A Guide to Landlord Property Inspections

Landlord Property Inspections can be a real chore, you may not now how to conduct one or just don’t have the time. Equally, tenants are not always available at a time that would suit you. However, property inspections are essential to protect both parties.

Landlord Property Inspections will protect the value of your investment and ensure the property is safe, therefore providing peace of mind to you and your tenants.

Property Inspections & Services we offer:

Cardwells, established in 1982, are experts in helping landlords make the most from their property to let. We have branches in Bolton & Bury with letting agents ready to provide you with a great service when letting your property. Here is our list of the property inspections and services we offer:

Negotiate terms of lease renewal:

Cardwells would discuss with you, the Landlord, any renewal terms you would like in your next Lease.  For example, we would inform you of any rent increase we feel would be applicable to your type of property, the term of the Lease etc. We would then negotiate with your tenants until an agreement has been reached with both parties.

Cardwells will confirm in writing the terms of the agreement to all parties. This would be at a cost to the Landlord of £120.00 (£100.00 plus VAT).

Drawing up a residential AST:

Cardwells will discuss with you, the Landlord, the terms of the Lease. We will then draw up an Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement (AST). We will email the draft lease to all parties for approval. Cardwells will then sign the Lease on the Landlord’s behalf (if requested) and arrange for the tenants to sign.

A copy of the signed lease will then be given to the tenant(s) and you, the Landlord.

Schedule of condition report for check in:

Cardwells would visit the property and compile an Expert Witness Report with 100+ photographs. This would detail all rooms plus the exterior of the property showing the condition of the décor, cleanliness of the rooms including carpets, white goods etc and all items would be photographed. A detailed video report will also be supplied to support the photographic report.

This would be recommended to any Landlord so they have photographic and descriptive evidence of the condition of the whole property on the handover to their tenants and would be vital to have should there be any disputes when the tenancy ends or, indeed, during the term of the tenancy.

The cost of this will be £150.00 (£125.00 plus VAT).

Schedule of condition report for check out:

This Expert Witness report can also be requested to be carried out by Cardwells when your tenant vacates. As listed for the check in, this would be a photographic and descriptive detailed report including 100+ photographs and would itemise any damage to the interior or exterior of the property along with a report on the cleanliness of the property including carpets, white goods, oven etc. A detailed video report will also be supplied to support the photographic report.

This report would be extremely useful to have, along with the check in report, to claim any monies from the deposit etc for any issues on this report at the end of the tenancy. The cost of this would be £150.00 (£125.00 plus VAT).

Statutory Declaration signed by a Solicitor:

Should the unfortunate instance arrive whereby the deposit goes into dispute and your tenant does not agree amicably to release part/all of their deposit to you for damages, cleaning etc then you will be required to have a Statutory Declaration signed by a Solicitor. Cardwells can arrange this for you at a cost of £120.00 (£100.00 plus VAT).

If you require Cardwells to attend court on your behalf then our costs would be £90.00 (£75.00 + vat) per hour.

Periodic Inspections:

Cardwells can carry out these interim reports on your behalf. We would arrange an appointment with your tenant and compile a photographic report including our observation of any damages, issues etc. This report would be emailed to you, so you can see the current condition of your property. Cardwells would highly recommend periodic inspections to be carried out to avoid any damage to the property not reported by the tenant for example small leaks, rainwater ingress, damage from pets etc.

The cost of the inspection is £60.00 (£50.00 + VAT).

Utility Notification:

Just before your tenancy commences, Cardwells would visit your property to take photographs of meters including gas, electricity and water meters where appropriate. We would then write to all utility companies, ie. gas, electricity, water, council tax and inform them of the new tenancy details and start date of the lease. All meter readings would be forwarded to the appropriate companies including the photographs of the readings.

All utility companies would then have official notification of the new occupier(s) and will amend their records accordingly.

This would be at a cost of £60.00 (£50.00 plus VAT).

Issuing of Legal notices:

This can only be offered to our clients who employ Cardwells for our Tenant Find with Rent Collection Service (Please note that this is already included in our Fully Managed Service). Cardwells would issue a Section 8 notice in respect of rent arrears when appropriate and would serve this notice both by email and hand delivery. Photographic evidence of the hand delivery would also be taken for proof of service. If, for any reason, a lease is not renewed with your current tenant(s) then Cardwells would issue the appropriate Section 21 notice which would be required to terminate your current lease.

Cardwells would then be able to provide you, the Landlord, with the evidence of the serving of the initial documents which are required for the start of the tenancy and of course the evidence of the notice served as appropriate.

The cost of this would be £60.00 (£50.00 plus VAT).

Insurance Policies:

Cardwells can offer our Landlords Rent Protection Insurance with Nil excess. We would forward all details of the new tenancy to the Insurer along with confirmation of credit/reference results, as required. This policy can be arranged for 6 month or 12 month tenancies. This policy will cover rent arrears and the legal costs of the eviction of the tenant. Cardwells would always recommend Landlords to have this in place as no one knows what the future holds.

Cardwells can arrange these policies for the following costs: 6 month policy – £95.00 / 12 month policy – £175.00 or £275.00 if the rent is above £2,000 pcm.

If you wish, Cardwells can also organise for the Insurer to contact you to discuss other Landlord and building insurances.

EPC:

A valid Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is required to be in place for your property in order to be advertised on the market. An EPC gives a property an energy efficiency rating from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient) and is valid for 10 years. The EPC Regulations state that it is the property owner’s responsibility to supply potential buyers or tenants with a valid EPC at the outset of any transaction.

Cardwells can arrange this for you at a cost of £75.00 (which can be payable direct to the EPC assessor).

Gas Safety Certificate:

In order for a tenant to move into your property you will be required to have a current Gas Safety Certificate, this certificate has to be renewed annually.

This documentation is required by law as there is a legal duty on owners of residential properties to have annual safety checks carried out on the gas appliances they provide for their tenants’ use. These safety checks must be carried out by a suitably qualified and registered engineer and the results are recorded in detail on a Landlord Gas Safety Record form with copies provided to the landlord/landlords agent and tenant.

Cardwells can arrange this at a cost of £60.00.

Electrical Safety Certificate:

Landlords are required by law to ensure that the electrical installation in a rented property is safe when tenants moves in and maintained in a safe condition throughout its duration.

Cardwells would be happy to arrange a quote for an electrical safety certificate for you, at your request, which will undertaken by a suitably qualified electrician.

Cardwells are experts in helping landlords make the most from their property to let. We have branches in Bolton & Bury with letting agents ready to provide you with a great service when letting your property.