Tenants Guide

During initial consultations with clients we will endeavour to cover as many of the subjective items as possible, there after will use our best endeavour to carryout efficient management on behalf of our clients and at the same time encouraging a good will relationship with tenants. We believe that good property management entails cooperation of the three parties: the client, the agent and the tenant, and the landlord’s interest is best served in this way. The staff at Le Gallais’ is encouraged fully to appreciate the confidential nature between the landowner and his agent. We understand that there are many reasons why you may want to rent out your home or your investment property.

Above all we recognise that every client wants to appoint a letting agent they can trust to protect their financial interest. We have been trading as an independent estate agent and property manager for well over 100 years and with our comprehensive team of letting agents, property managers and support staff we feel we are ideally placed to provide you with a first class service that will protect your assets and provide you with an excellent return on your capital. The following notes illustrate some of the services that we provide. As always each property and each client is unique and in order to gain a greater understanding of your requirements and aspirations we need to meet and discuss these with you.

Generally most requirements in the market place are for unfurnished premises, as most tenants tend to have their own possessions, which make them feel more comfortable. We do handle properties which are furnished and in such instances it is imperative that a full inventory is taken to protect all of your items during the course of the tenancy.

Properties should usually include carpets, curtains and kitchen appliances. If you have a requirement for storing household and personal items, then we would be happy to provide you with a quotation from our storage department. Le Gallais’ Storage department has the largest purpose built storage capacity in the Channel Islands with an area in excess of 250,000 cubic feet so we should have no problem in providing you with sufficient storage and at a competitive price. Please ask us for further details.

As part of our service we will carryout an inventory of any of your possessions together with a brief schedule of condition noting the condition of the premises at the time of letting the property to a tenant. Tenants will pay a deposit on the property and will have deductions made against their deposit if any damage is caused to either the property under the schedule of condition or secondly the inventory of contents.

We will be responsible for completing a tenancy housing application form on your behalf (unless the property is unqualified in which case housing applications are not necessary). If it is a J category letting then we will be responsible for updating the housing application form when or if the tenancy is renewed.

Find out more at http://www.housing.gov.je/

It is the landlords responsibility generally to insurance buildings and their contents at all times during the course of the tenancy. Tenants will be liable to insure their own possessions under a separate policy. If you require any assistance on insurance valuations of your property then we will be pleased to assist you with this (please ask for further information).

The controller of income tax in Jersey requires Landlords to declare any income (rent) that you receive for let property. You will be able to deduct from the gross rent received any expenses including management charges and repairs which have occurred during the course of the tax year. We will be pleased to provide you (for the year of assessment) with a tax report showing all income and expenditure for declaration to the tax authorities. Please let us know in advance if you would like this forwarded on to you.

In the course of the tenancy there are numerous items in the day-to-day administration of property which are all part of the property management service. We would be pleased to discuss our standard fee arrangements with you. Our standard fees include the following:

Initial consultation with a client.
Inspecting properties.
Advising on rental values and taking instructions to act for the client.

Seeking suitable tenants and making arrangements for a short list of tenants to view the property. We advertise on occasions when we do not have efficient stock of appliances on our books and sometime we will make special arrangements for any advertising charges with our clients. Normally however, there is no charge for advertising.

We will obtain personal banking, employment and previous landlord references on behalf of the tenant and forward these on to you for your approval. We will always refer to you and obtain your confirmation to proceed with the proposed letting to a particular applicant.

We will submit a housing application form for the consent of the housing committee for the proposed letting.

We will arrange for the transfer of all utilities to the tenant as appropriate.

We will prepare a draft agreement of lease and forward to you for your approval after which we will seek the tenant’s signature. We will also prepare a draft inventory and schedule of condition for your approval and once again will forward to the tenant for signature.

We will collect deposit from the tenant and hold this money in a separate account for the duration of the tenancy.

We will inspect the property three months after the start of the lease to check the tenant’s performance. Annual inspections will be carried out thereafter where we find issues with a property we will take these up with the tenant and request that any repairs or changes are made without delay.

We will appoint contractors on your behalf to carryout repairs at the property only after having contacted you to seek your approval to proceed. During our initial consultation we will most likely agree with you a figure up to which we do not require prier authorisation for you to appointing a contractor. This is to allow us to effect small repairs which we do not see the point of bothering you with. Items above an agreed figure will always need prier authorisation from you the only exception being emergency items where we will use our best judgement and endeavours to appoint a contractor to carryout essential repair which would other wise if left unattended cause further damage and expense at the property. We will undertake the payment of accounts from third parties in connection with the day-to-day administration maintenance and repairs at the property provided sufficient funds are in hand. This might include property rates and charges, repairs, maintenance, insurance premiums etc. Sometimes we will retain a property float to allow for the essential repairs and payment of contractors accounts. Sometime contractor’s accounts are paid by us and then subsequently recovered from the tenant, subject to the terms of the lease. On rare occasions we will instruct lawyers or debt recovery agencies when necessary to act on behalf of the client to enforce collection of outstanding monies from the tenant. In these circumstances legal costs are payable by the client in addition to the agents management fees. These fees maybe recovered from the tenant subject to the terms of the lease.

The following is a list of possible additional works and subsequent costs which we will not be responsible for under the terms of our standard management package they include the following:

In certain circumstances where a property is let furnished with a large amount of furniture and effects we may charge an extra fee on a timed basis depending on the size of the property and the volume it affects. Where items other than of a periodical repair and maintenance natural are involved i.e. large building works, extensions to the property, re-roofing, underpinning, replacement of windows, or heating and electrical systems, new kitchens and bathrooms etc we will may charge a fee which will usually be about 10% on the contractors charges for over seeing this work on your behalf and or obtaining quotes for these works.

Where an insurance company is involved on your behalf in handling an insurance claim at the property we will charge a fee based on a timed basis for our involvement in this work.

There are many items in the process in the day to day property management such as the reading of electricity metres, the apportion to repair cost between more then one tenant which often is totally subjective to individual properties and which we undertake on your behalf as part of our overall management fee.

Any rent received is held in our clients account. All payments for work carried out are deducted from your rent. We will provide you inmost circumstances with a monthly statement showing income and expenditure and balance paid, usually by electronic transfer into your bank account. Please note that the majority of tenancies require rent to be paid on the first day of each month and the balance is normally transferred into your designated account within the first ten days of each month. Please note: – If we do not receive rent, then we cannot pay you until such time as it is. If rent is not cleared into our account it is not deemed received.

Additional Services from Le Gallais Estate Agents