The following terms of contract apply to all letting and factoring services which we provide. All headings are for ease of reference only.
1. Definitions
“We” and “Us” refers to Annan Lettings, 229 Portobello High Street, EH15 2AN or any successor business
“You” refers to any person instructing Us to act as letting agents and/or letting factors
“the property” refers to any property which You instruct us to market for let or to factor with existing tenants.
“writing” means a signed physical document, an electronic document in terms of the Requirements of Writing (Scotland) Act 1995 as amended, or an email sent to Us from an email address which you have notified Us as being your own email address.
Any reference to the masculine shall include the feminine and vice versa. Any reference to the singular shall include the plural and vice versa.
2. Sole Letting Agents
We are to be the sole letting agents.
3. Services
As standard, We will carry out the following services for You:
(a) Prepare property details and then market the property on the open market to find prospective tenants.
(b) Confirm that You and the property are duly registered under the Landlord Registration scheme. If You are not registered, You will submit a registration application.
(c) Arranging viewings of the property and accompanying prospective tenants when the property is vacant unless You prefer to undertake any viewings.
(d) Informal information gathering of prospective tenants.
(e) Take up financial, personal and/or employer references (including obtaining parental guarantee, if appropriate) from prospective tenants.
(f) Draw up (or have drawn up) the written lease and other notices required in accordance with the relevant legislation, and serving the notices on a prospective tenant prior to signing of the lease.
(g) Take the tenants deposit and lodge this in an approved Deposit Scheme.
(h) Prepare a detailed Inventory and Inspection Report of Contents.
(i) Notify the start and end of tenancies to the Local Authority for Council Tax purposes.
(j) Factor the property, to include: collecting rent and remitting net balances to You; dealing with tenant enquries; instructing repairs; providing an account to You annually each March or on the termination of a lease; carrying out annual or final inspections of property. If You advise us that You are a member of the Scottish Association of Landlords, we will ensure that this factoring is in accordance with the Scottish Core Standards for Accredited Landlords. Otherwise we will use these Standards, being accepted best practice, as the basis of our service.
(l) Provide a monthly Statement of Account and Expenditure to You by email.
(m) Forward net rental payments to your nominated Bank/Building Society account.
(n) Inform You of non-payment of rent.
(o) Inspect the property and advise You of any obvious defects or damage identified by Us during such inspection.
(p) Organise, where necessary, repairs, of whatever type, and routine maintenance work up to the value of £200 + VAT on repairs without reference to You.
(q) Deal with tenants enquiries during the period of the lease.
(r) Dealing with any extensions or alterations to the lease.
(s) Serving Notice to Quit.
(t) Carry out final inspection of the property on the termination of the lease, assessing any dilapidation or damage and request a deduction from the deposit scheme on the Landlords behalf if any damage has occurred. (fair wear and tear expected). If there is a dispute about the deposit return, you will be liable for any legal fees whether or not these can be recovered from the tenant.
(u) To inform the Local Authority, government bodies, or any other agency entitled to require information about the terms of the lease and the conduct of You and Your tenant under the lease.
(v) On Your request, to instruct a Solicitor on Your behalf against any tenant who fails to make payment or to eject any tenant who refuses to vacate at the termination of lease. You will be liable for any legal fees whether or not these can be recovered from the tenant.
Any additional services will require to be agreed between You and us in writing. We shall notify You of the additional fee for these services when accepting such instructions from You.
4. Fees & Commission Rate
Our fee for our standard services is calculated as (a) Our marketing and initial set up fee will be £195 plus VAT and on sourcing a new tenant/s in the future this will be reduced to £125 plus VAT and (b) 10 % of the gross monthly rent plus VAT as management fee, and (c) if the lease is terminated before 6 months from commencing, an administration fee of £250 plus VAT.
Any additional services may be subject to an additional fee.
If a tenant buys the property from you, you will pay us an introduction fee of 1% of the purchase price plus VAT.
5. Outlays & Expenses
The above fees do not cover: the cost of the advertising out with our offices; Landlord Registration fee; any tax due on the property or lease documents; the cost of any repairs; or the legal fees or other costs of any court proceedings should these be necessary. We will require payment to account before advertising or other outlays are incurred.
6. Consumer Contracts Regulations
Under The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, if you are a “Consumer” as defined, and You give Your initial instructions to us by E-mail, telephone or any other method except face to face within our premises, You may have the right to withdraw your instructions, without charge, within 14 working days of giving Your instructions.
