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Services
Executive Lets, Property Letting Agents Plymouth, Devon UK
Residential lettings in Plymstock, Ivybridge, Mannamead, Mutley, Saltash and many other areas of Devon and Cornwall
Why consider letting your property?
There are now many more houses and flats to rent in the United Kingdom and as a home owner you may have many reasons for considering letting your property. If you are a private owner you may, for a variety of reasons need to move away from your home but be unwilling or unable to sell. Or perhaps you have inherited or bought property to let in order to finance your future retirement. What you don't want is to let your property only to find when it is handed back that it has fallen further in value through the negligence of bad tenants. That's why at Executive Lets we rightly advise, "better an empty house than a bad tenant".
Many property investment companies and private investors now see that the housing market offers a good long term investment. They are prepared to purchase a property and appoint reputable residential letting agents in order to find a good tenant to provide a regular income. Their property will be in safe hands and should prove to be an appreciating asset in addition to providing a steady rental income with a yield of between 5% - 10% depending on the property.
Why appoint Executive Lets as your Agents ?
Executive Lets has built up expertise in all aspects of letting and selling quality properties and our professional team will give you expert advice on such matters as:-
- The best marketing strategy
- The type of tenant to be targeted
- The rental value of your property
- Whether to offer your property furnished or unfurnished
- All legal and moral responsibilities of landlords and tenants
- Future saleability of the property and the right time to sell
Over the years Executive Lets has consistently been able to achieve a higher level of rental together with an occupancy rate in excess of 95%. We believe this has been achieved by offering landlords a fair and honest appraisal and marketing of their property. The result is that we can find a good tenant for you who will appreciate your property. Yes - in all walks of life disputes occasionally occur, but we at Executive Lets will guarantee to always attempt a fair and honourable settlement of dispute agreeable to all parties.
For the Professional Investor, Executive Lets will also advise if required on the best type of property to purchase for both rental income and capital growth.
What reassurance can Executive Lets offer
It is reassuring for our landlords to know that with our origins firmly in the top end of the quality letting market Executive Lets also has an enviably low record for any loss of rental or loss caused by damage which has not been paid by the tenant. So much so that Executive Lets was the first letting agency in Plymouth to be appointed to offer the coveted Letsure Gold Rent and Legal Protection Policy. We understand that we were the first letting agency in Plymouth to be able to offer both Letsure Gold, Plus Rent Protection Policies. Our valuers will describe in detail the differences between these various policies if required. According to our market research this excellent policy goes further than any other tenant insurance policy on the market, see the specialist brochure for full details.
Our services
- Visiting the property to take details, provide advice on rental levels, tenancies, tax and insurance aspects of letting.
- Advice on suitable furnishings, equipment, pictures, etc., for luxury letting. [Advertising the property in the appropriate media] and informing local companies and armed forces of availability of property.
- Accompanying prospective tenants to view the property.
- Personally interviewing prospective tenants and obtaining appropriate references.
- Drawing up Tenancy Agreements and Notices as required under the Housing Act 1988 and attending to the execution thereof.
- Drawing up a detailed inventory prior to the commencement of the tenancy and inspection on termination of the tenancy.
- Handing over keys and completing the creation of the tenancy.
- Collection of rents, rendering monthly statements of accounts and crediting the owners nominated account with all monies due.
- Regular inspections of the property and submission of reports to the landlord where necessary.
- General day to day management of the property to include dealing with all tenant and landlord related problems, arranging repairs and maintenance as directed, organisation of any emergency works and administration of insurance claims. (An extra charge may be made for the administration of insurance claims)
- Advising SWEB, South West Gas and SWWA (where appropriate) of the change of tenants.
- Note: Landlords and tenants must communicate directly with British Telecom to transfer
- telephones.
- Re-direction of owners mail as and when received at agents office.
- Preparing and serving any notices to bring the tenancy to an end or if appropriate, notices in respect of any breach of covenant by the tenant, and (providing this contract includes the managed letting protection policy) making claims to the scheme on the owner's behalf.
Insuring your property
As quality letting agents we can also arrange property and contents insurance policies for you which do not incur special exclusion clauses for let properties. Executive Lets has negotiated a special arrangement with one of Britain's major insurance companies that will cover loss or damage to the contents of your let property even if there is no sign of forcible entry or exit. This means that should a tenant accidentally leave a window open or a door unlocked, your contents are still covered.
