Assured Shorthold Tenancies
Conditions of Management - Residential
Properties
Note all fees quoted on this page are inclusive of
VAT
Our charges for Collection and Management are as follows:
Monthly Rents: 9% on gross rental
The above charges cover the following services:
- Collection of rent and/or any other items to be collected.
- General supervision of tenancies.
- Payment of outgoings i.e. water rates, insurance, repairs
etc.
- Employ builders to carry out repairs for which the Client
is responsible up to a cost of £100 We can only
give instructions without referring to owner for such
items as we consider to be essential and/or required under
the Health Act Regulations.
- Keeping of accounts and submission of a statement quarterly.
Payment of all outgoings is subject to the owner's account
being in credit.
FEES payable - see this page
DEPOSITS
Definitions
- Agent - An individual or company who lets or manages
property on behalf of its owner.
- Deposit - A sum of money which a landlord requires
a Tenant to pay at the start of the tenancy, and which
will normally be returned to the Tenant at the end of
the tenancy. The money is security in case the Tenant
does not meet their obligations in connection with their
tenancy.
- ICE - Independent Case Examiner
- Landlord - A person or persons who at any relevant
time own, or have a formal interest in, the premises that
gives them the right to possession of the premises.
- Member - Is the person, firm or company who holds the
deposit under, and is a member of, The TDS
- Stakeholder - Any person or body who holds the Deposit
at any time from the moment it has been paid by the Tenant
until its allocation has been agreed by the parties to
the AST, determined by the ADR process, or ordered by
the court.
Under legislation brought in by the Government, deposits
paid by tenants on commencement of tenancies can only be
held either by an agent who is a member of the Tenancy Deposit
Scheme or alternatively paid into an authorised company.
The Tenancy Deposit Scheme
We are members of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, which is
administered by:
Tenancy Deposit Scheme
PO Box 1255
Hemel Hempstead
Herts
HP1 9GN
Web www.tds.gb.com
If we are instructed by you to hold the deposit, we shall
do so under the terms of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme.
The Agent holds tenancy deposits as Stakeholder.
At the end of the tenancy covered by the Tenancy Deposit
Scheme
If there is no dispute we will keep any amounts agreed
as deductions where expenditure has been incurred on behalf
of the Landlord, or repay the whole or the balance of the
Deposit according to the conditions of the Tenancy Agreement
with the Landlord and the Tenant. Payment of the Deposit
will be made within 10 working days of written consent from
both parties.
If, after 20 working days following notification of a
dispute to the Agent/Member and reasonable attempts have
been made in that time to resolve any differences of opinion,
there remains an unresolved dispute between the Landlord
and the Tenant over the allocation of the Deposit it will
be submitted to the ICE for adjudication. All parties agree
to co-operate with any adjudication.
The statutory rights of either you/the Landlord or the
Tenant(s) to take legal action against the other party remain
unaffected.
It is not compulsory for the parties to refer the dispute
to the ICE for adjudication. The parties may, if either
party chooses to do so, seek the decision of the Court.
However, this process may take longer and may incur further
costs. Because it is a condition of the Tenancy Agreement
signed by both parties, judges may refer the dispute back
to the ICE for adjudication. If the parties do agree that
the dispute should be resolved by the ICE, they must accept
the decision of the ICE as final and binding.
If there is a dispute we must remit to The Dispute Service
Ltd the full deposit, less any amounts already agreed by
the parties and paid over to them. This must be done with
in 10 working days of being told that a dispute has been
registered whether or not you or we want to contest it.
Failure to do so will not delay the adjudication but The
Dispute Service Ltd will take appropriate action to recover
the deposit and discipline us.
We must co-operate with the ICE in the adjudication of
the dispute and follow any recommendations concerning the
method of the resolution of the dispute.
Incorrect Information
The Landlord warrants that all the information he has provided
to the Agent is correct to the best of his knowledge and
belief. In the event that the Landlord provides incorrect
information to the Agent which causes the Agent to suffer
loss or causes legal proceedings to be taken the landlord
agrees to reimburse and compensate the Agent for all losses
suffered.
The following clauses can be inserted if the agent allows
the landlord to hold the deposit outside TDS
If you decide to hold the Deposit yourself in relation
to an Assured Shorthold Tenancy, we will transfer it to
you within 5
days of receiving it. You must then register it with another
Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme within a further 25 days
if the Tenancy is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy. If you fail
to do so the Tenant can take legal action against you in
the County Court. The Court can make an order stating that
you must pay the Deposit back to the Tenant or lodge it
with the custodial scheme which is known as the Deposit
Protection Service. In addition a further order will be
made requiring you to pay compensation to the Tenant of
between one and three times the amount of the Deposit.
