At Thomas Morris we are proud of the wealth of knowledge and experience we can offer you as a landlord. Our experienced lettings team will take care of the day to day management of your property so you don’t have to worry about it. We offer different levels of services which you can select to meet your individual requirements.
If you are a first time landlord, this guide will provide a useful step-by-step walkthrough of the letting process from start to finish. If you already have experience as a landlord, it may still provide a useful outline of what to expect when working with Thomas Morris.
Consider your needs
Seeking the help and advice of a property professional like Thomas Morris can be essential at an early stage. Your priorities and needs will depend on your particular circumstances.
If the property you want to let is an investment, we can help introduce you to competitive Buy-to-Let mortgages through Embrace Financial Services.
If you are looking to rent your own home out for a short period and you currently have a residential mortgage, you should talk to your mortgage lender as early as possible to make sure you can get consent to let your property, or discuss let-to-buy mortgage options.
Consider your time scales
Thomas Morris recommend that you market your property 6 to 8 weeks before you want it let. The standard length of a tenancy is 6 or 12 months. It can be helpful to talk to friends, colleagues and other landlords when considering what would fit best with your own needs.
Talk to a letting agent
We always welcome the opportunity to assist and advise our customers. Drop into or call your local branch for a chat about your aims and we’ll discuss how we can help you achieve them. It’s a great opportunity to meet our friendly team of local experts and talk through your needs.
We can talk through our property management options for landlords and demonstrate the peace of mind available knowing that Thomas Morris are looking after both your property and your tenant. We pride ourselves on our ability to help you with every aspect of your tenancy including compliance issues and a range of financial services including landlord insurance and rent guarantee cover.
Valuation
Getting your property valued is an important step to make sure your property is achieving the best potential rental income for you. Our free expert valuation pack will outline what we believe you can achieve in monthly income for your property, supported by details of other recently let, comparable properties. Our friendly team will then call to discuss the next step you want to take.
Instruction
If you choose to let your property with Thomas Morris, we will book an appointment to visit the property and take photographs and create floorplans. Remember that first impressions count, so now is a good time to tick off any outstanding repairs or give any tired areas a fresh coat of paint so your property is as attractive as it can be to potential tenants.
Agency Agreement
You’ll receive our Agency Agreement and landlord information forms to complete and return. In the meantime, we’ll obtain the Energy Performance Certificate from the national register, or arrange for an Energy Performance assessment in order to start marketing the property.
Marketing
At Thomas Morris we will place your property on the market within 1 working day of receipt of the Energy Performance Certificate. We will upload your property immediately to our website, match with our database, contact prospective tenants, place your property on Rightmove and various other websites and advertise in the local press, giving your property maximum exposure across a broad range of channels.
Viewing
Thomas Morris accompany all tenants on property viewings. The majority of interest and activity usually takes place around 1 month before the property's advertised availability date.
Feedback
We will ring your prospective tenants 24 hours after the viewing for their feedback and comments. As soon as we have done this, we will then contact you with the outcome and any necessary actions required.
Offer
As soon as a tenant makes an offer we will contact you immediately to share full details, discuss any queries or special conditions and confirm your decision on how you would like to proceed.
Referencing process
Once an offer is accepted, we will seek references for the tenants, which takes about 7 working days. This covers credit history, employment history, previous landlords and any reference guarantors if required. We will write to you to confirm details and if you wish to discuss the referencing criteria Thomas Morris uses, you can call or drop in at any time to discuss.
Tenancy Agreement
Once the references have been received we will draw up the Tenancy Agreement and send this to you for signature. Alternatively, you can give written permission for Thomas Morris to sign this on your behalf.
Deposits
Tenants are required to pay a deposit of 5 weeks rent prior to the start of the agreement. All deposits under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) agreement (the majority in England) must be registered with an approved Tenancy Deposit Scheme. Thomas Morris’s Fully Managed and Rent Collection services levels take care of all aspects of protecting the security deposit, including providing your tenant with all the details of the scheme.
Inventory
For our Fully Managed and Rent Collection service level landlords, we will arrange for a professional and comprehensive inventory to be completed, setting out the condition and contents of the property. We will also deal with any compliance issues such as obtaining a Landlords Gas safety certificate and Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR)
Check-in-Service
Thomas Morris can offer a check in service to ensure a clean and efficient handover.
Standing orders
Thomas Morris encourage that tenants set up standing orders.
Lettings Client Services
At Thomas Morris we take great pride in knowing that our dedicated Lettings Client Services team will look after all aspects of property management for you. They will take all steps to make sure the rent is paid on time and that any necessary maintenance is dealt with promptly. Shortly after the tenant moves in, our team will contact you to introduce themselves.
Tenancy renewal
Two months prior to the end of your fixed term Thomas Morris will contact you to discuss your future plans. We will assess the current market position and advise accordingly and then contact your tenant to discuss their plans.
Choices include further commitment to another fixed term (this process is the same as at the start of the original tenancy), allowing the tenancy to roll onto a month-by-month periodic tenancy, or serving notice to the tenant to bring the tenancy to an end. We can advise you on the current legislation around ending a tenancy depending on your individual circumstances.
Check-out and return of deposits
When the tenant moves out we will arrange for an exit-Inventory to take place and will report the condition of the property to you soon after. If there is any damage, we will work with you to negotiate a deduction from the security deposit towards the cost of repair, and upon agreement from all parties, will return any remaining amount to the tenant.
We look forward to helping you get the most out of your rental property.
