Landlord FAQs
We offer two levels of service; Fully Managed and Tenant Find Only
In basic terms, you would hand the property over to us and we would look after it on your behalf whilst ensuring a tenant(s) is put into the property, an inventory is compiled, the relevant credit checks and referencing are conducted, a fully compliant tenancy agreement is created and signed by all parties, the rent is collected on a regular basis and a statement sent to you, the deposit is collected and lodged in the Deposit Protection Scheme, regular inspections are carried out on the property, maintenance issues are attended to efficiently and any rent arrears are handled as quickly as possible. We would also check the tenant out at the end of the tenancy and compare the incoming inventory to the check-out report and deal with any discrepancies.
This service is where we would market your property, find a suitable tenant, conduct the relevant credit and referencing checks, compile a fully compliant tenancy agreement and ensure it is signed by all parties, ensure the first months’ rent is collected, on your behalf and sent to you with a statement and the deposit is collected and either sent to you for you to lodge with your preferred protection scheme or we lodge on your behalf to The Deposit Protection Scheme. Once the tenant(s) has moved in to your property, you will be furnished with a Landlord Pack that contains all the information that you will require with regard to the transaction.
In short, yes it is.
We use the main property portals, Rightmove, PrimeLocation and Zoopla and also advertise on our own website.
The Company has also invested heavily in the latest, state of the art cloud software that intelligently matches applicants with properties and has a massive range of functionality to assist us in the marketing your property.
Of course, our Property Consultants would also promote your property through our Social Media accounts, by telephone and post.
Yes, we are part of the following:
- The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA)
- The National Federation of Property Professionals (NFOPP)
- The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA)
- The Property Ombudsman
- Plymouth City Council “Buy with Confidence” Scheme
The Directors have made a conscious effort to be as explicit as we possibly can with regard to our charging structure. Any costing you see will always include VAT.
For details of our Landlord Fees please click here
Absolutely! We do a *free “transfer service” for our clients which would make the transition as smooth as possible for you and the tenant(s) in situ. However, it is sensible to check your current Landlord agreement, that you would have signed at the start of your relationship with your agent, to confirm their terms and conditions should you wish to leave them.
*We would ensure that the transfer to Cross Keys is free of fees to complete the transaction to us, but this would not include any fees that you may have to pay your current agent, of which you would be liable.
We will pay any rents received by Cross Keys Estates to the landlords on the same day as they are deposited in our account, subject to it being done during normal office hours, otherwise the rents will be paid over by the next working day.
If you are a Landlord using our Tenant Find Only service, then you will receive your rent within 24 hours of your tenant moving into the property or on the nearest Monday should your tenants move in over the weekend.
We use The Deposit Protection Scheme (DPS) and ensure that all of our managed portfolio deposits are lodged with them in their custodial scheme.
Yes. This is something that you would have to do before any tenant takes up residency in your property.
If your property is a freehold then the answer is YES.
If your property is leasehold then you should consult your lease and your freehold management company to ask if there are any restrictions on you letting your property before you take the idea any further.
This is something that is specific to each individual so we would recommend that you speak with a certified accountant before making the decision to let your property out.
Absolutely. The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations came into force on 1 October 2015 and we will advise you as to what is required to satisfy these regulations before a tenant takes up residence in your property.
Obviously we will advise on any other aspects of safety pertinent to your property too, not exclusively on smoke and CO2 detectors!
To view the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015, please click here
An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is a guide that would-be buyers or tenants get when they look at a property. It shows how efficiently a home uses energy, the cost of running a home and recommendations of how to improve the energy efficiency of the property.
They are needed whenever a property is built, sold or rented. An EPC must be ordered before any property can be marketed. It contains information about a property’s energy use, typical energy costs and gives recommendations about how to reduce energy use and save money. The EPC gives a property an energy rating from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient) and is valid for 10 years.
Generally the answer is yes as there are very few restrictions to this. The properties that DO NOT require an EPC include:
- places of worship
- temporary buildings that will be used for less than 2 years
- stand-alone buildings with total useful floor space of less than 50 square metres
- industrial sites, workshops and non-residential agricultural buildings that don’t use a lot of energy
- some buildings that are due to be demolished
- holiday accommodation that’s rented out for less than 4 months a year or is let under a licence to occupy
- listed buildings – you should get advice from your local authority conservation officer if the work would alter the building’s character
- residential buildings intended to be used less than 4 months a year
We can obtain these for you from an external contractor.
If you should wish to register a complaint against the company or any individual representing the company, you should in the first instance contact:
Craig McMillan Duncan Compliance Director Cross Keys Estate Agents Limited, Cross Keys House, 51-53 Devonport Road, Stoke, Plymouth PL3 4DL
Email: craig@crosskeysestates.net
The in-house complaints procedure is as follows:
- A written complaint will be acknowledged by Cross Keys Estates in writing within 3 working days.
- A formal written outcome of the company investigation will be issued to the complainant within 21 days. This outcome of this investigation will be deemed final.
- If you cannot settle your complaint with us, you are entitled to refer it to The Property Ombudsman. This complaint must be made within 6 months of the date of the agents’ final written response. Our membership number of the scheme is D00723
The contact details for The Property Ombudsman are as follows:
Milford House 43-55 Milford Street Salisbury Wiltshire SP1 2BP
Tel: 01722 333 306
The Agent is a member of TPOS (“The Property Ombudsman Scheme”) and follows the TPOS Code of Practice. The Client agrees that the Agent may give information about the sale of the Client’s property to the Ombudsman, if the Client has registered a complaint and he asks for that information. The Client also agrees that the Agent may give the Client’s contact details to TPOS (if they ask for it) to help them monitor how the Agent is following the Code of Practice.
Yes, absolutely! We encourage all of our clients to take some time to write a review about your experience with us on the All Agents website which is the UK’s largest customer review website for the property industry. The link to do so is below:
A client money protection membership scheme is designed to protect client money held by property agents and professionals. The member clients are protected in the event that the member misappropriates the client money held in the course of running their business.
Yes, Cross Keys Estate Agents are part of such a scheme and we have specifically chosen to belong to the “Propertymark Client Money Protection Scheme” (Scheme Ref: C0006131)
