GENERAL CONDITIONS OF MANAGEMENT
FOR RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES
ASSURED SHORTHOLD TENANCIES
Note all fees quoted on this page are
inclusive of VAT
Our charges for Collection and Management are as follows:
Monthly Rents: 9% on gross rental
The above charges cover the following services:
-
Collection of rent and/or any other
items to be collected.
-
General supervision of tenancies.
-
Payment of outgoings i.e. water rates,
insurance, repairs etc.
-
Employ builders to carry out repairs
for which the Client is responsible up to a cost of
£100 We can only give instructions without referring
to owner for such items as we consider to be essential
and/or required under the Health Act Regulations.
-
Keeping of accounts and submission of
a statement quarterly.
Payment of all outgoings is subject to the
owner's account being in credit.
FEES payable - see
this page
DEPOSITS
Definitions
-
Agent - An individual or company who
lets or manages property on behalf of its owner.
-
Deposit - A sum of money which a landlord
requires a Tenant to pay at the start of the tenancy,
and which will normally be returned to the Tenant at
the end of the tenancy. The money is security in case
the Tenant does not meet their obligations in connection
with their tenancy.
-
ICE - Independent Case Examiner
-
Landlord - A person or persons who
at any relevant time own, or have a formal interest
in, the premises that gives them the right to possession
of the premises.
-
Member - Is the person, firm or company
who holds the deposit under, and is a member of, The
TDS
-
Stakeholder - Any person or body who
holds the Deposit at any time from the moment it has
been paid by the Tenant until its allocation has been
agreed by the parties to the AST, determined by the
ADR process, or ordered by the court.
Under legislation brought in by the Government,
deposits paid by tenants on commencement of tenancies can
only be held either by an agent who is a member of the Tenancy
Deposit Scheme or alternatively paid into an authorised
company.
The Tenancy Deposit Scheme
We are members of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme,
which is administered by:
Tenancy Deposit Scheme
PO Box 1255
Hemel Hempstead
Herts
HP1 9GN
Web www.tds.gb.com
If we are instructed by you to hold the
deposit, we shall do so under the terms of the Tenancy Deposit
Scheme.
The Agent holds tenancy deposits as Stakeholder.
At the end of the tenancy covered by
the Tenancy Deposit Scheme
If there is no dispute we will keep any
amounts agreed as deductions where expenditure has been
incurred on behalf of the Landlord, or repay the whole or
the balance of the Deposit according to the conditions of
the Tenancy Agreement with the Landlord and the Tenant.
Payment of the Deposit will be made within 10 working days
of written consent from both parties.
If, after 20 working days following notification
of a dispute to the Agent/Member and reasonable attempts
have been made in that time to resolve any differences of
opinion, there remains an unresolved dispute between the
Landlord and the Tenant over the allocation of the Deposit
it will be submitted to the ICE for adjudication. All parties
agree to co-operate with any adjudication.
The statutory rights of either you/the Landlord
or the Tenant(s) to take legal action against the other
party remain unaffected.
It is not compulsory for the parties to
refer the dispute to the ICE for adjudication. The parties
may, if either party chooses to do so, seek the decision
of the Court. However, this process may take longer and
may incur further costs. Because it is a condition of the
Tenancy Agreement signed by both parties, judges may refer
the dispute back to the ICE for adjudication. If the parties
do agree that the dispute should be resolved by the ICE,
they must accept the decision of the ICE as final and binding.
If there is a dispute we must remit to
The Dispute Service Ltd the full deposit, less any amounts
already agreed by the parties and paid over to them. This
must be done with in 10 working days of being told that
a dispute has been registered whether or not you or we want
to contest it. Failure to do so will not delay the adjudication
but The Dispute Service Ltd will take appropriate action
to recover the deposit and discipline us.
We must co-operate with the ICE in the
adjudication of the dispute and follow any recommendations
concerning the method of the resolution of the dispute.
Incorrect Information
The Landlord warrants that all the information
he has provided to the Agent is correct to the best of his
knowledge and belief. In the event that the Landlord provides
incorrect information to the Agent which causes the Agent
to suffer loss or causes legal proceedings to be taken the
landlord agrees to reimburse and compensate the Agent for
all losses suffered.
