FULL SPECTRUM LETTINGS LTD

Let agreed, and what the office takes on

You hold one property, or you hold four, and they sit in the Bradford districts. You send the address, the rent you have in mind and the date the property stands empty. The office reads the property, then tells you what it lets for in that street.

The work suits a let former home, an inherited terrace, or a flat over a shop. Marketing goes out with photographs, the room measurements and the energy band. Viewings run in blocks, then you get the feedback in one message rather than in six.

You keep every decision on your property. The office keeps the dates, the paperwork and the money trail behind them. On the day a let is agreed, the file opens and the stages below begin.

Referencing, and what an applicant sends

Referencing comes first, and nothing is signed until it is back. The applicant supplies identity documents, an employer reference and a previous landlord reference. Three months of bank statements come with them, and the office reads those against the monthly rent.

Right to rent is checked from the original documents at the counter. A copy goes onto the file, then the original goes straight back to the applicant. Where a permission carries an end date, the office diaries the follow-up check for that date.

You see the reference replies in full before you decide anything. You take the applicant, or you wait for the next one. After that the agreement is drawn: term, rent, rent date, deposit figure and the notice clauses. You read it before it leaves the office, then anything you want changed is changed before signature.

Working out the first part month

A tenancy seldom starts on the first of the month, so the first rent covers part of a month. The working below is a guide only: it is arithmetic on the figures you type in, read straight back. Your own agreement governs the figure the tenant actually pays.

Daily rate is the monthly rent divided by the days in the month you pick. Apportioned rent is that rate multiplied by the days occupied. The deposit line takes the rent up to a year, down to a week, then up to the five weeks at which a deposit stops where the annual rent is under fifty thousand pounds.

Days in the month you picked

—

Daily rate — monthly rent divided by those days

—

Rent for the days occupied — daily rate times days

—

Annual rent — monthly rent times twelve

—

Weekly rent — annual rent divided by fifty-two

—

Deposit ceiling — weekly rent times five

—

The office bills from the tenancy agreement, on the date the agreement names.

The inventory, written at the property

The inventory is written at the property on the day the keys change hands. Each room takes its own entry, in its own words, with the condition written out. Meter readings go in at the top, and the serial number of each meter goes in beside the reading.

Alarms are tested in front of the tenant, then the test is dated on the sheet. Photographs cover every room, the garden or yard, and anything already marked. The tenant signs the inventory, then holds seven days to send comments back.

Those comments join the inventory rather than replacing it. A copy goes to you, a copy goes to the tenant, and the original stays on the file. At the end of the tenancy the check-out reads against this one document, line by line.

Move-in day, and the thirty-day clock

The deposit is taken before the keys are handed over, then it leaves the office again. It goes into a government-approved tenancy deposit scheme within thirty days of receipt. The prescribed information reaches the tenant inside the same thirty days, with the scheme reference on it.

The counter below is a guide only: it counts thirty days from the date you give it. Type the day the deposit reaches the office, then type the day the tenant moves in. Every figure under the form is the arithmetic, printed step by step.

Day one of the clock — the date the deposit is received

—

Thirty days added to that date — the protection deadline

—

Prescribed information reaches the tenant by

—

Days between the move-in date and the deadline

—

Days between today and the deadline

—

The week the deadline falls in

—

The office registers the deposit on the day it clears, rather than on day twenty-nine. You get the scheme certificate by e-mail, and the certificate goes onto the file the same day.

The rent date, then the arrears order

Rent arrives by standing order on the date the agreement names. The ledger records the day the money lands, not the day it was due. You get a statement each month showing rent in, costs out and the balance paid across to you.

Arrears run in a set order, and it is the same order on every tenancy. On day three the tenant gets a text message and an e-mail. On day seven the office telephones the tenant and asks for a payment date. On day fourteen you get a call with the ledger open in front of the caller. After that the arrears letter goes out, then the file is ready for whatever you decide.