If a landlord fails to meet the initial requirement to
protect the deposit, no Section 21 Notice can be served
until either the landlord returns the deposit to the tenants
in full or with such deductions as the tenant agrees; or
if the tenant has taken proceedings against the landlord
for non-protection and those proceedings have been concluded,
withdrawn or settled (for example, by the court awarding
damages being the return of the
deposit or a fine not more than three times the value of
the deposit).
If a landlord fails to serve Prescribed Information, (s)he
cannot serve Section 21 Notice until the Prescribed Information
has been served - but this can be more than 30 days after
receiving the deposit. This will not prevent a tenant from
issuing proceedings for late provision of the prescribed
information and seeking a penalty award.
Tenant's can make an application to a county court for
a penalty award even where the tenancy has ended, and can
do so for up to six years.
We have no liability for any loss suffered if you fail
to comply.
Fees for dealing with a dispute will be charged on a quantum
meruit basis subject to a minimum fee of £720
REPAIRS
We need to be able to carry out day-to-day repairs to your
property without reference to you. Unless you advise us
to the contrary we will carry out repairs costing up to
£500 without reference. Where we consider it appropriate,
competitive estimates will be obtained.
REFURBISHMENTS
Where we undertake refurbishment of properties on behalf
of Clients prior to re-letting or sale we will charge fees
on the net cost of the works of 15%
In addition, in order to comply with legislation produced
by the Health & Safety Executive, documentation needs
to be produced in order to comply with the Construction
(Design & Management) Regulations 2015. We will arrange
for an appropriate contractor to undertake the CDM. Their
charges will be passed on to you. Our fees for the administration
will be charged at £96
In order to comply with Health & Safety Legislation
an Asbestos Survey of the property to be refurbished has
to be undertaken by suitably qualified inspector who surveys
the property, taking samples, if necessary, for analysis
and reporting back on his findings and method of disposal
of asbestos items found.
We will instruct an appropriate person to undertake this
survey on your behalf. Our fees for organising this will
be £90 The asbestos survey will cost between £420
- £540 plus the cost of any laboratory analysis tests.
ABORTIVE FEES
Once estimates for the refurbishment have been submitted
to you, if you then decide not to proceed in accordance
with the estimates, we will charge abortive fees of 90%
of the fees chargeable based on the estimates
GAS APPLIANCES
Where a residential tenanted property has gas installed
there is a legal requirement on landlords to have a gas
safety check undertaken at least once in every twelve month
period and any gas appliances belonging to the landlord
must be included in the gas safety check and serviced.
We will arrange for our nominated CORGI registered contractors
to undertake gas safety check and issue certification and
where appropriate for landlords appliances such as boilers,
water heaters, gas fires to be placed on a maintenance contract
with them.
We have negotiated charges for this with our nominated
CORGI registered contractors substantially less than charges
raised by British Gas and the contractors charges for these
services will be debited automatically from the rent account.
Our charges for the administration, organisation and recording
the Gas Safety Certificates is £96 per tenancy.
On granting of a new tenancy of a property an up to date
Gas Safety Certificate must be produced to the tenant and
therefore in these circumstances more than one gas safety
check may be undertaken in any twelve month period resulting
in additional costs being raised.
ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES
Landlords must ensure that all electrical appliances and
the electrical supply is safe. From 1st January 1997 all
new appliances must carry a "CE" mark and all
newly installed plugs and sockets must comply with regulations.
Tenants can ask for confirmation that inspections have
taken place. Although there is no specific time scale for
inspections, we would recommend that regular inspections
are undertaken, especially in shared accommodation, every
5 years. We can arrange for our nominated electricians to
undertake these tests on your behalf. Our administration
fees for organising and recording the tests will be £96
ENERGY PERFORMANCE CERTIFICATES
Under Government legislation, all lettings or re-lettings
after the 1st October 2008 must be supported by an Energy
Performance Certificate a copy of which we must give to
the tenant prior to completion of the letting. If you do
not already have an Energy Performance Certificate for the
property that we are to manage we will employ a company
to produce the Certificate. At present, we are using a company
called Surrey Energy and their charges are £55 (no
VAT). The Energy Performance Certificate is valid for ten
years from the date of issue.