The following clauses can be inserted if
the agent allows the landlord to hold the deposit outside
TDS
If you decide to hold the Deposit yourself
in relation to an Assured Shorthold Tenancy, we will transfer
it to you within 5
days of receiving it. You must then register it with another
Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme within a further 25 days
if the Tenancy is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy. If you fail
to do so the Tenant can take legal action against you in
the County Court. The Court can make an order stating that
you must pay the Deposit back to the Tenant or lodge it
with the custodial scheme which is known as the Deposit
Protection Service. In addition a further order will be
made requiring you to pay compensation to the Tenant of
between one and three times the amount of the Deposit.
If a landlord fails to meet the initial
requirement to protect the deposit, no Section 21 Notice
can be served until either the landlord returns the deposit
to the tenants in full or with such deductions as the tenant
agrees; or if the tenant has taken proceedings against the
landlord for non-protection and those proceedings have been
concluded, withdrawn or settled (for example, by the court
awarding damages being the return of the
deposit or a fine not more than three times the value of
the deposit).
If a landlord fails to serve Prescribed Information, (s)he
cannot serve Section 21 Notice until the Prescribed Information
has been served - but this can be more than 30 days after
receiving the deposit. This will not prevent a tenant from
issuing proceedings for late provision of the prescribed
information and seeking a penalty award.
Tenant's can make an application to a county
court for a penalty award even where the tenancy has ended,
and can do so for up to six years.
We have no liability for any loss suffered
if you fail to comply.
Fees for dealing with a dispute will be
charged on a quantum meruit basis subject to a minimum fee
of £720
REPAIRS
We need to be able to carry out day-to-day
repairs to your property without reference to you. Unless
you advise us to the contrary we will carry out repairs
costing up to £500 without reference. Where we consider
it appropriate, competitive estimates will be obtained.
REFURBISHMENTS
Where we undertake refurbishment of properties
on behalf of Clients prior to re-letting or sale we will
charge fees on the net cost of the works of 15%
In addition, in order to comply with legislation
produced by the Health & Safety Executive, documentation
needs to be produced in order to comply with the Construction
(Design & Management) Regulations 2015. We will arrange
for an appropriate contractor to undertake the CDM. Their
charges will be passed on to you. Our fees for the administration
will be charged at £96
In order to comply with Health & Safety
Legislation an Asbestos Survey of the property to be refurbished
has to be undertaken by suitably qualified inspector who
surveys the property, taking samples, if necessary, for
analysis and reporting back on his findings and method of
disposal of asbestos items found.
We will instruct an appropriate person to undertake this
survey on your behalf. Our fees for organising this will
be £90 The asbestos survey will cost between £420
- £540 plus the cost of any laboratory analysis tests.
ABORTIVE FEES
Once estimates for the refurbishment have
been submitted to you, if you then decide not to proceed
in accordance with the estimates, we will charge abortive
fees of 90% of the fees chargeable based on the estimates
GAS APPLIANCES
Where a residential tenanted property has
gas installed there is a legal requirement on landlords
to have a gas safety check undertaken at least once in every
twelve month period and any gas appliances belonging to
the landlord must be included in the gas safety check and
serviced.
We will arrange for our nominated CORGI
registered contractors to undertake gas safety check and
issue certification and where appropriate for landlords
appliances such as boilers, water heaters, gas fires to
be placed on a maintenance contract with them.
We have negotiated charges for this with
our nominated CORGI registered contractors substantially
less than charges raised by British Gas and the contractors
charges for these services will be debited automatically
from the rent account.
Our charges for the administration, organisation
and recording the Gas Safety Certificates is £96 per
tenancy.
On granting of a new tenancy of a property
an up to date Gas Safety Certificate must be produced to
the tenant and therefore in these circumstances more than
one gas safety check may be undertaken in any twelve month
period resulting in additional costs being raised.
ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES
Landlords must ensure that all electrical
appliances and the electrical supply is safe. From 1st January
1997 all new appliances must carry a "CE" mark
and all newly installed plugs and sockets must comply with
regulations.
Tenants can ask for confirmation that inspections
have taken place. Although there is no specific time scale
for inspections, we would recommend that regular inspections
are undertaken, especially in shared accommodation, every
5 years. We can arrange for our nominated electricians to
undertake these tests on your behalf. Our administration
fees for organising and recording the tests will be £96
ENERGY PERFORMANCE CERTIFICATES
Under Government legislation, all lettings
or re-lettings after the 1st October 2008 must be supported
by an Energy Performance Certificate a copy of which we
must give to the tenant prior to completion of the letting.
If you do not already have an Energy Performance Certificate
for the property that we are to manage we will employ a
company to produce the Certificate. At present, we are using
a company called Surrey Energy and their charges are £55
(no VAT). The Energy Performance Certificate is valid for
ten years from the date of issue.
