Advice On Private Let

JimmyDeemo

We have had our flat advertised with a letting agency for a short while and haven't had much interest. However i have a friend that might be interested in renting it with his current partner. Obviously letting privately would benefit us as it avoids agency fees and would benefit them as they don't need to go through referrals and all that jazz.

So i wanted to know a couple of things if people will help me out.

Firstly is there any legal problems if i decided to base my contract with my friend on the one i had with my last tenant (which was drawn up by the letting agency). So are there any plagiarism issues there? I'm pretty sure most contracts are similar but I'm not sure.

Secondly the letting agency secured the last deposit we had with our previous tenants, and i'm aware i must do the same. Am i right in thinking i can only do this in certain places. If so could someone point me in the right direction that would be great.

Finally are there any other tip to do with letting out your property yourself as opposed to getting an agency to handle it? We maintained the property ourselves anyway so know about that side of things.

Thanks in advance.

amcluesent

>However i have a friend that might be interested in renting it with his current partner.<

Friendships rarely last a let! What do you do when the payment is 2 weeks in arrears and the tenant says "But I thought we were mates?"

JimmyDeemo

I appreciate the point but its not really helpful. That is why i'm drawing up a proper contract, setting up a standing order and taking a deposite. They will be just like other tenants to me, except we both won't have to pay fees and i don't need to get references for them.

So with that in mind can anyone answer my original questions? Any help is much appreciated.

MX5huggy

Have you/do you need a LL Gas Saftey Cert?

You need to use a Deposit Protection service http://www.depositprotection.com/ there are others.

clutton_2

are you going to credit check them ?

JimmyDeemo

MX5huggy wrote: »

Have you/do you need a LL Gas Saftey Cert?

You need to use a Deposit Protection service http://www.depositprotection.com/ there are others.

I don't need a Gas Saftey Cert as the flat and block have no gas, only electrics that were checked as certified when build 3 years ago. I believe i have documents that state the electrics are safe.

Thanks for the link thats what i was looking for. Anyone have any idea about the contract issue as this is what i'm most concerned about.

As for credit checks, no i wasn't going to. I didn't think i could as an individual, what is involved? They are currently renting and have contracts with phone and broadband companies so their credit can't be a major concern.

Look i know everyone is going to mention about the friends thing thats fine. But i'm sorry when i've had the flat advertised with a letting agency for a while and a mate says they want it. Then i'm gonna take it, in these time i need someone in. So please mention constructive ideas for private letting, and things i wouldn't think about due to us being friends (like the credit check idea above). I'm trying to keep the arrangement as a normal let anyway, but both myself and my friend can do without the letting fees right now.

Thanks for the help so far.

Edit: From re-reading what i have put i don't think i'm very clear about the contract issue. Do i need to have particular wording in my contract in order to make it legal? Do i need it certified by a solicitor? I am aware you can buy template [FONT=arial,verdana,sans-serif,helvetica]Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement's, is that a good idea?
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