rent Reviews

Periodically external forces will impact on the amount of rent that your property demands, we ensure that we are on top of the market and offer advice and guidance at all times to ensure that your investment is maximised

Check Out Procedures

When a tenancy has finished we ensure that the property has been left in a satisfactory condition and that the inventory matches correctly. Meter readings are taken where possible.