Our charges for the administration, organisation
and recording of Energy Performance Certificates is £96
per tenancy.
OVERSEAS CLIENTS
Under the provisions of the Finance Acts,
with effect from the 6th April 1996, unless and until specific
action is taken by landlords and agreed by the Financial
Intermediaries and Claims Office of the Inland Revenue,
we will be obliged to submit a return and pay tax at currently
at 20% on the net assessable rental income to the Inland
Revenue within 30 days of the end of each three month quarter.
The quarter dates are the last day of June, September, December
and March, which coincide approximately with our quarterly
dates. This will happen
unless we receive notification from the Inland Revenue that
we do not have to make a tax deduction from your income.
In order to obtain this clearance, you have to take the
following action.
In order to obtain the Inland Revenue's
agreement that you can receive income from property without
deduction of tax, you must complete form NRL1 and send it
to the Inland Revenue Financial Intermediaries and Claims
Office at Bootle, whose address is shown on the back page
of the form. If you wish we can supply you with a photocopy
of Inland Revenue leaflet number 1R140 relating to the obligation
of non-resident landlords, their agents and tenants, which
may help you to understand the situation.
If you intend to apply to receive rental
income with no tax deducted, it would be appreciated if
you could let us have a copy of your application form for
our records and we can also then chase up the appropriate
department, if they have not responded by the time we deal
with the first quarter's rents.
TERMINATION OF MANAGEMENT
One quarter's notice of termination on either
side is required except in the case where we sell the property
on behalf of the owner. Where the property is sold to the
tenant originally introduced by this firm, the vendor will
be liable for our commission of 1.8% of the sale price
INSURANCE
Unless otherwise agreed, it will be a condition
of our management that the insurance of the property and
the contents, if appropriate, is through St. Giles Finance
& Insurance Services Ltd., St Giles are our nominated
insurance brokers, including full property owner's liability
to include Public Occupiers Liability. These brokers pay
us a fee for reviewing the terms of the insurance on an
annual basis, checking the renewal papers, organising and
collecting the premiums on their behalf and accounting to
them and overseeing any claims with the loss adjusters.
The fee that we are paid for the work we do on insurance
is retained by us in order to keep our costs down. However,
under FSA rules and the RICS Designated Professional Body
Scheme we are required to advise you on an annual basis
of any money earned by general insurance mediation activity
in relation to your property which we will of course do.
INTEREST
In order to keep our charges down to a minimum
we keep a substantial amount of Clients money on deposit
without obligation to pay any interest earned to clients.
Under the RICS regulations, if Clients money is placed on
deposit, strictly speaking, any interest earned belongs
to the clients unless an individual agrees to waive the
right to interest. The money is on immediate call if required.
In the past all our clients have agreed
to waive the right to interest on any clients money on deposit
with a view to keeping their costs down and we trust that
you will continue to agree to this. If you do not, this
will involve us in additional administration work and as
a result we will have to increase our commission on collection
by 6% over and above the figures mentioned above.
We shall be obliged if you will kindly confirm
your instructions by deleting one of the following alternatives.
* I HEREBY agree to waive any right to interest
on moneys held by John G Dean & Co. on my behalf.
* I HEREBY confirm that I am not prepared
to waive my rights to interest and understand that the commission
on collection will in these circumstances be at the rate
of 6% above normal
* (Please delete one of the above alternatives.)
BANKING
All rents and other moneys collected are
banked at Nat West Bank PLC, 128 Balham High Road, London,
SW12 9AE in the name of John G Dean & Co. Clients Account.
MONEY LAUNDERING REGULATIONS 2003 AS
UPDATED
Under the above Legislation, we are required
to obtain proof of identity without which we are regrettably
not permitted to commence any work for you.
In the case of an individual or individuals
who own the property, please provide us with either the
original or a certified photocopy of each person's passport
and utility bill or bank statement addressed to each person's
home address. If you do not have a passport, please supply
a copy of driving licence or similar document which bears
your name and signature. Copies must be certified by either
a solicitor, Banks officer or another professional person.
In the case of a company, please supply
a certified copy of the company's Certificate of Incorporation.
COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE
As required by the RICS we have a formal
complaints handling procedure, details of which will be
provided upon request.
PROVISION OF SERVICE REGULATIONS 2009
We comply with the above regulation by displaying
the required details of our Professional Indemnity Insurance
in each of our offices.
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