Fully Managed Service

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Fully Managed Service
Only you know how much time you can spare to deal with your tenant's telephone calls and the resulting work.  We are the sole point of contact for tenants so you do not have to worry about routine repairs and maintenance or experience the unpleasantness of late night phone calls, leaving you to relax, knowing you in great hands. Our experienced property management team looks after properties for clients based both nationally and internationally. We carry out regular property inspections and report back to our clients directly on the condition of their properties. 

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Our full membership of the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) and the Deposit Protection Service (DPS), ensure you receive a leading service backed by expert knowledge of current legislation.

If you prefer a more hands-on approach or have a portfolio of properties, we can adapt our property management services to suit your needs.

 

Professional photography and floor plans
Property advertising is not just about exposure. It’s about understanding the psychology of buying and ensuring that adverts, no matter where they appear, continue to pull in new enquiries. Bright professional pictures, floor plans showing the size of the property are extremely important. Dark, wonky pictures do little to attract the attention of potential tenants when they flicking through hundreds of properties on-line. It’s important to ensure that five main areas are covered in an effective property ad; Where is it? What’s it like? How big is it? How much is it? How do I view it? Anything else is superfluous and distracting, although too little detail and potential applicants will not have anything to hook into; too much detail and they have no reason to view the property – and viewings are critical.

 

Comprehensive marketing and accompanied viewings
When someone chooses to view a property there are a number of things that they should already know. They should know the area and the characteristics of the property from the details. A good agent understands this and will allow them space to look around, but will also seek to build a rapport with the applicants so that if they do decide to put forward an offer, we can confidently advise you whether to move forward with the offer or not.

 

Zoopla ‘featured property’ and ‘premium listing’ marketing
To make sure your property is one of the first tenants see, we upgrade it to a more prominent position by setting it as a ‘Featured Property’ guaranteeing that it is at the top of a search results page. The ‘Feature property’ boasts a larger main photo for greater impact, a highlighted, more prominent box, all of which increases the chances of attracting a tenant.

 

Tenant credit check and referencing
Our Full Reference includes all the features of a Credit Check, plus full Income and previous Landlord references. The Income Report provides verification of multiple sources of income, bonuses guaranteed or non-guaranteed), savings, employment contract dates, and a personal declaration as to whether or not their employer finds the applicant honest, reliable, and trustworthy. The Previous Tenancy report includes verification of the rent they paid, the condition they left the property in, any arrears, and whether or not the Landlord would re-let to the applicant.

 

Preparation of tenancy agreement
A tenancy agreement is one of the most important documents that you as a landlord need to ensure is up to date with current legislation and that it contains all the correct information as it sets out the terms under which you agree to let your property to your tenant. The document can then stand as a reference manual – something to consult when problems arise – so you will know what your rights are and the respective obligations of you and your tenant. 

 

Registration of tenancy deposit
The Housing Act 2004 requires landlords and letting agents to protect deposits on assured shorthold tenancies in a government bonded scheme. We use The Deposit Protection Service (DPS) which is a government approved tenancy deposit protection scheme in England and Wales. They provide insurance backed tenancy deposit protection with free, impartial dispute resolution for when disagreements arise over how the money is divided.

 

Organise gas, electrical and legionella certification
All landlords must comply with the gas safety (installation and use) regulations 1998 and carry out all necessary maintenance to gas appliances and gas pipe work in their property through a gas safety registered engineer. You are legally responsible to arrange an annual gas safety check every 12 months and hold records for a minimum of 2 years.

All landlords have a legal duty to make sure the wiring in rented homes is safe and that any electrical appliances they provide are safe to use.

All landlords are required to perform a risk assessment for Legionaire's Disease and if this is not carried out, you may be issued with a fine. However, the amount of risk assessment required depends on the type of property.

At Meraki, we understand that arranging all of the above can be extremely stressful and time consuming, so we offer to take away the hassle and stress and have all of the above carried out on your behalf prior to the start of the tenancy.

 

Organise inventory compilation and check in
We arrange for an independent company, to compile an Inventory Report which includes a comprehensive inventory of the contents, fixtures and fittings of your property. An Inventory Clerk will undertake a check-in at the start of every tenancy and will make a written record to the overall condition and cleanliness of the property. These are vitally important if you have to end up deducting funds from your tenant’s deposit.

 

Pre-tenancy inspection
There is nothing worse than when a tenancy starts off on the wrong foot, be it that the property is not professionally cleaned or that the tenants request as part of the original offer have not been met. At Meraki, we personally inspect the property prior to the start of the tenancy to make sure that everything is as it should be. This covers small little details such as ensure that toilets have been flushed of stagnant water, fridges have been switched on and more importantly that smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms are working.

 

Collection and transfer of rental on a monthly basis
We ensure that the tenants have set up a standing order to pay the monthly rent over to us and we can keep on top of the rental payments and issue any late payment letters if the rent isn’t paid on time. The rent will be sent to you once we are in receipt of cleared funds, less our agreed fees and expenses, into your nominated account.

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Dealing with deposit disputes
Once a tenancy has come to an end and the inventory company has carried out a check out report, there may be a case where you will want to deduct money from the tenant(s) deposit for damages. In most cases this can be fairly simple, however if the tenants have a difference of opinion to the amount you are wishing to deduct, we will act as an intermediary and strive to reach a mutually agreed amount between both parties. If we are unable to reach an agreement, we will take charge of lodging a dispute with the Tenancy Dispute Service on your behalf.

 

Management of utilities, ground and service charge demands
Included in our fully managed service, we take care of organising all of the utility accounts so that there is one less thing for you to worry about. We will take meter readings on the day the tenancy commences and will notify the relevant suppliers (Water, Gas & Electricity companies as well as the local council) of the change of occupancy. We will ask them to send us your final statement once the tenancy has commenced and will settle the accounts on your behalf.  When there is a change in tenancy we will ensure that the suppliers are provided with the previous tenant(s) forwarding address and final readings as well as the new tenant(s) details.

 

Arrange routine repairs and maintenance
At Meraki Property, we have dedicated property managers who deal proactively and effectively with the issues that may arise during a tenancy.  We have an online reporting system, were tenants are required to report and issues or faults with the property.  Once a tenant reports an issue, a report will be sent to you (in the exact words of the tenants) so that you are notified of the issue or fault as it arises.  We will then deal with the fault or issue on your behalf, obtain quotes if we are requested to. We believe, that by sending you a copy of the reported fault, you the landlord, are aware of what we are doing and that you are able to monitor the works closely if you choose. 

All too often, have we heard of landlords being billed for works that they knew nothing about – and one can question, was the fault ever really a fault?

We are able to monitor open jobs and we can push our contractors to deal with issues in a timely manner and the tenant is asked for feedback on our contractors as well as the quality of their work. We continually vet contractors thoroughly to ensure we only use companies providing the very best quality of workmanship and at a competitive price.

 

Property inspections and reports
We carry out a thorough inspection every year providing a full colour brochure with recommendations and details on any improvements should they be required, giving you reassurance that your property remains in sound condition for future rentals, as well as minimising the cost of repairs by acting in good time

 

Renewals
Towards the end of the initial fixed term, we will contact you to find out if you would like to renew the Tenancy. We will also review the rent and advise you if an increase is possible or desirable depending upon current market conditions.