If these regulations apply, we are not permitted to start any work for You within this 14 day period unless You specifically instruct Us to do so. If you do instruct Us to do so, you will lose your right to cancel without charge and will be liable to a fee on cancellation.
7. Withdrawal from market or Cancellation of instructions
If You instruct us to act for You for any property and then withdraw before a tenant is found, we will charge You an administration fee of £250 plus VAT.
After a tenant has been found (whether or not a tenancy is in place), you may withdraw from this contract on giving two months notice; we shall be entitled to the higher of (i) our Management Fee for the period we are acting as Letting Factors or (ii) £250 plus VAT.
8. Your Obligations as Landlord
As Landlord You are responsible for:
(a) Obtaining consent to let the property from any mortgage lender having a Standard Security over the property.
(b) Registration with the Local Authority as a Landlord under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2004. You must not allow the Landlord registration to lapse so long as the lease is running.
(c) Ensuring that there is an Energy Performance Certificate less than ten years old for the property; you must provide a copy to Us prior to the property being marketed for let.
(d) Ensuring that the property is fitted with hard wired fire alarms and/or smoke detectors and that these are regularly tested.
(e) Keeping the property fully insured for buildings insurance, and also for such contents and Landlords insurance as You may require. You will also deal with any claims being made on such insurance.
(f) Ensuring that any furnishings left in the property by You comply with the Fire and Furnishing Fire Safety Amendment Regulations 1993 (or any subsequent regulations).
(g) Paying for all telephone and broadband charges for the property at any time when there is no tenant (which may include disconnection and re-connection charges).
(h) Ensuring that any gas system is certified by an appropriately qualified gas inspector, and that all electrical systems are inspected by a qualified electrician every year. You will provide copies of such inspection certificates to the Agent.
If You do not carry out these essential obligations, We will not be responsible for any loss caused to You due to your failure. If You want us to carry out any of these obligations on your behalf, this must be agreed separately in writing, and We may charge a fee for such additional services.
9. Authorisation to Sign as Agent
You authorise Us to sign a written Private Residential Tenancy (PRT) (as defined by the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland Act 2016) lease over the property as agent on your behalf. The lease will include provisions:
(a) that the tenants to pay the rent monthly to Annan Lettings Clients account;
(b) that a deposit equal to at least one months rent will be paid by the tenant, which will be held by an appropriate government scheme or such other statutory deposit scheme as We shall choose; and that in the event of a claim for damages against the deposit this will be dealt with under the terms of the statutory scheme;
together with such additional provisions as We shall deem prudent, or that You shall request Us in writing to include.
10. Advertising
Advertising will be arranged according to Your instructions. We will either discuss particular advertisements with You or agree an advertising budget within which we can advertise at our discretion. You are responsible for all advertising outlays.
11. Limitation of Liability
Without prejudice to the specification of services above, We will not be responsible or liable for:
(a) Obtaining any letting consent for Your property from any heritable creditor (mortgage lender).
(b) Confirming that You have legal title to the property. By instructing us to act You are declaring that You are the legal owner or otherwise entitled by law to let the property, and if this is not the case You may be committing a criminal offence.
(c)Any fraudulent or inaccurate references supplied to us by prospective tenants, unless it should have been self evident from the face of such reference that this was the case.
(d) Checking the immigration status of any prospective tenant. If their existing address or the references provided are from outwith the EEA or Switzerland, we will forward copies of their documents to You to allow You to deal with this.
(e) Any failure by a tenant to comply with the terms of their lease.
(f) Any delay by banks to put You in funds after our instructions to transfer funds to You.
(g) Any defect or failure by third parties, including service providers or tradesmen, in the standards of work carried out for You or to the property.
(h) The security of any communications between You and Us by email. If you provide us with an email address, we will assume that you have no objection to us communicating with you by un-encrypted E-mail unless you tell us otherwise in writing.
(i) Reporting income from your lets to HMRC for the purposes of your income tax liability; if we receive a request for information from HMRC about funds forwarded to you, we will provide this to them.
12. Data Protection Statement
We are a “Data Controller” under the Data Protection Act 1998 will use personal data supplied by You for the purposes of providing the services which you have requested. We will hold all personal data provided by you securely with appropriate technical and organisational measures in place to prevent the unauthorised or unlawful processing of your personal information, and accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, your personal information. We shall not pass this personal data to third parties except as stated above or where required by law.
