Residential Letting Agreement - Terms of business
LETTING ONLY SERVICE
Our rental service includes:
Advice on the rent you can expect to receive.
Advertising and marketing of your rental property.
Advice on the presentation and furnishing of your property.
Advice on your responsibilities as a Landlord.
Optional accompanied viewing with any prospective tenants for unoccupied properties.
Considering and dealing with tenants' applications and taking up references on prospective tenants and guarantors. (Despite our best endeavours, we are unable to guarantee the suitability of tenants).
Preparing and arranging the completion of the tenancy agreement. Our standard tenancy agreement will be used, unless specifically requested otherwise, and provided with a suitable and legal alternative.
GENERAL
The following conditions apply to our Letting Service:
Where legal action is to be taken against a current or former tenant, the landlord will be directly and fully responsible for any legal fees, costs or charges. If you wish us to attend court or tribunal hearings on your behalf, we reserve the right to charge an additional fee, which would be agreed at the time.
If a tenant, occupant or licensee of the property enters into an agreement with the owner to purchase the property, a commission of 1% plus VAT of the purchase price becomes payable by the vendor to Morfitt Shaw Ltd if at any time contracts are exchanged.
If you are classed as resident overseas for tax purposes, we are responsible under the Taxes Management Act 1970 (Section 78) for deducting income tax at the basic rate on rental income from your property, unless the Inland Revenue provides us with an appropriate exemption certificate. We recommend that you request the services of a tax consultant.
Morfitt Shaw Ltd will not be liable for any direct or consequential losses arising from the loss, theft or misplacement of any keys lodged with the company.
If a deposit or bond is taken from the tenant, we will pass this to the landlord. In order to comply with the tenancy deposit legislation, the landlord must submit this deposit to an approved scheme within fourteen days of the agent receiving these funds. It is solely the landlord's responsibility to ensure that any deposit or bond is suitably protected.
Any future variation in this rental will not affect the terms of this agreement.
TERMINATION
The following conditions apply to the termination of this agreement:
If a ready willing and able tenant makes an application to rent your property in accordance with your instructions and you subsequently withdraw the property, irrespective of your reasons the commission is due for the standard period of letting.
Either party may terminate this agreement at the end of a tenant's period of occupancy (i.e. when the property becomes vacant), subject to 14 days notice from the party wishing to terminate.
If we consider that you are in breach of any regulation relating to the property (whether statutory or not) or you are failing to comply with your obligations contained within the tenancy agreement, we may give you seven days notice of termination.
CHARGES
Renewal fee A charge of £50 will be made for negotiating a renewal/extension to an existing tenant.
Letting charge
For marketing your property, introducing a tenant, credit checking and compiling the tenancy agreement, we will charge a commission of 7% of the initial tenancy value. So for instance, if we found a tenant for six months @ £650 pcm our fee would be £273 plus VAT, or for a tenancy of £400 pcm for twelve months our fee would be £336 plus VAT. OUR MINIMUM CHARGE IS £250 plus VAT.
Sundry charges
All charges are subject to VAT at the prevailing rate and will be deducted from rents collected (unless otherwise invoiced). There may be other occasions where you may be required to pay a fee for work carried out on your behalf which is beyond reasonable day to day routines. In such instances an appropriate fee will be agreed with you in advance.
LANDLORD WARRANTY / AUTHORISATION
The undersigned hereby confirms that:
You are the lawful owner of the above mentioned property and authorise the Agent to act in accordance with this agreement.
You authorise the Agent to find a suitable tenant for your property and to sign tenancy agreements and other relevant documents on your behalf.
Where the property is subject to a mortgage, permission to let has been obtained from the mortgagee.
Where the property is leasehold you have obtained all necessary consent to let and you must notify us of any special conditions applied by the head landlord/freeholder.
You have informed your insurance company that the property is to be let, ensuring that the building and/or contents insurance cover remains adequate and operative.
You are fulfilling the requirements relating to:
The Gas Safety Regulations 1994 and 1996
Furniture and Furnishings Regulations 1988 (as amended)
Electrical Equipment Regulations 1994
You agree to abide by the above regulations at all times in respect of the letting of your property.
You will notify the Agent if you are presently or, at any time during this agreement become non resident in the UK for Income Tax purposes.