Find Your Perfect Home with RA Flatt
We’re committed to helping you find the ideal property to suit your needs. From move-in to maintenance, we ensure your renting experience is smooth, enjoyable, and hassle-free. Rest assured, any concerns during your tenancy will be handled quickly and professionally.
Take me to my perfect home
Our renting process
01. Reserving the Property
Once you have viewed a property and you are happy to proceed, please contact the office immediately to put your interest forward so the property is not taken. Once we have established your circumstances fall in line with the property, a holding deposit (one weeks rent) will be required in order to secure the property (please see details in Tenant Payments) and an application form filled in. Once you pay the holding deposit and fill in the application form, we will cancel all further viewings on the property and remove it from the market.
02. References
To make the referencing process very simple, and easy to understand, and to ensure minimum delay, our independent referencing company offers online referencing which you can complete in your own time. We will require references for all adults (over 18) moving into a property.
As a minimum, we will require satisfactory references from your employer if you are an employee, or a reference from your accountant if you are self-employed, or, sufficient bank statements that provide a trace of the funds if you are paying the rent through savings. We will also require a previous or current Landlord reference if you are privately renting, if you are a homeowner or living with friends/family, then this element will not be necessary. We may also require a personal reference, and sometimes a guarantor.
In addition, a credit check will be undertaken along with the Right to Rent checks. Please note that all adults will need to provide ID, proof of address and evidence of their Right to Rent (share code) in the UK prior to taking occupancy.
03. Tenancy Terms
Our tenancies are generally granted for a minimum of 12 months, although on occasions depending on the property, we can accommodate 6 monthly terms.
04. Rent
Rents are paid per calendar month and payable monthly in advance, which will be paid on the same day every month to reflect your tenancy start date. The rent is only inclusive of the rent, Tenants will be responsible for Council Tax, Water Rates, Gas, Electricity, Telephone and Internet costs (unless otherwise specified in the property description). All rents are payable by standing order.
05. Deposit
A deposit will be taken on ALL tenancies and it is required prior to the occupation (please see details in Tenancy Payments). For your peace of mind, we ensure that, unless your Landlord is a member of a recognised deposit protection scheme, your deposit will be registered with the Deposit Protection Service and you will be provided with all Prescribed Information upon your move-in date. More details about the DPS can be found at www.depositprotection.com or you can contact them at 0844 4727 000.
06. Inspections
We will carry out an initial inspection 3 months into your tenancy term, providing we are satisfied the property is being looked after (black sealant/grout or ventilation are the usual suspects), we will then schedule an inspection every 6 months. However, if we feel that there are issues to be addressed, we will schedule further inspections accordingly to the nature of the issue, and we will give you full advice and support on how to manage the matter at hand.
07. Vacating the property
Please ensure you refer to your tenancy agreement which will outline how much notice you need to give should you decide to vacate the property. You will be required to return all sets of keys to the property to our office prior to 11 am on the last date of your tenancy.
Our inventory clerk will carry out a Final Inspection within 5 working days from the day we receive the keys, and we will forward you any findings. During this Final Inspection, we hope to find the property and gardens (if applicable) in a clean and tidy condition throughout as noted on the initial Inventory Report which we will use as the marker for the checkout, we can send you this on request if you didn’t keep it safe when you moved into the property.
Once we are satisfied with our observations and findings from the Final Inspection, we will arrange the refund of your deposit held by the DPS without further delay.
Common maintenance issues – and how you might be able to fix them yourself
I hereby confirm that I have followed all the suggested steps and have undertaken reasonable actions to rectify the issue myself. I understand and accept that, should it be determined that the fault lies with my actions or negligence, I may be held liable for any contractor invoices or callout charges incurred as a result of this maintenance request.
General Maintenance
I have followed the above steps to rectify my maintenance issue to no avail and wish to report my maintenance issue.
Emergency Maintenance
If you have an emergency maintenance issue outside of office hours (Monday – Fri 9 am – 5 pm),
please refer to the paperwork that you signed at the beginning of your tenancy, on the first page it will give you a mobile number to contact the emergency line, please text or leave a voicemail stating
your issue if the line isn’t initially picked up, thank you.
Home Move Assist
Your Landlord may have taken buildings insurance to cover the buildings of the property that you rent, however, they are not liable to insure your personal possessions in their property. Therefore, it is a good idea to consider what home contents insurance policy would work for you.
Contents insurance is designed to help protect your possessions. No matter how careful you are, there’s always a risk that your belongings could be broken, damaged or stolen, also, your landlord’s own insurance won’t cover you if you accidentally damage their property, for example, a spilt glass of wine (happens to the best of us) or to an iron mark on the carpet, will be the responsibility of the tenants to rectify, giving the contents insurance the peace of mind you need.
You can also take advantage of additional services via the above link such as Entertainment, Broadband, Essentials, and Groceries, thank us later!
Within our small and dedicated team, you can rest assured that you will always be able to reach someone who is familiar with your Property and Tenancy
01242 250982
