Potential Problems With Renting A Property
What do I do if there is a problem with the property?
It should be clear in your tenancy agreement, what to do when there's a problem with the property. For example, you might go direct to the landlord, or indeed it might be that you call the managing agent. Now you should always have an emergency number so that if there's a fire or a flood, or there's a real problem in the property, you can call somebody at anytime of day or night. Otherwise you should be given a day time telephone number that you can call and once you've deemed the details of the problem, they should be able to get back to you and let you know exactly what they are going to do about it and when.
What do I do if the property needs repairs?
It's really important to let either managing agent or the landlord know what repairs are required on your rented property as soon as possible. Don't leave them for a few weeks, because a small leak at the property might turn into a very large problem a few weeks later. It will be clear in your tenancy agreement who you should contact about repairs to the property, whether that be the landlord directly or indeed the managing agent.
How do I make sure I am not being ripped off?
It's easy to feel in some circumstances that you might be being ripped off when renting a property. The best way to make sure that you're paying a reasonable amount of rent for the property or room that you're renting is to always view something like 10 to 20 properties. It will give you a good idea of what size property you can get for your money. It's really important to try to find a landlord, or indeed a letting agent, that family or friends have used before and did not feel ripped off. If you can't do that, make sure that you find a property with a letting agent that's part of an association such as the Association of Residential Letting Agents, or indeed a landlord that belongs to a landlord association such as the National Landlords Association. If they care about being a part of these associations, then they clearly care about the service that they're giving.
What warning signs should I look out for when viewing a property?
What you want in a property is one that works and one thats gonna be nice to live in for the time of your tenancy. So the things that you need to look out for are, is everything in good working order, might sound daf but even in the summer ask them to put the heating on, to make sure that it works because you don't want that to break down by the time it comes to winter. What you should also do, is do things like check the windows open and close, because if they don't ,it might getvery stuffy in the summertime, or rightly if you got one open and you cant close it in winter time, its very cold. You should also look for anything particularly in bathrooms and kitchens like damp, mold, any patches, any patches that look like they been newly painted and therefore covered over , even be aware of things like mousetraps. Does happen, mice get in and you don't really want to be moving into a property thats full of rodents.
How do I make sure the property is in a nice area?
When they're looking at property, people tend to only look at it once, at a certain time of day. That's where it's difficult to find out if it's in a nice area or not. What you need to do is visit that property first thing in the morning, at lunch time and during the evening, particularly at rush hour or at closing time. It might seem a good idea to live in a property two doors up from a pub, until you realise at 11.30-12.00 at night, everybody's coming out and they're making a lot of noise. You need to try to make sure that you visit that property at different times during the day and during the week, as well as weekends. For example, in coastal areas it might be quite quiet during the week, but on a sunny day in summer they can be full of tourists, and that might not be the kind of area that you want to live.
What do I do if I can't afford the rent?
If you can't afford the rent on your property, the first thing you should do is let the leasing agent or landlord know. If they're good, they'll look after you in some shape or form. They might be able to give you a short period of time to find the rent for the property. For example, if you've lost a job, you may be given time to find a new job. though then they may actually expect the full payment that you owe on the rented property once you've found a job. Alternatively, if you cannot afford your rent, they might spread those payments for you over a period of time. The sooner you let that agent or landlord know the more likely they are to try and help you through what is clearly a difficult time.
What do I do if I can't afford the bills?
If you can't afford the bills when you're renting a property, you need to let the relevant companies know. It might be your council tax, it might be your gas, it might be your electricity or your telephone bill. What the companies should do for you is find a way of working out the amount that you owe from bills and then spreading that over a period of time for an amount of money that you actually can afford. It's better for them to get the money for your property over a period of time than to not get anything at all. The sooner you let them know about being unable to afford to pay bills, the more likely they are to try and look after you.
Am I responsible for previous tenants' bills?
Ideally, you shouldn't be responsible for previous tenants' bills. The most important thing is to make sure that doesn't happen to you is that in the tenancy agreement you're indeed only an inventory. For any utility bills that have meter readings you take down the meter reading on the day that you take over the tenancy agreement, and you do the same on the day that you leave. Make sure that you put all of these in writing to relevant utility companies. And, for your telephone bill, make sure you advise the telephone company in writing the day you're taking over that bill and the day that you finish being responsible for that bill. That way you should avoid ever being liable for other tenants bills.
What happens if we are burgled?
Check with your tenancy agreement what emergency number you should call. The first thing you should do when your rented property is burgled, however, is call the police. Don't touch anything. Stay outside the property until the police have arrived. During that time, once the police have gone, you need to advise the letting agent or the landlord that the rented property has been burgled. Over and above that, if you have contents insurance, you need to make sure that you have a police reference number to give to the insurance company so that they can process the claim for your property.
What do I do if I want to move mid lease?
If you want to move mid-lease you need to contact the leasing agent or the landlord immediately. Check with you tenancy agreement. What period of notice that you have to give? Might be one months, might be two months notice, but in actual fact in might be you signed for six months lease; your three months in and actually your abliged to pay the rest of the tenancy. In some cases landlords and leasing agent might be quite strict and may hold you to that. In other cases they might be kinder, they might for example a tenant who would already like to move in. In which case they may let you out of your obligations at no further cost or indeed they might put their property on the market. As soon as somebody comes in and is happy to rent maybe a couple of months later; you rent up until that point or pay up until that point and then they would let you out of the tenancy agreement. If you think at any stage that your leasing agent or landlord is being unfair go and talk to some advise go and talk to 'Shelter' and ask them if they can help you or go through your agreement with your solicitor to see if there is any reason why you might be allowed out in mid-term. Which might cause a breach in contract which might allow you to get out of you contract mid-lease.
