Thank you for your kind enquiry concerning the proposed letting of your property.

The services we provide along with costs are listed below. Please do not hesitate in contacting the office should you wish further clarification on any of the following matters :

1. We shall endeavour to find a tenant suitable to your requirements and negotiate the rent to be as close as possible to an agreed figure per calendar month (payable in advance).

2. We shall advertise your property, at our expense, in the relevant newspapers and periodicals, as we see fit.

3. We shall take up references for the tenant to substantiate their application and if asked for more than happy to submit these for your consideration and approval.

4. A basic inventory and comment on condition of fixtures to be included in our Tenancy Agreement.

5. We will check through the inventory upon termination of the managed tenancy.

6. We will arrange for an Energy Performance Certificate to be undertaken, at a Cost of £78.00.

7. We will prepare a Tenancy Agreement for a charge to the Landlord of £62.50 plus VAT. Please let the office know as soon as possible if you wish to undertake your own legal agreement.

8. As greater security to you, the landlord, we recommend a new tenancy is entered into following Each 6 month period. This gives the opportunity of reviewing the rent in an upward manner The cost to the landlord being £65 + VAT, which includes property inspection, report and condition letter. This is a matter that will automatically take place. Unless informed accordingly not be undertaken.

9. We shall obtain from the tenant at the commencement of the tenancy a deposit (usually amounting to the one month’s rent) to be held against damage to furniture, fixtures and fittings, and non – payment of rent. This to be held in our clients account unless otherwise notified. Any interest earned will be retained by our firm.

10. Under the provisions of section 78 of the Taxes Management Act 1970, should a landlord not be resident in the UK, we will have to hold back a percentage of the net rental derived from letting the above property equivalent to the basic rate of tax.

11. We will arrange if requested to assist for the transfer of gas and electricity services into the tenant’ name for the duration of the tenancy, and if asked for arrange for their return to the landlord’s name at the end of the tenancy. These services along with telephone can only be arranged by the ingoing tenant as the person responsible for the payment of the account. We find the relevant utilities will not accept information/request or action from a third party

12. For supplying Landlord Year End Tax Statement (April – April) £25.00 inclusive of VAT

We are currently working in conjunction with Legal 4 Landlords, who can provide a Rental and Legal Expenses Guarantee, which will cover you against your tenants defaulting, or failing to pay the rent and cover legal costs. A Legal 4 Landlords Full Tenant Reference must be passed before a Rent and Legal Expenses Guarantee can be purchased, which is included in the following costs

6 month policy rent up to £1000 pcm £85
12 month policy rent up to £1000 pcm £125
6 month policy rent over £1000 pcm £95
12 month policy rent over £1000 pcm £135

Legal 4 Landlords are the UK’s largest specialists in rent recovery and tenant evictions.

Pre-court action letter £25 plus VAT
Rent recovery from debtor £99 plus VAT
Serve tenant notice £99 plus VAT
Court proceedings and hearing £499 plus VAT
Bailiff instruction £165 plus VAT

We confirm that, where applicable, a landlord must obtain permission to let the property from all interested parties, ie freeholders and mortgagees, before a tenant is found.

Under the business name Act Andrew Cowen Estate Agent is a partnership between William Duncan and Sarah Louise Cowen and can be contacted at 1 Harcourt Place, Scarborough, North Yorkshire YO11 2EP.

Under the Business Name Act, the name of Walker Landray Ltd is a Limited Company with the Directors being William Duncan and Sarah Louise Cowen and can be contacted at 1 Harcourt Place, Scarborough, North Yorkshire YO11 2EP.

Under the Business Name Act, Capitol Property Services is a trading name of Walker Landray and can be contacted at the above address.

We advise that a landlord ensures to the best of his ability that the property is structurally sound, and that the contents and all machines are in good working order. We further suggest that overall it is better, where possible, to leave the property unfurnished, in very general terms our experience shows it makes no real difference to the rental value.

We also ask that if there are any expensive items of furniture or other valuables including items of sentimental value left in the property, the landlord should inform this office in writing of their estimated value and give a brief description for inventory purposes. We suggest that items over say £300 in value are mentioned or removed.

