At Edmonton Estates we appreciate that looking for a rental property can be a stressful time. Due to many factors both nationally and locally there is typically a shortage of properties compared to the number of people looking to rent. Our experienced team of lettings consultants are here to help you find the right property, in the right location, at the right time, and progress your application as smoothly as possible.
For us to provide you with the most relevant information and details of suitable properties you must provide us with accurate and honest information relating to your credit history, financial status, and property requirements. Failure to disclose or misrepresentation of material information which forms the foundation of your application for a property is likely to result in your application being declined and your reservation payment being forfeited against the landlord’s wasted referencing costs.
The following pages contain more detailed information relating to how to rent a property through our agency, useful information during your tenancy and also what to expect when your tenancy is coming to end, including the process for returning your deposit.
APPLICATIONS
Before applying for a property, we need to make you aware of the following points:
- Until a completed application form and holding deposit are received, we are not able to reserve a property for you.
- All application forms must be accompanied by proof of identity.
- Anyone over the age of 18 who will be residing at the property will be required to complete an application form and must be named on the tenancy agreement.
- All prospective tenants are required to complete a UK Right to Rent Check and you will not be allowed to start a tenancy before this has been satisfactorily completed.
- The details in your completed application form will be passed to a third party who are a professional tenant referencing company and their terms for how your personal data will be handled are detailed on the final page of their application form.
- If you do not consent to receiving tenancy documents via e-mail, please notify us as early as possible within this process.
For properties in England, the Tenant Fees Act 2019 means that in addition to rent, lettings agents can only charge tenants (or anyone acting on the tenant’s behalf) the following permitted payments:
- Holding deposits (a maximum of 1 week’s rent);
- Deposits (a maximum deposit of 5 weeks’ rent for annual rent below £50,000, or 6 weeks’ rent for annual rental of £50,000 and above);
- Payments to change a tenancy agreement e.g. change of sharer (capped at £50 or, if higher, any reasonable costs);
- Payments associated with early termination of a tenancy (capped at the landlord’s loss or the agent’s reasonably incurred costs);
- Utilities, communication services (e.g. telephone, broadband), TV licence and council tax;
- Interest payments for the late payment of rent (up to 3% above Bank of England’s annual percentage rate);
- Reasonable costs for replacement of lost keys or other security devices;
- Contractual damages in the event of the tenant’s default of a tenancy agreement; and any other permitted payments under the Tenant Fees Act 2019.
Edmonton Estates Ltd are members of The Property Ombudsman and The Association of Residential Lettings Agents and subscribes to its codes of practice. This includes Propertymark Client Money Protection, scheme ref: C0016672
After applying to rent a property through our agency, we will conduct an initial viability check and confirm an agreement in principle with the landlord of the property. This means that provided your references are completed and returned with a status of Acceptable you will be offered a tenancy to rent the property starting from a mutually agreed date.
RIGHT TO RENT
For us to complete the set-up of your tenancy we need to verify your right to rent in the UK. There are several ways for you to prove your right to rent depending on your citizen status.
If you are not a British or Irish citizen, you can usually obtain a share code to prove your right to rent. This service is free of charge and simple to complete. Please follow the link below for full details on how to obtain a government right to rent share code:
https://www.gov.uk/prove-right-to-rent/get-a-share-code-online
You will need to provide us with this code and proof of ID before we can complete the set-up of your tenancy and allow you to move into your chosen property.
If you are a British or Irish citizen, you can prove your right to rent in England by showing us one of the following:
- a British passport (current or expired)
- an Irish passport or passport card (current or expired)
- a certificate of registration or naturalisation as a British citizen
If you do not have a passport, passport card or citizenship certificate, you may be able to use other documents to prove your right to rent. Please follow the link below to see what other documents we can use in this instance:
https://www.gov.uk/prove-right-to-rent/using-other-documents
If you are having difficulty obtaining the necessary right to rent share code or alternative documents please notify our office via e-mail (info@edmontonestates.co.uk) as soon as possible.
Without being able to verify your right to rent in the UK we will not be able to rent you a property, so it is vital that you complete this process promptly.
PAYMENTS
At Edmonton Estates we try to make payments as simple as possible, and when sending us funds electronically the account details will always be the same whether you are paying for a deposit, rent, repairs, or utilities. To receive our bank details so that you can make a payment please email this request to info@edmontonestates.co.ukand remember to include the property which you are making a payment for and if you are not the tenant the reason why you are making the payment. Please be aware that following the new money laundering legislation that was introduced on 14th May 2025 we will need to complete a money laundering risk assessment on third party payments which can delay disclosure of our banking details.
We also have the option for payments to be taken via a debit card over the telephone or in person at our office (by prior appointment). As mentioned before, if you are not a named party to a tenancy agreement we will need to complete a money laundering risk assessment on third party payments.
Cash payments will not be declined in certain circumstances. However, due to the nature of the property business and the money laundering regulations linked to it, this cannot be permitted to be a regular payment option for any tenant. If this will be a problem for you then please do not apply for a property with our agency
All payments are initially received into a ring-fenced client account which is externally audited annually by an ACA Registered Accountant before being submitted to ARLA PropertyMark for final approval before permitting us to continue with our membership renewal and renew our Client Money Protection insurance (CMP).
You can view a copy of our firm’s Client Money Protection certificate by clicking here.
