The Lettings Centre

We don't charge for visits, viewings, move-ins, move-outs or legal packs. So the only money you need to find is your non-refundable Referencing Fee of £150 per adult, your Deposit, rent, and tenancy agreement fee of £90. There is also a fee of £60 for a reference for a Guarantor.

Should we need a formal independent checkout report at the end of your tenancy, you will be charged for this, and the cost taken from your deposit. We rarely need to get these done, and if you leave the property in the condition you found it, or better, then you will not be charged this. Your Landlord will pay for the ingoing inventory.

We like to look after our tenants, not fleece them.

You are.

Please make sure you take your own meter readings on the day you move in and the day you move out and let all the appropriate utility companies know what you are doing. We will ask you for your move out meter readings when you return your keys.

You must also inform the local council to register for Council Tax which you are responsible for paying.

You will need to contact utility companies to advise of meter readings up to your move in date. If you are unsure of who provides the utilities to the property you can call the National Utility Enquiry line. For Electricity call 0845 6015467 and for Gas 0870 6081524. They will tell you who currently supplies the power to the property and transfer you through to them. The utility companies then normally contact you with a bill, and you may swap providers if you wish.

On the due date, this is normally to same day of the month that you commenced your tenancy. Our team will advise you of this when we set up the tenancy. We prefer you to pay by Standing Order, and you will be given a form to give to your Bank on the day you move in so that you can set this up.

Your Deposit is held by us and registered with Tenancy Deposit Scheme.

Full information about TDS can be found here

The Lettings Centre managed properties - If you have a problem or issue that requires a tradesman or repair, please contact us on 01795 471757 during office hours or email us. We also use an online reporting facility where you are able to report problems 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can access this by clicking here

Landlord managed properties - Please contact your landlord.

The Lettings Centre will not be able to provide advice. You will be given your Landlords contact details for reporting repairs in your Tenant Information Pack, which you will receive when you move into your property.

The Lettings Centre managed service - If you think you are going to have problems paying your rent, please contact us early as possible. Unpaid rent causes problems for everyone, not just you and we will discuss your options with you. Don't just not pay and hope everything will be ok. This will make matters worse.

Landlord managed - You should contact your landlord as soon as possible. Our rental team will not be able to provide advice.

Once you have paid the £150 referencing fee, we begin the referencing process. Each tenant 18 years old and over will go through this process, this is included in the one-off £150 fee. You will need to fill in our application form and provide us with proof of your income, ID and address.

You can download a copy of the application form if this is easier for you, print it off, fill it out, scan it, and return it and all the other documentation, via email. Alternatively we can post a copy to you, or come to the office with your information and fill it in here -whatever is easier for you! A company called SafetyLet will check your credit history. We will write to or email your employer and current landlord to obtain references from them about you (if applicable). We will also check your affordability against your wage slips and bank statements.

Once we take the referencing fee, the property is suspended from marketing until the referencing comes back. The result will come back as either Accepted, Accepted with Guarantor or Declined. If you are accepted, we will normally arrange a move in date and sort all the legal paperwork with you. If you do not pass referencing, your fee will not be refunded and the property will be marked as available.

If your referencing is accepted, but you need to provide a Guarantor, it simply means that you may just be to the top of your affordability budget, or have a poor credit history - so in case of any rent arrears, someone will need to stand in and pay the rent on your behalf. Both relatives and friends can act as a Guarantor, they must be in full time employment or receive a private pension, and be able to pass all the same checks, as well as being able to afford the entirety of the rent.

Once referencing is acceptable a move in date is mutually agreed between the tenant, agent and landlord. Tenancy Agreements will then be drawn up. On the move in day you (and your guarantor if applicable) will need to come to the office to meet with one of the rental team who will explain the Tenancy Agreement to you before you sign them. We will then hand over the keys to you.

You will be provided with 2 copies of the Inventory. You will need to go through the Inventory as soon as you get to the property. 1 copy needs to be returned to us within 7 days, the other copy is for you to keep. This gives you the opportunity to make any additions, then you will sign to agree to the current condition of the property. The Inventory Clerk will have taken meter readings, we recommend you make a note for yourself.

