Tenancy agreement, a few points to check

nero120

nero120

nero120

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Hey guys,

just about to move into a new flat and so I'm going through the tenancy agreement before I sign. A few points have stood out to me as being a bit strange so I thought I'd check with you guys first:

- "The tenant shall pay at the end of the tenancy £95 in respect of the checking of the inventory" Hmm, I think it's a bit cheeky to expect me to pay them to check their inventory! Is this normal?

- "Not to hold or conduct any social gathering..." WTF?! Is this reasonable? Of course I will have friends round, should I ignore this or raise it as an issue?

- "The Tenant should insure the premises and the fixtures and fittings to their full value with some insurance company of repute normally covered by a hourseholder's comprehensive policy" Er, I don't intend to insure the property, only my contents. This seems a tab unreasonable to me. Thoughts?

For info, it's a one bed flat on the first floor of a modern build near to old street station. It's pricey, so I guess that's why the contract seems so tight.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! :)
 
Sounds a bit weird but then again i have never looks for places in London, maybe its the norm down there :p

I find it odd how they want YOU to have buildings insurance... i would have thought they would have it anyway to be able to have a mortgage on it or whatever. Is it not insured right now? i would ask some questions about that certainly.
 
1 and 3 are a bit cheeky, I'd ask for clarification the 3rd point as that seems pretty unusual in my experience.

2 just ignore.
 
i would also check the property with the estate agent and be really picky about things like hole's in wall's.the kitchen as they always pick up on the kitchen,just try to find anything wrong with the flat or they will say it's you at the end of the tenancy.
 
Take photos with date stamps on before you move any furniture in. Specifically any dirty carpets, marks on walls etc etc.
 
Not to sure about paying them to do an inventory check, i thought that was their role on making sure everything was working fine in your flat, otherwise they'll charge you for anything that gets broken etc.

I'll hinder a guess at the "Social gathering" and say they don't want you hosting parties there. A few friends round and some loud music on the odd occasion they can't really complain about. It's more of a being respectful to your other neighbours thing.

As for the insurance on fixtures and fittings within the flat, I've really no idea. I would have thought the company would have had insurance on the building themselves. As you don't own the building just your own personal items.
 
We had to take insurance on the building in addition to our contents too; it's more about covering yourself for any major damage you might do rather than having to claim for any repairs the landlord should be attending to. For example if you happen to majorly damage a wall, flood the place, set it on fire and whatnot. Better to have insurance to claim on than 'owe' them a few tens of thousands for the repairs. :p
 
Don't forget that a tenancy agreement is entirely up for negotiation until you sign it. We cross half the clauses out in ours because they were totally unreasonable - was happily accepted by the landlord.

If you're feeling really cheeky, add your own clauses in that charge the landlord £300 as an administration fee every time you pay the rent.
 
I have always had to pay a cleaning and inventory charge in every property I have ever rented, its completely normal, if not highly frustrating.
 
Thanks guys, that's really helpful. I'll raise all the points with the agent and see what they say.

Spring's here, yey! :D
 
Looks like some dodgy agency, I'd be very careful with anything you sign with them and take pictures of the place and make in writing even the smallest imperfections/damages you can find.

Good luck anyway :)
 
You only need to take out contents insurance, the owner should have buildings insurance.

Tell them that charge is unfair and unjust. Typical crap.

I went through arbitration with mydeposits and got eberything backthey tried to steal from us, including the fee for the checkout inventory written into the contract. It did help that I produced a 50 page dossier with dated pics and explanations and they produced nothing as they had nothing and were just trying to scam me.

Make sure you get loads of dated pics of everything the moment you move in. This is important and forget about getting all giddy moving everything in. They will try and screw you at the end so make sure you are covered. Done what I have had to do a couple of times now and have become quite good at it, but as said previously they WILL try and screw you!!!!!!!!!!
 
seems a bit ridiculous that they'd ask for buildings insurance considering 99% of the time you don't get buildings insurance for a flat even if you buy it (it's insured by the freeholder, and usually charged within the service charge)
 
growse said:
If you're feeling really cheeky, add your own clauses in that charge the landlord £300 as an administration fee every time you pay the rent.
Click to expand...

Hahahaha that is genius!

-Ad- said:
Done what I have had to do a couple of times now and have become quite good at it, but as said previously they WILL try and screw you!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Indeed they will, every house I have rented at the end they have tried to screw me over. The last one I got done royally over due to not taking pics of the filthy carpet the day I moved in and got stung for £80 for it to be steam cleaned.
 
anticonscience said:
Indeed they will, every house I have rented at the end they have tried to screw me over. The last one I got done royally over due to not taking pics of the filthy carpet the day I moved in and got stung for £80 for it to be steam cleaned.
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I got screwed in every student house I lived in, then had two flats on my own which I got full deposit back for, the last place I was in sharing with a mate they charged us for cleaning, primarily because of some streaks on the glass on the oven and some marks on the floor, even though the streaks were from cleaning the oven back to its new state when it had been dirty when we moved in, and the marks on the floor had already been professionally cleaned. Same company charged us for blown lightbulbs even though they were £10 a bulb and were mostly blown when we moved in.
 
-Ad- said:
You only need to take out contents insurance, the owner should have buildings insurance.

Tell them that charge is unfair and unjust. Typical crap.

I went through arbitration with mydeposits and got eberything backthey tried to steal from us, including the fee for the checkout inventory written into the contract. It did help that I produced a 50 page dossier with dated pics and explanations and they produced nothing as they had nothing and were just trying to scam me.

Make sure you get loads of dated pics of everything the moment you move in. This is important and forget about getting all giddy moving everything in. They will try and screw you at the end so make sure you are covered. Done what I have had to do a couple of times now and have become quite good at it, but as said previously they WILL try and screw you!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Thanks dude, I'll definitely photograph everything when I move in!

The flat is amazing though, 700 sq ft, 2 balconies overlooking bunhill fields, right by old street station, and I can walk to work! Don't ask me how much I'm paying though! :eek:
 
Abraham said:
I got screwed in every student house I lived in, then had two flats on my own which I got full deposit back for, the last place I was in sharing with a mate they charged us for cleaning, primarily because of some streaks on the glass on the oven and some marks on the floor, even though the streaks were from cleaning the oven back to its new state when it had been dirty when we moved in, and the marks on the floor had already been professionally cleaned. Same company charged us for blown lightbulbs even though they were £10 a bulb and were mostly blown when we moved in.
Click to expand...

It's shocking how they screw you. I frogot as well that the very same house that had a 'filthy carpet' had an oven that was un-usable when we moved in due to the built up grease that was in it (and it was the owner of the house who left it like this!) and my missus had to spend 3 days cleaning off all the crap. We really should have billed the landlord for this.

He also charged us to get the glass table cleaned (which was spotless when we left) as it had dust on it.

:/

I was proper raging with the agency, but I know it was the landlord who was a complete ****!
 
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