Frequently Asked Questions
Rent Guarantee Insurance
Rent guarantee is a service offered by your letting agent to ensure your rent/income is consistently paid regardless of whether the tenant can pay. It also ensures that vacant possession of your property is obtained at no additional cost to yourself should you have a tenant who cannot pay.
The service covers rents up to £2,500.00 per month
Peace of mind – Knowing that whatever happens during the tenancy of your property, your income remains covered.
None, the guarantee covers all costs, no hidden fees or surprises.
We cover the cost of all missed rent, and all legal costs relating to obtaining possession of the property up to a £50,000.00 claim limit.
Government and a number of private organisations seek to support the tenants to ensure they are not taken advantage of, this can make the process of gaining possession a long and difficult one, not to mention expensive.
From your perspective, nothing much would change. You would be advised by your agent that the tenant is in arears and the rent guarantee is taking affect, they would then update you on any changes to the point they obtain vacant possession of your property.
You risk your investment. Being that becoming a landlord is a method of investment, many landlords have mortgages to pay, which they are reliant on rent to cover. In instances where a tenant doesn’t pay, it is at the expense of the landlord. In addition, you potentially would have to cover the legal costs if the tenant refuses to vacate the property.
You need to reference any prospective tenants, as long as they meet a suitability for renting the property rent guarantee can be issued.
All claims must be made within 31 days of the point of first arrears.
You are required to chase the tenant (and guarantor where applicable) at 3, 7, 14 and 21 days, if no payment has been received at 21 days consider making your claim.
Tenants
The Tenant Fees Act 2019 came into force on 1 June 2019. It sets out rules to ban letting agents and landlords from charging fees to tenants in England as well as setting a cap for tenancy deposits. The ban will apply to new tenancies and renewals (new Fixed Term) signed on or after 1 June 2019.
Where the annual rent on the tenancy is under £50,000 the maximum Tenancy Deposit is five weeks rent. Where the annual aggregate rent is over £50,000 the maximum Tenancy Deposit is six week’s rent.
Deposit Alternative and Nil Deposit schemes provide an alternative to the traditional deposit monies by taking out an insurance. To find out how does it work please read our more FAQs.
A landlord or agent can take a refundable Holding Deposit from a tenant to reserve a property, but this cannot exceed one week’s rent. Agents can only accept one holding deposit per property. This is to show the Landlord your commitment to the property whilst they carry out the reference checks.
Inventory
An Inventory is a detailed (visual and written) report of the condition of a property. It includes information on all contents, fittings and fixtures of a property at the time of inspection. An inventory should be carried out by an unbiased party and acts as a binding agreement between the landlord and the tenant when the document is signed. The report is compiled before a tenant moves into a property and acts as protection for all parties involved in the lettings process.
At Check In, an inventory clerk go through the previously completed Inventory document with the incoming tenant or their representative taking care to explain it and answer any questions that they may have. This is also the stage where any changes that have taken place in between the Inventory and Check In are noted. The Inventory document is then signed by both parties but a 7 day allowance is usually given for any issues the tenant comes across while living and using the property.
At Check Out, there is a comparison carried out between the original signed Inventory and the current condition of the property at the end of the tenancy. Check Outs generally occur with the vacating tenant present, but it is not a requirement.
A Mid-term inspection is normally carried quarterly or half-yearly during a tenancy to review the condition of a let property, determine if the property is being look after and identify if a let property requires repair, decoration or maintenance. The report also assists in determining if a tenant is complying with their contractual agreement.
Gas
UK landlords with gas appliances and fittings – including central heating, boilers and flues – must conduct an annual safety check conducted by a Gas Safe engineer. If you are unsure whether the Gas Safety Regulations Act (1998) applies to you, you can find out on the government’s Health And Safety Executive (HSE) website.
If you are a landlord however, it is very likely that these laws do apply to you. You must keep record of the safety check for two years and supply new tenants with a copy of the certificate before they move in and within 28 days of completing a new check.
Your legal duties as a landlord cover any gas appliances that you own and provide for the use the tenants of your property. If the tenant supplies their own gas appliances, then you will be responsible for its installation parts and pipework, but not the appliance itself.
For full guidance refer to regulation 36(3) of the HSE Approved Code of Practice, on the duties of landlords with respect to safety checks.
The HSE regulations make a distinction between gas safety checks and the related servicing and maintenance activities that may need to be undertaken. As a landlord you have the responsibility of ensuring all appliances (specifically boilers), as well as pipes and flues, are operating safely at all times.
Our recommendation is that maintenance be performed every 12 months to ensure proper functioning of the appliances.
For full guidance refer to regulation 36(2) of the HSE Approved Code of Practice, on the duties of landlords with respect to maintaining pipes, flues and appliances.
