Tenancy Handbook
Tenants must be reminded to refer to the Tenant Info Booklet 2018 that is issued to every tenant when they move in to a property. This handbook outlines gives tips on heating your property, how to deal with and prevent condensation, as well as fire safety procedures.
Tenants should also refer to the repair booklet issued to themselves before contacting the office to report a problem. Did you know that light bulbs are the tenant’s responsibility to replace? As are the batteries in your smoke alarms?
Please be aware that you should not be contacting the maintenance team / contractors directly, unless they have tried to contact you first. All problems need to be reported via the office, so they can be logged correctly. It is then our job to contact the relevant person to deal with the issues correctly.
Storage Heaters Guide
Please download our Night Storage Heaters guide.
How to Rent
The checklist for renting in England from the www.gov.uk website is available here. See the html version online here.
Universal Credit
We are starting to see more and more cases of Housing Benefit payments being transferred to Universal Credit. It is extremely vital to monitor this as closely as possible. Even if your Housing Benefit payments get paid directly to us, when you transfer over to Universal Credit, this cannot still be guaranteed.
It is also important, that as soon as you are made aware of your benefits being transferred, that you contact us. This allows us to put measures in place, and agree with you a plan, until they are sorted.
Gas Inspections
Tenants must be aware that we have given the go ahead to the contractors to complete the annual gas inspections and issue gas certificates. We will be in contact with all tenants in the near future, to arrange a time for the contractors to attend for us. Contractors have also been instructed to fit carbon monoxide detectors in every property that has gas central heating.
Please note: tenants are required to leave these detectors in the property once they vacate, and their tenancy ends. Detectors that aren’t present in properties that have had them fitted will result in the tenants being charged when they move out.
Pets Policy
It appears that we need to remind all tenants of the strict NO PETS policy we have in each of our properties. We are still hearing that there are pets in various properties, so would like to remind everyone that this is unacceptable. If you have a pet in your property (and don’t think we don’t know if you do), please make sure it is re-homed within two weeks of this newsletter. Inspections will be happening more regularly to keep on top of this.
Appointments
If appointments / meetings are arranged between us and yourselves, please make sure you are present in your property at the designated time. If you can’t be present for work related or personal reasons, please contact the office and re-arrange the appointment to a convenient time and date.
On a number of occasions, meetings are arranged, and tenants aren’t in, or just don’t answer the door.
These meetings are important, and are often to discuss issues with you if we can’t get in contact with you via telephone / email. If we can’t get in contact with you, and you aren’t making yourself available for meetings, how can we discuss things with you?
Communal Bins – Health and Hygiene
We are getting increasingly irritated and concerned about the state of a number of the communal bin stores in and around various properties.
Tenants should be mindful of the fact that it is in their own best interests to keep these bin stores clean, clear and tidy, with all the possible bins getting used at the same time. On numerous occasions now, we are finding piles of rubbish left on the floors of communal stores, where some, if not most of the bins are empty!
Not only does this look unsightly to the eye, but it encourages animals such as mice, rats, foxes, as well as cats to go foraging looking for left over’s.
Thinking of moving from one of our properties to another?
On a number of occasions in the past few months we have had tenants wanting to move in between properties. This is fine, and is allowed, as long as the properties are left in a good condition, and there are no arrears on your tenancy account.
Tenants must note that in the future an additional admin fee of £120 will need to be paid. This covers all the costs involved with the move between the properties.
Just to clarify, this admin fee will need to be paid before tenants move to their new property.
Recommend a Friend
We currently have a variety of properties available, so if you know anyone who may be interested in moving in to one of our properties, get them to ring the office, or check on Facebook for our latest availability.
Lost Keys
Over the past couple of months, the office has experienced a number of calls relating to lost keys, or keys being left in a property, so tenants require letting in. Due to this, we are starting to implement a call out charge of £25 every time a tenant needs keys cut, or letting into their property. This charge will need to be paid on the day. With this in mind, we recommend you get a set cut yourself and leave them with a friend / neighbour