A payment plan is written down, dated, and sent to both sides. The ledger carries the plan beside the arrears, so the next statement shows both.

A fault reported, then a job instructed

A tenant reports a fault by e-mail or by telephone. The report is logged with the date, the room and the tenant's own words. The office looks first at whether the property is safe tonight.

You set a standing limit when the file opens. Below that limit a trade is instructed straight away, then the cost shows on the next statement. Above it you get a call, a figure and a recommendation before anything is booked.

A loss of heat, a loss of water or an unsafe electrical fault goes out the same day. After that you are told what was done and what it cost. The job sheet comes back with the invoice attached, then the tenant confirms the work is finished.

Going round the property, spring and autumn

The first visit falls about twelve weeks after the tenant moves in. After that the property is visited twice a year, once in the spring round and once in the autumn round. The tenant gets written notice, then the office attends at the stated hour.

The visit records condition room by room, damp and mould, the meter readings and the alarm tests. The garden or yard is written up in the same sheet. Photographs are taken of anything that has moved since the inventory.

You get the report within three working days of the visit. It carries two lists: what to instruct now, and what can wait until the next round.

The letting year, month by month

The ring sets out the duty the office runs in each month of the letting year. Pick a month and the ring turns it to the top, then the hub reads what falls due. The ring is a figure, not the way round the page; the stage rail does that. All twelve duties are written out underneath it.

January carries the gas safety anniversaries for January tenancies, booked ahead of the certificate date. February reads the deposit scheme records against the rent ledger. March opens the spring inspection round. April sends rent review letters where the agreement allows a review. May sweeps the energy performance certificates nearing ten years. June files the alarm test notes off the inspection sheets. July checks the electrical installation condition report dates on their five-year cycle. August draws the renewals, then re-registers the deposit. September opens the autumn round, with meter readings taken at each visit. October confirms the boiler service dates. November reviews arrears before the winter quarter. December prepares the year-end rent statements, one for each property you hold.

Four clocks on one rule

A tenancy runs several clocks at once, and they are nothing like the same length. Twenty-four hours governs a visit. Six years governs the file that records it. Landlords arrive at this office asking which renewal comes next, so the rule below puts every clock on one line.

The rule is logarithmic. Each printed step along it stands for ten times the step before it, which is the only way a day and ten years fit on one page together. Read the position for the order of magnitude, then read the table for the figure.

Two of these clocks start on the same day and end two thousand days apart. That gap is the reason the office writes every renewal month into the year plan on the day a tenancy starts. The compliance record sets out each certificate in turn.

Renewal, notice, then check-out

Renewals are drawn in August for the tenancies that reach their term. You say whether the rent moves, and the office writes to the tenant with the figure. The deposit is re-registered for the new term, then the scheme certificate comes back onto the file.

Notice comes in writing from whichever side is giving it. The office checks it against the term, the rent dates and the notice clauses. After that the end date is confirmed to both sides in writing.

Check-out runs against the original inventory, room by room, on the day the keys come back. Meter readings are taken, keys are counted, and photographs are matched to the ones taken at the start. Any deduction is set out item by item against the signed inventory. Figures the tenant agrees are released through the scheme, and a figure the tenant disputes goes to the scheme's adjudicator with the evidence. The final rent statement follows within ten working days.

The districts the round reaches

The office covers the Bradford postcodes from Low Moor outward, then the Leeds and Calderdale edges. Bradford city centre, Low Moor, Wyke, Wibsey, Odsal, Great Horton, Bowling, Bierley, Thornton, Queensbury, Heaton, Manningham, Idle, Eccleshill, Shipley, Baildon, Bingley, Keighley and Ilkley sit inside the round. Pudsey, Halifax and Brighouse sit on its edge and are taken by arrangement.

Send the postcode first and you get a straight answer on whether the round reaches it. The district page draws the whole area as a schematic, district by district, with the office marked on it.