Absolutely. Your mortgage lender will need to give you permission to let the property, and may have special conditions that you must include in a tenancy agreement before you can get their permission. If you are buying a property, with the intent to let it out, you would be best to apply for a buy-to-let mortgage.

Rent should always be a fair and realistic amount, based on several factors, such as its proximity to local transport and amenities. Fleming Lettings can always advise you on how similar local properties are doing, and what sort of yield you can hope for. We can conduct rent reviews in periods between tenancy agreements, however rent cannot be amended while a tenancy agreement is in effect.

Fleming Lettings has three separate service levels; Let-Only, Rent Collection, and Full Management. Each service offers a different degree of involvement from us, and the fees reflect this. It really depends on what level of support you feel you need from us to have a successful tenancy.

The Full Management service allows you to sit back and relax. You never have to worry about the let, as every aspect is attended to by our experienced agents. It also creates a professional distance between you and the tenant, meaning you can avoid dealing with any negatives, like rental arrears, maintenance issues, and disputes.

All landlords are liable to pay tax on their rental income, whether they live in the UK or overseas. We advise speaking with an accountant or tax advisor. Alternatively, you can check the HMRC website to find out more information.

With our Rent Collection and Full Management service, we will arrange for the tenant to pay the rent by direct debit or standing order. Once the funds have cleared into our account, we will transfer the money to your nominated bank account, minus any fees, outgoings, and commissions. You will receive a statement each month to confirm what deductions have been made to each sum paid, and an annual statement to cover the year and assist with your submission to HMRC.

The tenant will be responsible for paying the utility bills, and often the council tax and the TV license. You must clearly state in the tenancy agreement whether these are the tenant’s responsibility, or whether they are included in the rent or not. If you furnish the property with a TV, you would be expected to pay the license. 

We always recommend an inventory and schedule of contents be completed before a tenancy begins. These will provide a detailed list of the contents and condition of your property before the tenant moves in. They will include pictures of the property and the contents in its pre-tenancy state. These can be extremely useful to support your claim if there is damage to the property and its contents. Without them, it can be hard to prove the damage, and recover costs for repairs or replacements.

If the tenant damages the property, they have the option to either pay for repairs to be made, or a deduction can be made against their deposit at the end of the tenancy. Fair wear and tear should always be allowed for and should be based on how long the tenant has lived in the property.

Any deposits paid to Fleming Lettings will be registered the Tenancy Deposit Scheme and paid in within thirty days of receipt. It will be held by them for the duration of the tenancy, and they will help to resolve any potential disputes over the deposit amount to be returned. You can always choose to hold it yourself, however you will be required to register it with an approved scheme and provide details of the scheme to us and to the tenant.

It is always wise to protect yourself against non-payment of rent, and we always advise landlords take this as part of their landlord insurance policies, as you can never know if, or when, a tenant might default. Fleming Lettings can always provide you with a list of landlord insurance providers, at your request.

For a periodic tenancy, such as a rolling contact on a weekly or monthly basis, you can’t normally increase the rent more than once per year, unless you have the tenant’s agreement. For fixed term tenancies, you cannot increase the rent without the tenant agreeing to it, or when the fixed term ends. Rent increases must be fair and realistic. They are best kept in line with comparable properties in the same area if you want to retain tenants and remain competitive in the market. Fleming Lettings are available to conduct rent reviews to advise you on what sort of rent to expect for your property.

If your tenant refuses to leave the property, then legal action will be necessary. You must serve them with the correct notices and allow them the required period to find a new property, however you cannot forcibly eject them from the property or interfere in their lives in any fashion. You may have to demonstrate reasonable grounds for you to reclaim the property, such as rent arrears or a violation of the tenancy agreement. More information on grounds for removal can be found here.

Yes, but you must give the tenant sufficient notice before you enter the property.

Simply put, it is where the landlord or letting agent informs the tenant they intend to visit the property to ensure it is in good order and good condition. They will also check for potential maintenance.

The Energy Performance Certificate, or EPC for short, is a report detailing the energy efficiency of a property. It gives a property an energy efficiency rating from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient) and is valid for 10 years. Landlords are required to have a valid EPC with a minimum rating of E on your property before it is let. This is a legal requirement and failure to meet it may incur a penalty of up to £4,000.

There are some cheap, simple, and easy ways to improve your EPC rating. Ensure your lightbulbs are all energy savers, confirm your loft insulation is at least 270mm, and if you have cavity walls, ensure these are filled with insulation.

More expensive methods of improving the EPC rating includes replacing old, inefficient boilers, adding modern controls like room thermostats, or adding solar panels.

A Gas Safety Record is a place to ensure that all gas appliances, pipes, and flues are in good working order. The check must be carried out by a qualified gas engineer, and it needs to be checked every 12 months.

Yes. It is best practice to have a Portable Appliance Test (PAT) carried out frequently to make sure that all appliances included in a let are safe for use.

An Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) is a report that must be carried out every five years to confirm that all electrical installations are in safe working order. To comply with current regulations, an EICR must be carried out on a property before it is let to a new tenant.

Yes. Any furniture that is supplied with a property must comply with the furniture and furnishing regulations and display the standard labels in a prominent position. This is to reduce the risk of fire within the property.

Yes, you will need smoke alarms on each floor of a property, and a carbon monoxide alarm in every room where there is a solid fuel appliance is installed. Both are a legal requirement. Gas cookers are the exception to this rule.

The Property Ombudsman is an independent body that landlords can refer complaints to, should the letting agent fail to address it to their satisfaction. Fleming Lettings is an approved member of The Property Ombudsman scheme.  

The Right to Rent scheme helps to make sure that people renting a UK property have the legal right to live here. Fleming Lettings offers this as part of our Tenant referencing process, however if you opt to carry out your own checks, you will be responsible for getting acceptable proof of residency or risk the fine. Should you want use to handle your tenant checks, we are more than happy to negotiate this with you.

The Client Money Protection Scheme (CMP) provides compensation for landlords, tenants, and other clients when a letting agent misappropriates or misuses their rent, deposit, or any other client funds.