A welcome pack including copies of agreements, the Inventory and some general information and contact numbers will be provided to you when you come to the office to sign the Agreements. If your property is being managed by the landlord our involvement stops at this point and we handover responsibility to your landlord.

Unlike some agents, we do not believe in charging, in our opinion, unnecessary admin fees - our charges are simple - a £150 non-refundable referencing fee when you apply for the property, and on the day you move in a £90 Tenancy Agreement Fee (The Office of Fair Trading say that the cost of a tenancy agreement should be charged evenly between the Tenant & the Landlord. The total cost of our agreement is £180 (incl. VAT), so you are only paying half of this), plus first months rent and Deposit. This is all you would need to move into a property to let with The Lettings Centre. There is an additional £60 Reference Fee if a Guarantor is required.

If the property is being managed by The Lettings Centre, you would call us on 01795 471757 if you had any questions or issues during office hours. or email admin@thelettingscentre. We also have a 24 hour 365 days portal where you can report repairs needed and emergencies, we will then deal with these when we are in the office.

You can report repairs by clicking here.

If the property is not managed by us, you would need to contact your landlord, their details would be provided to you in the welcome pack.

If you property is managed by The Lettings Centre, we carry out an initial visit after about 3 months, just to make sure you have settled in and to make sure you are happy. We then visit every 12 months (more often if your landlord requests) and make sure that there are no issues of which we would need to make the landlord aware.

If your property is managed by your Landlord, he/she will arrange their own schedule of inspections.

These inspections are free to you.

Providing the landlord is happy to continue with the tenancy, we will write to you well before the end of the tenancy to check whether you wish to stay in the property and renew your tenancy or you wish to move out.

If you choose to stay, a new agreement will be sent to you and your tenancy will continue for the new fixed tenancy period. If your landlord decides that they wish the tenancy to continue on a periodic basis then no new tenancy will be issued, and you will be informed of this. Your tenancy deposit certificate will be amended to reflect this, and we will send you a new copy.

If you choose to move out, or the landlord does not wish to continue with the rental, we will discuss this with you at the time.

All our deposits are registered with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme - providing the house is returned in the same condition as it was let (or better), and there are no rent arrears, the whole Deposit will be refunded to you.

If there are any issues with the Inventory or any rent arrears, we would first discuss this with you and give you options on how to rectify the problems. If this is not satisfactorily done, we may have to obtain an independent check out report and you will be charged for this and the amount deducted from your deposit. We would then discuss the issues with your landlord and ascertain what they wanted to withhold from your deposit. If we cannot agree a figure between you and your Landlord, we would then register a dispute with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, who would make a final decision, to decide how much of the Deposit, if any, would need to be held back. This decision is binding to both the Landlord and Tenant

A £150 (non-refundable) tenant referencing fee is due for all tenants.

Before you move in, you will also need to pay the first month's rent, the relevant deposit and £90 tenancy agreement fee. This needs to be in our bank account before we can give you the keys. There is also a £60 Referencing Fee if a Guarantor is required.

You will be informed at the move in if we are managing the property or if the owner is. You will also receive this information in your welcome pack. This is who you should contact with any problems.

We normally take a months rent plus £150 rounded up to the nearest £50. ie if the rent is £775 we would ask for a deposit of £950. Some Landlords ask for a different amount, but this is displayed with the property advert, and if you are unsure, please ask.

All deposits are registered with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme. Some landlords may want to register the Deposit with their own scheme but we will always let you know who your Deposit is registered with.

We always have to check with a landlord before any decorating is to start. This usually entails you giving us details of how you wish to decorate, and getting that agreed by the landlord. If you are keeping the colour neutral or adding value to the property the landlord will often say yes.

Some owners are happy for their tenants to have pets, others are not. Should you want a pet at the property we will contact the owner on your behalf. If they are agreeable then a Pet Surcharge of £200 will be taken at the start of the tenancy, or when you get your pet if your tenancy has already commenced. This will be used to have the property and carpets professionally cleaned and deodorised at the end of your tenancy.

This surcharge is not part of your deposit and is not refundable at the end of your tenacy.