Landlord Guide

Congratulations! You are joining many thousands of UK private and corporate landlords. The key to successfully renting your property is to engage the services of a specialist property management agent to act on your behalf and who will guide you through the various stages.  Ideally you should contact your local Kings office in London, Reading, Windsor, Maidenhead 

or Staines to make an appointment for us to meet with you, view the property, and discuss your options. We can talk you through the whole process, give you up to date advice on current legislation, provide you with a rental assessment, and answer any concerns you may have. This initial consultation is completely free.

Currently, in England there is no mandatory Regulation or licensing of Letting agents. In view of this, you will want to be absolutely sure that your Letting agent is a specialist in this field and a member of a Regulated nationally recognised body. Letting properties since 1962, Kings is not only an award-winning Lettings Agency, but also a bonded member of ‘The Dispute Service’, and ‘The National Federation of Property Professionals’, and Government-accredited as a ‘SafeAgent’ for money protection. Kings’ Staff is highly trained and motivated and we have many years of combined experience in any given ‘lettings’ situation.

Once we have discussed and agreed with you a proposed rental, we will take internal/external photographs and prepare a detailed description and floorplan for uploading to the web’s international portals. If you have an existing tenant, we will liaise regarding prospective ‘viewings’.  We may also request an access key from you to facilitate accompanied applicant viewings, if you wish.

Other than Kings’ dedicated website, which is updated daily, we also advertise extensively on the following sites: www.zoopla.com, www.rightmove.co.uk, www.ukpropertyshop.co.uk. In addition you can find us and your property listings offered via SKY, Google, msn, Virgin media, eBay, and Yahoo. Traditional Newspaper advertising is used for local coverage.

In addition, Kings offers ‘Virtual Reality’ viewings using a fully immersive, 360 degree viewing platform- at selected Kings offices.

We have instant access to ‘in house’ colour property details which can be given to interested parties in person, and/or emailed to them. Our computer software allows Kings to ‘match’ your property with hundreds of potentially interested rental applicants within our database at any given time.

Kings’ marketing costs are free of charge to Landlords [this website is solely concerned with Landlord’s property marketing]. The costs of overseeing the letting of your property once an interested Applicant is sourced are detailed in full in Kings’ comprehensive “Schedule of Agent Charges” – issued to any enquiring Landlord upon Registration of interest and at a personal meeting. If comparing Agencies at that time, you should consider the following costs:

Agent Commission (one-off, or monthly/quarterly)
Tenancy Agreement/legal works
Tenant Deposit Registration
Inventory Preparation
Inventory ‘Check in/out’                                        

Provision of Energy Performance Certificate [EPC]
Provision of Gas Safety Certificate (if relevant)

No matter how large, small or ‘quirky’ your property, there will be a suitable tenant for it and Kings prides itself on finding just the right Tenant for you !  We deal primarily with professional people and undertake not just to ‘credit score’ our Applicants but also to seek good, written, references from their Employer, Bank and either previous Landlord and/or character referees.

We have also forged links with a number of Relocation Agencies, which are retained by larger companies to source and administer homes for their international employees. This has led to Tenancies with multinational corporations such as ICI, Xerox, Nortel, Lufthansa, British Airways, OKI, Reckitt Benckiser, Glaxo SmithKline, Computer Associates, Black & Decker, Equant to name but a very few.

You can rest assured that whosoever applies to rent your property – we will thoroughly discuss a Tenant’s Application with you and ensure that you are satisfied and updated throughout the process.

Housing Law can, in certain instances, favour the Tenant.  However, there are stringent procedures which must be followed in order to secure your rights and this is where a professional agent is invaluable. Kings will guide you through the process. We have access to legal advice from a team of solicitors specialising in Landlord/Tenant law.

Landlords of privately rented accommodation must:

Ensure national standards for electrical safety are met. These are set out in the 18th edition of the ‘Wiring Regulations’, which are published as British Standard 7671.
Ensure the electrical installations in their rented properties are inspected and tested by a qualified and competent person at an interval of at least every 5 years.
Obtain a report from the person conducting the inspection and test which gives the results and sets a date for the next inspection and test.
Supply a copy of this report to the existing tenant within 28 days of the inspection and test.
Supply a copy of this report to a new tenant before they occupy the premises.
Supply a copy of this report to any prospective tenant within 28 days of receiving a request for the report.
Supply the local authority with a copy of this report within 7 days of receiving a request for a copy.
Retain a copy of the report to give to the inspector and tester who will undertake the next inspection and test.
Where the report shows that remedial or further investigative work is necessary, complete this work within 28 days or any shorter period if specified as necessary in the report.
Supply written confirmation of the completion of the remedial works from the electrician to the tenant and the local authority within 28 days of completion of the works.