TENANCY DEPOSITS
Edmonton Estates Ltd is a member of both the DPS and MyDeposits. Our primary scheme which is used for all new tenancies which we produce unless agreed otherwise in advance will be MyDeposits. A copy of the tenant information leaflet for this scheme can be viewed here and full details relating to the scheme are available by visiting the dedicated website at www.mydeposits.co.uk
MAINTENANCE
As specified in your tenancy agreement all maintenance should be reported to our agency in writing whenever possible via info@edmontonestates.co.uk and whenever possible please include a photograph of your concerns so that we can deal with them as efficiently as possible. There will be instances when a more immediate response will be required (water leaks etc) in which instance you should telephone our main office number 01553 66015. Outside of office hours this number will divert to the mobile phone of the on-call agent and provided that a clear message is left advising of the maintenance emergency and the property affected, action will be taken to resolve the issue as swiftly as possible.
During the Christmas holiday period as well as bank holidays please refer to the details contained on our CONTACT US webpage for operating hours and listings of contractors that can be contacted directly during these periods.
REPAIR RESPONSIBILITIES
The landlord of your rented property will be responsible for the majority of the repairs and maintenance that arise. However, there are some exceptions, and it is important that you are familiar with these. Below is a list of common items that tenants frequently contact us about which are not covered by the landlord:
- Lightbulbs of any description or type.
- Blockages to toilets and any other waste-water outlets
- Emptying of septic tanks during the tenancy
- Central heating boiler repairs incurred due to the failure to maintain the supply of gas (piped or LPG) or heating oil.
- Pests that were not present at the start of the tenancy. It is not the landlord’s responsibility
- Damage and mould as the result of condensation due to failure to correctly ventilate the property.
- Glass or glazing cracked or broken during your tenancy is contractually the tenants’ responsibility how-so-ever caused.
- Any breakages accidental or malicious caused by the tenants or their guests are not covered by the landlord and will be recharged to the tenant or their deposit.
This is not an exhaustive list but covers the majority of the issues that frequently arise which are mistakenly attributed to the landlord.
INSPECTIONS
At regular intervals throughout a tenancy, our agency will contact you to carry out property inspections to ensure that the standard and condition of the property is being maintained as expected. This will be arranged with you in advance and benefits both Tenant and Landlord as any repairs or periodic maintenance can be discussed and resolved.
CHECK INS/OUTS
Prior to moving into one of our rented properties you will receive an Inventory & Schedule of Condition for the home that you have chosen. This will be produced as close to your tenancy start date as reasonably possible to ensure that the document most accurately reflects the condition of the property when you move in. This document will then be used to measure the condition of the property when it is returned and determine whether the property has sustained any damage beyond the fair wear and tear that would be expected during the respective tenancy period. Full explanations of how fair wear and tear and apportioned compensation for landlords is calculated can be found at www.mydeposits.co.uk
Our agency does not produce inventories or complete check-out reports with tenants present. Instead, the inventory will be prepared in advance, and tenants will be required to sign to confirm receipt of the document and then permitted 7 days to review the content against the property and submit any discrepancies which will be added as an addendum. Whenever possible please do this via email and include a photograph with a written description.
At the end of the tenancy keys should be returned to our office unless an alternative location is agreed and we will then arrange for an agent to visit the property to carry out the final inspection. We aim to visit the property as swiftly as possible and most inspections are completed within 2 or 3 days of the keys being returned. However, during busy periods this can be up to 10 working days after the end of the tenancy as permitted by the deposit scheme rules.
ENDING YOUR TENANCY
If you wish to end your tenancy whilst renting one of our properties and have completed the fixed contract term of the assured short-hold tenancy (usually 6 months) then all you are required to do is give a minimum of 4 weeks’ notice in writing. We would prefer this to be in the form of an email sent to info@edmontonestates.co.uk but you can also write to our office, the address for which can be found on the CONTACT US page of our website. Please be mindful that your notice will start from the day after we receive it, which is why email is preferrable for all parties.
You can give longer notice than 4 weeks, to coincide with a future house move for example, but not less. If the dates do not align with your regular rent payment period, then we will calculate the pro-rata sum due so that you are not paying for a further full month and waiting for a refund.
Before leaving the property, please provide us with the following details:
- Your forwarding address
- The bank details that you would like your deposit refunded to.
- Confirmation of who the current utility suppliers are for the property which you are leaving.
Not providing a forwarding address will delay the administration of your deposit refund, as the deposit scheme expect us to obtain this information to assist them in validating that refund payments have been issued.
Once the final inspection of the property has been completed you will receive follow up correspondence from us confirming the status of the refund of your tenancy deposit and anticipated timescale for the conclusion of the deposit administration.
TENANT CONDUCT
We expect all tenants and those associated with them which our staff encounter to afford us the same level of common courtesy that you would reasonably expect when dealing with any other person. Hostile communications or actions, whether in person or remotely will not be tolerated.
During the history of the company, we have successfully brought criminal charges against several tenants for malicious communications, verbal abuse and threatening behaviour, and common assault. We have a legal duty to maintain the safety and welfare of our staff and contractors above and beyond any other concerns, and once such issues are
recorded against you, your tenancy will be ended using the most appropriate legal notice to the situation.
Apart from the fact that abuse of our staff will not be tolerated it is completely counterproductive to resolving any issues that you may have with your property or our firm. If there is a matter that you don’t feel we have resolved to your satisfaction then please refer to our complaints procedure which can be found in the POLICIES section of our website or email info@edmontonestates.co.uk to request a PDF copy.