Being a tenant with Zone Lettings
Securing a Property
Once you have seen a property you like with us, how do you secure it?
If you wish to go ahead and rent the property that you have seen, you will need register with us and pay a holding deposit for the property, which will be the equivalent of one week’s rent.
Before we can accept you as a tenant, you will need to provide some information to us and to our 3rd party referencing provider, so that we can verify who you are, whether you are legally allowed to rent in England and if you can afford to pay the rent for the property.
Your holding deposit is not refundable if you fail to take up the tenancy and pull out during the referencing process, or if you do not pass the referencing process due to you providing false information. However, you will be refunded in full if the landlord decides not to let the property to you.
If you do take up the tenancy, your holding deposit will be deducted from your full security deposit for the property.
The referencing checks include:
- Credit rating
- Affordability checks
- Evidence of your Income
- Employer References
- Legal Right-to-Rent checks
- Anti-Money Laundering (if applicable)
You are likely to need to provide the following information and documentation:
- Last 3 months’ bank statements
- Your Photo ID (passport or driving license)
- Last 3 months’ payslips
- Employer’s name and contact details
- Two utility bills dated within the last 3 months
- Proof of Right-to-Rent documents (Passports or Visas)
- Previous landlord names and addresses for the last 3 years
Once you have completed the referencing checks
We will inform you as soon as you have passed the referencing checks with our 3rd party supplier. We will now be able to prepare your brand new Assured Periodic Tenancy (APT) for you to check and sign. At this point we will also need you to pay for the balance of your security deposit and you’ll need to make sure you are ready to pay your first months rent before your tenancy starts.
The security deposit for the property can be up to 5 weeks’ rent (less the holding deposit already retained). This security deposit will be registered in a Tenant Deposit Scheme. This protects your deposit and ensures its return to you at the end of your tenancy, less any agreed deductions for damage or owed rent. The specific deposit scheme being used will be listed in your APT.
Check-in
Once your tenancy agreement has been signed and you have paid your security deposit and first month’s rent, we will arrange to meet you at the property to check you in on the first day of your tenancy and hand over the keys to the property.
We will go through the check-in inventory with you, show you where things are such as the water stopcock, electricity trip switches, boiler and heating control manuals, as well as providing you with the required gas and electric safety certification, EPC and test the smoke and CO2 alarms.
We will also provide you with all of our contact details, including emergency numbers, and maintenance reporting procedure.
Schedule of additional fees for tenants
Lost keys £14.50 per key* (Some security keys will cost significantly more and we will always disclose the exact cost)
Holding deposit – 1 weeks’ rent
Security Deposit – maximum 5 weeks’ rent
£65 for a Variation of contract. Any required changes to the APT tenancy agreement on your behalf
£180 for any change of sharer (If your have multiple tenants on your contract and want to change one before or during the tenancy)
If you want to leave the APT without serving notice, you would have to pay for the Tenant find cost and pay the rent until move-in date of new tenant.
