Tenants' Guide & Fees

Our over-riding objective is to let out our clients’ properties to good quality, professional tenants who will look after the property and pay their rent on time.

Fees & Deposit

To that end, if you like a property, a non-refundable Administration Fee of £100 will be required. Should you change your mind, this money is paid to the Landlord as compensation.

Each tenant will then have to pay a non-refundable, one-off Application Fee of £140 (inc VAT) towards checking your references (we use an independent company to do this), producing the necessary legal documentation and processing your application. If a guarantor is needed, a further application fee of £80 (inc VAT) will be payable.

Once your references have cleared and you are ready to move in, the £100 Administration Fee will then be used as the Move In/Check Out Fee, which is also £100 (inc VAT). This means that before moving in you will need to pay the first month's rent in advance plus the Damage Deposit (typically one and a half months' rent) - so two and a half months' rent typically.

The Damage Deposit is almost always held by us to be used if you fail to meet your legal obligations set out in the tenancy agreement. We hold the deposit as a "Stakeholder", so we can mediate should you and the landlord disagree on what amount should be paid back at the end of the tenancy. Generally, the existence of the deposit is lodged with an approved Deposit Scheme and a certificate sent to you confirming this.

Tenants' Insurance

You are obliged under the tenancy agreement to take out your own contents insurance with accidental damage. This is to insure your own belongings but also to help protect your Damage Deposit. If you do not arrange this, you will be in breach of contract.

Rent Arrears

Once you are in the property, you must pay your rent promptly by Standing Order. Bassets operates a "zero tolerance" policy to rent arrears, so if you do not pay on time, we will contact you initially, but if no progress is made, we will contact your guarantor and next of kin to alert them to the problem. You will also be issued with notice straight away and we will start legal proceedings on behalf of our Landlords at the earliest opportunity.

References

Before we will accept you as a tenant, we will formally reference you using an independent referencing company. It is simple and quick to complete the forms either on-line or on paper. If you think there may be any problem at all with your application (e.g. poor credit history), you must tell us before we reference you.