LESSON 5 - Property 'handover'

Property 'handover' & taking a deposit.

This is where you give over your precious buy-to-let property to one of the marauding tenant class. Make sure you have all the forms signed and dated.

You should take a least a months rent as a deposit although many landlords are now choosing to avoid the requirements to have to protect the tenants deposit by charging the tenant an administrative fee and obtain a rental guarantor instead.

Where you as the landlord do take payment on the day; make sure it’s cash. There are many cases where the first payment cheque bounces and then it’s a nightmare getting the tenant out even though you have received no rent. If the tenant pays by cheque or BACS make sure that the funds have cleared before you hand over the keys and sign the tenancy agreement.

Don’t forget to hand over a full set of the keys and where your buy-to-let property has an alarm it might be a good idea to tell the tenant how to use the alarm and also give them the alarm code.

Give the tenants a quick run through of where the fuse box or RCD unit is and how things such as the washing machine work. It could save problems in the future over the potential damage to equipment. Some landlords give their tenant a tenancy pack. Have a look at this Tenant Manual for ideas of what to include.

Boring boring admin!

This is often the bit that landlords forget to complete after the property 'handover'.

Make sure that you store all the letting documents in a safe place. You will need them if there is ever a dispute with your tenant. Notify all the utility companies of the change in responsibility for paying the bills. This isn't always as straight forward as it should be but persevere!

Finally, ensure that you have at least one copy of all the keys for you buy-to-let property. Just in case you need to get emergency access or the tenant loses theres! If they do it is legitimate to charge them a fee for replacing them.

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