If you need to relocate quickly due to personal reasons or a new job, you might be keen to move into a new rental property as soon as possible but it’s always wise to ask your letting agent a few key questions before signing your rental agreement.
What Does the Monthly Rent Include?
This one’s important, is the agreed monthly rent just to cover the rental of the property or are some bills and/or Wi-Fi included in the cost? Depending on your overall budget for rent and bills, this question can make or break whether you will want to move forward with the renting of a particular property. Always find out the costs and what’s included before you sign.
How Much Deposit do You Need?
Deposits can vary greatly depending on the landlord, the size of the property, the area it’s in or simply if the landlord has had a bad experience with tenants in the past. Some landlords require the amount of month’s rent on top of the first month as a deposit and to secure the property and some landlords could ask for more or less than this amount. Finding this out in the first instance will allow you to prepare for this cost in advance.
Is the Property Secure?
This question will cover two scenarios. The first one is the safety of you and your family whilst you are renting the property which is paramount and the second is that this can affect the cost of insurance should you wish to take out contents insurance on the property to cover your possessions. If the property isn’t sufficiently secure, not only can this pose a risk to you and your family but will also drive up a contents insurance premium.
Who Will be Managing the Property Day to Day?
It’s important to know who you will be dealing with in the day to day management of your property. Will the landlord be contacting you and carrying out inspections or will this be carried out by their agent? Who will you will be paying your deposit and ongoing rental payments to? Ultimately, who do you need to contact in an emergency or for repairs?
Who is Responsible for General Maintenance?
Who will look after any general maintenance and upkeep of the house, garden and appliances? Will this be your responsibility or will your landlord/their agent be available periodically to do this for you? Although the day to day general cleaning and tidying will fall to you as the tenant, will your landlord or agent carry out any necessary decorating or heavy garden maintenance?
We hope this week’s blog has helped if you are looking to rent a property and you aren’t sure what questions to ask. If you need some more help and advice around renting, buying or selling a property, our experts would love to discuss this in more detail with you. Contact us here.