Yes! It is perfectly acceptable to keep the records of your gas inspection electronically – and many landlords find it far more convenient.
As long as you can produce a hard copy when needed (such as when new tenants are moving in), you keep it safe (i.e. you don’t delete if from your electronic records) and it uniquely identifies the engineer (e.g. with a signature), having only an electronic copy is absolutely fine. If sharing an electronic copy with your tenants, be sure they first have the means to access it.
EPC
The Government is complying with the Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD) with the introduction of the Energy Performance Certificate. The EPC shows a record of the energy efficiency levels and CO2 emissions of a building, by using a standard table from A to G (A being very efficient, G being very inefficient).
Firstly, the energy survey is performed by a qualified energy assessor who visits the property and examines key items within the premises such as loft insulation, domestic boiler, hot water tank, radiators, windows for double glazing, etc. Once this information is obtained it is then placed into a software programme which carries out and calculates the level of energy efficiency and CO2 emissions.
This programme then proceeds to generate the level of energy efficiency in the property, with a recommendation report on the ways to improve the energy ratings by using cost effective and low and zero carbon generated systems. This will help improve your energy levels and ensure future savings on fuel costs.
There is a similar report which provides figures on the environmental impact. This report shows a table of estimated energy bills per annum and the potential for improved and lower fuel costs, but without any reference to the actual householder bills.
As of the 21st May 2010, if you decide to place your property on the market for sale or rent in England and Wales you will need to purchase an EPC.
With a new build it is the responsibility of the person carrying out the work. They must provide the owner with the certificate and inform the Building Control Officer or Approved Inspector that this has been completed within the specified time.
When you are selling or renting your property, you, as the seller or landlord must provide the EPC. The certificate is available free of charge and should be given to the prospective buyer or tenant prior to entering into a sale or lease agreement.
The householder will have to pay for this survey and we offer extremely competitive prices.
The survey is entirely non-invasive as the information provided to the assessor is given directly from the householder. For example, whether the property has cavity wall insulation or not, even when there is no evidence of drill holes present.
As long as you have already ordered and paid for an EPC then you are permitted to put your property on the market or advertise it for renting purposes. We will make sure you receive confirmation of your order immediately after booking the EPC.
You can easily place your order for the EPC via this website.
Electrical
Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) is the checking of the safety of portable (as opposed to fixed) electrical appliances in your property. Confusingly, portable appliances include stationary equipment like fridges and washing machines, as well as things like TVs, kettles and space heaters.
Getting these appliance tested with a PAT is a great way to ensure and prove their safety, allowing you to efficiently fulfil your duties as a landlord.
As a landlord, your duty is to ensure the safety of the electrical appliances in your property. Having a PAT test carried out is a great way to meet your legal obligations and keep your tenants safe.
From a practical point of view, different appliances need testing in accordance with their risk of breaking. High-use, highly portable appliances like toasters are far more likely to be damaged in everyday use than a stationary washing machine, meaning a landlord might responsibly have the former tested every two years, but the latter every four years.
As a minimum, you will need to have the fixed wiring tested at least every five years – see further below. You should also check whether different licensing requirements apply for landlords of HMOs in your area.
Getting a periodic inspection of your electrical installations via an Electric Installation Condition Report is the best way to fulfil your legal duties as a landlord and make sure that the electrical infrastructure of your property is safe for your tenants.
Your EICR should be carried out by a registered electrician. The inspection will check the condition of your property’s wiring, look for wear & tear and see if your property’s electrical installations pose any shock or fire hazards. You will then receive a report from the electrician.
As a landlord, your duty is to ensure the safety of the electrical infrastructure of your property. There is no legal requirement to get a EICR periodically unless your property is a House in Multiple Occupancy, but doing one is a great way to meet your legal obligations and keep your tenants safe.
If you are the landlord of an HMO, then you must carry out an Electrical Installation Condition Report every five years. This will reveal any defective electrical work, identify fire hazards and check if any circuits are overloaded and dangerous.
Landlord Insurance
Landlord insurance is cover that protects landlords from risks associated with their rental property. It usually includes buildings and contents insurance, but can also include landlord-specific covers such as property owners’ liability, loss of rent, and tenant default insurance.
There are different types of landlord insurance available to cover different risks.
Landlord buildings insurance can cover the cost of repairing or rebuilding your property if the structure is damaged or destroyed. You can also buy landlord contents insurance to cover your furniture and other items if they’re stolen or damaged.
Tenant default insurance can cover your rent for a period of time if your tenants fail to pay, and property owners’ liability insurance covers compensation claims made by a tenant or visitor for injury or damage related to your property.
If you have one or more rental properties, it’s important to make sure you’ve got the right insurance in place.