Some tenants are in receipt of Housing Benefit. Can I draw your attention to the following :

It is important that you understand that in accepting housing benefit and any future rental payment on behalf of a tenant, you agree to repay to Scarborough Borough Council any overpayment of benefit which may occur in circumstances where it is considered reasonable for you to have been aware of the change (eg. A vacation/change of address or room) and advised the Benefit Office of. Please note you must inform them of any changes which may affect your tenant’s entitlement to Benefit. Should the tenant incorrectly, or fraudulently claim benefit, any subsequent or overpayment from the Borough Council is ultimately the Landlord’s responsibility for repayment to the Borough Council.

Section 16 of the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997 allows the authority to make deductions from the amount of Housing Benefit paid to a landlord where the landlord has been overpaid in respect of another tenant(s). Any amount recovered from another tenant (s)’ benefit payments cannot put that tenant into arrears. It must be assumed that the ‘blameless’ tenant’s Housing Benefit has been paid. Separate notifications will be issued if recovery is to be sought by this method.

As from 14th January 2005 new regulations for general insurance have become effective. We are, therefore, unable to provide advice, recommendations or information regarding an insurance product or policy other than that of our own block policy in the name of Andrew Cowen, contents and buildings policy no 24152102CHC with Norwich Union. If, however, other information was required and quotes, we would pass your details on to the broker. For the avoidance of doubt please do not hesitate in asking further questions.

Under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations, 1994, Regulation 35 of the above code requires that landlords who provide gas appliances must have a check carried out on these appliances at least once in every 12-month period by a Corgi-registered gas installer. This is the landlord’s responsibility.

6th April 2007 legislation was introduced for the holding of bonds, all landlords in England and Wales renting out property under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy must sign up to a Compulsory Tenancy Deposit Scheme.

All bonds will be registered with My Deposits, which is a Non-Custodial Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme operated by Tenancy Deposit Solutions Limited. This scheme provides an independent and alternative dispute resolution service. If there is a dispute between the Landlord/Agent and the Tenant about the return of the deposit, the Alternative Dispute Resolution can be used. This service will cost the landlord £40 plus VAT.

For landlord’s who are undertaking the management of the property themselves, we can register the bond with My Deposits. If not, you have a legal obligation to deposit the bond with a legally recognised scheme. For the transfer of a bond this will cost the landlord £40 plus VAT.

If you don’t sign up to either scheme, you could find yourself unable to regain possession of your property and be fined three times the deposit.

Andrew Cowen Estate Agent is a member of the OEA Scheme and subscribe to the OEA Code of Practice.

It must be borne in mind that should you at some stage have to serve notice on the tenant to vacate due to non-payment of rent or similar, the law is such that only the landlord, agent or solicitor can commence legal proceedings. Certainly we as letting agents are not abstaining from our responsibility but we do suggest that correct advice is sought and often a solicitor is a sensible option. Problems of this nature are very rare – please do not be frightened by this.

Our goal is to give excellent service to all our customers but we recognise that things do go wrong occasionally. We take all complaints we receive seriously and aim to resolve all our customers’ problems promptly. To ensure that we provide the kind of service you expect we welcome your feedback in writing. We will record and analyse your comments to make sure we continually improve the service we offer.

For the introduction of a suitable tenant our one off letting charge is £250 + VAT.

Full management service 12 ½ % + VAT on monthly rents collected - no one off letting charge.

This management service includes:

Inspecting the property periodically and if requested sending the landlord a report of the inspection.
Dealing with any problems which may arise (when asked to do so) and arranging so far as is possible for all necessary repairs and building maintenance to be carried out efficiently and at a reasonable price and charging these to the landlord or the tenant as deemed fair.
Collecting the rent and submitting a monthly statement of account along.

If you have found your own tenant and require us to manage the property we charge 10% plus VAT on monthly rents collected and account on a monthly basis.

An Email address or Fax number would be extremely useful and this would be a preferred method of contact. If you would like any further information, then please do not hesitate to contact us.

“Andrew Cowen Estate Agent is an introducer to Peace Of Mind Financial Solutions Limited which is an Appointed Representative of Personal touch Financial Services Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority”.