Our charges for the administration, organisation and recording
of Energy Performance Certificates is £96 per tenancy.
OVERSEAS CLIENTS
Under the provisions of the Finance Acts, with effect from
the 6th April 1996, unless and until specific action is
taken by landlords and agreed by the Financial Intermediaries
and Claims Office of the Inland Revenue, we will be obliged
to submit a return and pay tax at currently at 20% on the
net assessable rental income to the Inland Revenue within
30 days of the end of each three month quarter. The quarter
dates are the last day of June, September, December and
March, which coincide approximately with our quarterly dates.
This will happen
unless we receive notification from the Inland Revenue that
we do not have to make a tax deduction from your income.
In order to obtain this clearance, you have to take the
following action.
In order to obtain the Inland Revenue's agreement that
you can receive income from property without deduction of
tax, you must complete form NRL1 and send it to the Inland
Revenue Financial Intermediaries and Claims Office at Bootle,
whose address is shown on the back page of the form. If
you wish we can supply you with a photocopy of Inland Revenue
leaflet number 1R140 relating to the obligation of non-resident
landlords, their agents and tenants, which may help you
to understand the situation.
If you intend to apply to receive rental income with no
tax deducted, it would be appreciated if you could let us
have a copy of your application form for our records and
we can also then chase up the appropriate department, if
they have not responded by the time we deal with the first
quarter's rents.
TERMINATION OF MANAGEMENT
One quarter's notice of termination on either side is required
except in the case where we sell the property on behalf
of the owner. Where the property is sold to the tenant originally
introduced by this firm, the vendor will be liable for our
commission of 1.8% of the sale price
INSURANCE
Unless otherwise agreed, it will be a condition of our
management that the insurance of the property and the contents,
if appropriate, is through St. Giles Finance & Insurance
Services Ltd., St Giles are our nominated insurance brokers,
including full property owner's liability to include Public
Occupiers Liability. These brokers pay us a fee for reviewing
the terms of the insurance on an annual basis, checking
the renewal papers, organising and collecting the premiums
on their behalf and accounting to them and overseeing any
claims with the loss adjusters. The fee that we are paid
for the work we do on insurance is retained by us in order
to keep our costs down. However, under FSA rules and the
RICS Designated Professional Body Scheme we are required
to advise you on an annual basis of any money earned by
general insurance mediation activity in relation to your
property which we will of course do.
INTEREST
In order to keep our charges down to a minimum we keep
a substantial amount of Clients money on deposit without
obligation to pay any interest earned to clients. Under
the RICS regulations, if Clients money is placed on deposit,
strictly speaking, any interest earned belongs to the clients
unless an individual agrees to waive the right to interest.
The money is on immediate call if required.
In the past all our clients have agreed to waive the right
to interest on any clients money on deposit with a view
to keeping their costs down and we trust that you will continue
to agree to this. If you do not, this will involve us in
additional administration work and as a result we will have
to increase our commission on collection by 6% over and
above the figures mentioned above.
We shall be obliged if you will kindly confirm your instructions
by deleting one of the following alternatives.
* I HEREBY agree to waive any right to interest on moneys
held by John G Dean & Co. on my behalf.
* I HEREBY confirm that I am not prepared to waive my rights
to interest and understand that the commission on collection
will in these circumstances be at the rate of 6% above normal
* (Please delete one of the above alternatives.)
BANKING
All rents and other moneys collected are banked at Nat
West Bank PLC, 128 Balham High Road, London, SW12 9AE in
the name of John G Dean & Co. Clients Account.
MONEY LAUNDERING REGULATIONS 2003 AS UPDATED
Under the above Legislation, we are required to obtain
proof of identity without which we are regrettably not permitted
to commence any work for you.
In the case of an individual or individuals who own the
property, please provide us with either the original or
a certified photocopy of each person's passport and utility
bill or bank statement addressed to each person's home address.
If you do not have a passport, please supply a copy of driving
licence or similar document which bears your name and signature.
Copies must be certified by either a solicitor, Banks officer
or another professional person.
In the case of a company, please supply a certified copy
of the company's Certificate of Incorporation.
COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE
As required by the RICS we have a formal complaints handling
procedure, details of which will be provided upon request.
PROVISION OF SERVICE REGULATIONS 2009
We comply with the above regulation by displaying the required
details of our Professional Indemnity Insurance in each
of our offices.
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