The five stages → Letting
Letting the finished unit
Letting takes about a week and all of it hangs off one date. The move-in date is set last, because everything else is arranged to land on it.
Photographs are taken the day snagging closes
A finished unit is photographed on the day the snagging list closes. A set taken a week earlier has a filler patch in it, or protective film still on a worktop, and that photograph is what gets shown back to the office at the viewing. The set is the same for every unit: each room from its door, the kitchen from two positions, the bathroom, the window reveals, the meter cupboard, and the plan from the drawing. Floor area is taken off the drawing and described as a drawing figure, not as a measured survey.
Referencing, and what is kept from it
Referencing happens before a holding deposit is taken rather than after. Identity and the right-to-rent check are done from the original documents with the prospective tenant present. An employment reference and a reference from the previous landlord are requested in writing and chased twice. What comes back is filed as it came back and is not summarised, because a summary is the office’s reading of a reference and the reference is the evidence.
What is kept is the check record and the references themselves. The right-to-rent evidence is kept as a dated copy, because the check has to be evidenced for as long as the tenancy runs and for a year after it ends. Anything else that was handed over only so a check could be performed is returned once the check is recorded.
Inventory, meters and keys on the move-in date
The inventory is a schedule of condition with photographs, walked with the tenant on the move-in date and signed by both. Readings for gas, electricity and water are taken on the same visit, photographed with the meter serial number in frame, and sent to the suppliers that day. Keys are counted out and the count goes on the inventory: front door, flat door, window keys, meter cupboard, bin store.
The deposit scheme certificate and the prescribed information are handed over on that same visit wherever that is possible, because handing them over later means remembering to. The sheet below counts the window they sit inside.
Tenancy date sheet
Enter the move-in date. The sheet prints the dates the office works to, how many days each one is from the move-in, and the arithmetic for every row. The move-in date is taken as the date the deposit is received, which is the date the thirty-day window runs from.
| Entry | Rule it is counted from |
|---|---|
| Deposit protected by | thirty calendar days from the date the deposit is received |
| Prescribed information served by | the same thirty-day window |
| First rent due | the tenancy start date itself |
| Second rent due | one calendar month later, or twenty-eight days on a four-weekly tenancy |
A date sheet and a guide only. It counts calendar days from the date entered and does not read the tenancy agreement. It is arithmetic, not advice. With scripting switched off the dates are not counted and the rules above are the ones the office works to.
What is inspected once the tenant is in, and how a report is closed, is on holding and inspections. The certificates handed over at the start of a tenancy are listed on the compliance record.