A standard home insurance policy usually won’t cover you for risks associated with renting out your property.
While landlord insurance isn’t a legal requirement, it’s often a requirement of mortgage lenders.
The cost of your policy will depend on your property and tenants, the type of insurance you choose, and the cover levels you need.
As with all insurance, the insurer calculates your premium (the cost of your insurance) based on the likelihood you’ll make a claim and the possible cost of any claim.
To find out how much your landlord insurance will cost, run a quick quote.
Buildings insurance or fixtures and fittings insurance and property owners’ liability insurance will be core covers for most landlords. If you rent out a furnished property, then contents insurance is likely to be useful too.
You can choose to add other covers like tenant default insurance, accidental damage insurance and landlord legal expenses insurance too, depending on the risks you want to cover.
The amount of buildings insurance you take out should be based on the rebuild value of your rental property. This is an estimate of how much it would cost to rebuild your house from scratch, including labour and materials.
Your contents insurance amount should be based on what it would cost to replace the contents you’re providing in your rental property. This doesn’t include your tenants’ items, as they will need to insure these separately.
With Simply Business you can choose to buy £2 million or £5 million of property owners’ liability insurance, depending on how high you think possible compensation claims could be.
If you buy tenant default insurance from us, this can cover your rental income up to a maximum of £2,500 per month. Our legal expenses insurance comes with a cover limit of £50,000.
Landlord property insurance is just another term used to refer to landlord insurance, which covers risks associated with rental properties. It includes buildings and contents insurance, landlords’ liability insurance, and other covers to protect a landlord’s rental property.
Reposit
Reposit is a tenancy deposit alternative. Tenant’s pay a one week non-refundable service charge to Reposit to provide Landlord’s eight weeks of end of tenancy protection.
But how can we offer Tenant’s such a cost effective solution whilst providing the same level of security to Landlords?
When you pay your service charge, equal to just one weeks rent, we add your Landlord as a beneficiary to our insurance policy underwritten by Canopius, a global Lloyd’s of London Syndicate.
Just as you do now, you remain liable for any unreasonable damage or rent arrears at end of tenancy, but our insurance means that if a tenant defaults on fair payment at end of tenancy, our insurance will pay the Landlord. If a tenant does not reimburse fair monies, Reposit reserve the right to pursue this further and affect the tenant’s credit ratings.
No. You’re still liable for damages, rent, cleaning the property, and anything else outlined in your tenancy agreement. You will still need to pay your landlord back at the end of the tenancy if you do break anything. Your Landlord is the sole beneficiary of our insurance policy.
Tenants who pass referencing checks or who have a referenced guarantor are eligible for Reposit.
If you receive DSS or if you are a student with no credit score you can still use Reposit, however you will need to obtain a satisfactory guarantor to pass referencing on your behalf.
Up to 12 months, but it can be extended after this period for an additional £30 every 12 months, which is split between the number of tenants in the property.
If your landlord or agent decides to submit a claim on the Reposit at end of tenancy, you will receive an email notifying you. You have 7 days from them initially submitting the claim to either agree or dispute.
If you agree, you simply pay the charge directly through our platform and we will ensure your Landlord/Agent is reimbursed within 48 hours of receiving your payment.
If you decide to dispute you will be given the opportunity to provide your counter argument and any proof through the Reposit platform. This will then be sent off to the third party adjudicator for their review. This service is free unless the adjudicator finds the claim to be wholly in the landlords favour. In these cases, a charge of £120 will be added to the balance you owe.
If you don’t agree with the charges raised, the case is sent to arbitration via a third party company with over ten years’ experience in dispute resolution working for the deposit schemes.
Evidence is collected from both parties (copies of the check-out report, inventory, photographic evidence etc.) and the arbiter aims to have a decision within 14 days. This decision is final and Reposit has no influence over this decision.
However, if you dispute the charges and the case if found wholly in favour of the landlord/agent you will also need to pay an additional £120 charge. This is to discourage anyone from disputing fair claims and wasting the landlord/letting agent/Reposit’s time (we haven’t had to charge anyone this yet). No additional charge is levied if the dispute is split between the landlord/agent and tenant.
Multiple tenants (up to 20 per property) can be added to a Reposit. They each pay their share of the total weekly rent for the property and remain jointly and severally liable for any deductions at the end of the tenancy.
With a HMO, each tenant simply has their own Reposit for their room at the address and pays their own fee of one week’s rent.
Check your agent would be happy to speak with us, send them our website and then email us with your agents details to hello@reposit.co.uk and we’ll get in touch with them.
After your first year, if you renew the contract or choose to stay in the same property on a rolling contract, you will be asked to pay a small top-up fee of £30 per tenant.
