Wenlock & Taylor
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Tenants

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS

 

  • References: We use a third-party referencing agency to carry out reference checks on our behalf. These checks will include: 1) Credit Search and report (credit history, any County Court Judgements (CCJs) etc), 2) Current Landlord reference (if applicable), 3) Employment reference (from your employer or if self employed from your accountant / by using self-assessment tax returns as evidence (where self-employed at least two-years worth of accounts information is usually required). Please Note: Payslips and / or bank statements may be required by the referencing agency as confirmation in addition to the employment reference. Annual Earnings / Salary must be your basic annual salary; commission, bonuses etc will not be considered.

 

  • Identification: From 1st February 2016 we are required to check whether an individual has the right to rent a property in the UK. Under these regulations tenants must provide evidence that they have the right to live and rent in the UK. In most cases, showing your passport in person (a copy of which will be kept on file) will be sufficient, however, any tenants from outside of the EU must provide evidence of their immigration status, eg, Home Office permanent residence permits. If these cannot be provided by non EU residents we have to request a Home Office check on your Right to Rent (Residency) status. If we cannot satisfy these checks, we cannot rent a property to you. These checks include all occupiers of the property whether they are named tenants or not. We also require proof of current address documentation as per the address given as your current address on your reference application (e.g. Council Tax Bill or similar).

 

  • Holding Deposit: While reference checks are being processed a deposit equivalent to one week’s rent is required, under the regulations of the 2019 tenant fees act this can be held for a maximum of 15 calendar days, ‘the deadline for agreement’ (this may be extended by mutual agreement in writing and signed by both applicant and agent prior to the to the deadline for agreement).

 

  • Repaying the Holding Deposit: The holding deposit will be repaid under the following circumstances:

  1. The landlord and applicant enter into a tenancy agreement – the holding deposit will be credited towards the first months rent.

  2. The Landlord decides before the deadline for agreement not to enter into a tenancy agreement.

  3. The Landlord and the tenant fail to enter into a tenancy agreement before the deadline for agreement.

    If one of the above applies, the Holding Deposit will be refunded within seven calendar days of the date of that decision or the Deadline for Agreement.

     

  • Retaining the Holding Deposit: As per the regulations of the 2019 tenant fees act, the full holding deposit may be retained by the letting agent or Landlord if the tenant fails a right to rent check, provides false or misleading information or pulls out of the letting.

 

  • Tenants deposit and first month’s rent: A tenancy deposit (usually equivalent to five weeks rent) and the first month’s rent are payable prior to signing the Tenancy Agreement, these payments must be made on or before the commencement of the tenancy and must be in cleared funds by either bank transfer or Debit Card. Personal Cheques or cash will not be accepted.   The tenancy deposit will be registered with a Tenancy Deposit Scheme.

 

  • Future Rental Payments will be made by Standing Order unless an alternative method of payment has been agreed prior to the tenancy commencing.

 

  • Payment of services (Gas, electricity, water, telephone, television licence etc), and Council Tax are the responsibility of the tenant throughout entirety of the tenancy.

 

  • The Tenant is strongly advised to take out insurance with a reputable insurer for the Tenant’s possessions as such possessions will not be covered by any insurance effected by the Landlord.

OUR COMPLAINTS POLICY

We are committed to providing high-quality service to all of our clients' tenants and whilst we hope you never have cause, when something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards and ensure that you remain happy in your home.

Please note that day to day maintenance issues are the responsibility of your landlord and if we manage the property any faults (e.g. leaking tap washer) must be reported to us as soon as they are noticed and we hereby undertake with the landlord instructions to respond to emergency situations (e.g. water leaking through a ceiling) urgently and all other matters as quickly as possible.

If you feel you have a legitimate complaint that has not been resolved these must be reported to us by email setting out the full details of your complaint and we have then have one week to consider your complaint.

What will happen next?

1. We will send you an acknowledgement of your complaint within two days of receiving it.
2. We will then investigate your complaint. This may involve contractors or other third parties so please bear with us.
3. We will then respond to you within one week setting out our position and/or proposed resolution if it transpires you have a valid reason to be unhappy (e.g. length of time a repair too)
4. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied please notify us within a further 7 days, you should contact us again and we will arrange to meet with you or suggest someone unconnected with the matter to opine or suggest appropriate alternative resolution.
5. We will write to you within 2 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
6. If you are still not satisfied, you can then contact the following organisation about your complaint:

* The Property Ombudsman (Lettings) Milford House, 43-55 Milford Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 2BP

Please do remember that as professional managing agents we are here to work with you at all times; we understand that you may feel frustrated at times but again we stress that if you let us know something isn’t right we can do something about it – we cannot attend to issues we do not know about so thank you for your understanding of this.