Legal Advice
We are strong believers in ensuring the best service for your property and therefore we use top legal advice so that you can be assured that your property is in good hands. Recent legislation concerning gas and electricity inspections and certification, together with tough new regulations concerning the furnishings in let properties mean that landlords must know they have the best possible advice through an experienced and careful agent. In addition the exact presentation and wording of leases under the 1988 Housing Act must be carefully adhered to so that there can be no dispute over the type of tenancy intended. Our leases have been tried and tested and together with our expert advice we believe we offer the best service in this area.
Accounting
We believe our accountancy systems are second to none, using specialist computer software which is continuously updated to ensure that all rentals and leases are carefully monitored. Rentals from tenants and payments from landlords are checked and sent through the Bankline electronic banking system, thereby saving time and money in interest and bank charges for our landlords. Detailed monthly statements are sent to each Landlord (with copies of all invoices for repairs supplied free of charge) as well as Year End statements necessary for your tax returns (also free of charge). Whilst we recommend the use of an accountant Executive Lets will give general advice concerning the tax implications of letting and how best to reduce the tax liability to a minimum.
Some Building Societies have in the past attempted to increase interest rates when a property has been let. We are delighted to state that to date most building societies have appreciated that it is better to have their mortgage protected by a property that is let and managed by a reputable agency as opposed to being left vacant and the increase in interest has usually been cancelled for every property managed and let by Executive Lets .
Selling your property
In response to many requests Executive Lets has developed a new option for meeting the requirements of owners who are torn between selling their property or letting it. We can successfully market your property to sell and to let at the same time thereby ensuring that you receive the best deal possible in the current market and with no confusion or competition between different agents competing over your property. We can also market it within our rent-to-buy scheme. We are expecting a strong demand for this type of transaction which can help the successful sale of your property to tenants who might otherwise be unable to raise the deposit required.
Should you decide you wish to sell the property, or if you are undecided whether to sell or rent then we can provide you with the best of both worlds.We work closely with a leading Estate Agent in the City.. At no extra cost to yourself we can instruct them to offer the property for sale whilst we have it to let. Should a sale occur first then they pay our advertising expenses.If a let is obtained then no charge is made and you are free to decide at a later date if you wish to sell the property.
We have tried to keep this introductory information brief as we do not believe that you wish to read through pages of advertising for ourselves. Each property is unique with a different set of circumstances surrounding it's letting and we would like to spend time with you as individuals making sure that we achieve the best deal for you. You obviously have some important decisions to make about letting your property and what type of tenants you want - for example will you accept smokers, or people with pets - and we want to ensure that we give you the right advice for your particular property. Suffice it to say that the management service we provide is completely comprehensive. If you have any queries which are not covered in the enclosed Management Agreement please do not hesitate to telephone us.
Before you decide to appoint us as your agents one of our senior staff will visit and value your property. The rental values we quote are usually exclusive of gas, electricity, council tax and water rates or charges.
We do however have a strong demand from Companies for completely serviced lets with high rentals achievable for properties inclusive of services and cleaning. This is an excellent way for letting a top quality property with the landlord receiving a higher net rental and having the assurance that our housekeeper will be visiting and cleaning the property. These lets to senior management involve low wear and tear and Executive Lets are undisputed experts for this type of letting.
When you have decided to entrust your property to Executive lets please complete and return the Management Agreement which you have been given by our property manager. You will then receive a complimentary unique check list for furnished and unfurnished properties together with an aide-memoir to ensure that the move goes smoothly and nothing is forgotten.
Some of our owners prefer to receive the full five star service where they just hand over the keys and walk away. There is no extra charge for this service other than for actual expenditure incurred by us - all receipts for this expenditure are presented to you, costs are taken from the rental and accounted for in detail. In several cases we have carried out major refurbishment of properties on behalf of the landlord, together with the negotiation and purchase of furniture. There is sometimes a negotiated nominal management charge for large projects of this type.
Fees
- Management fee of 11% of rental achieved.
- Fee equivalent to half the first month's rental on finding a suitable tenant.
- In the unlikely event that the Landlord has received less than six months rent from the previous tenant, then no initial fee will be charge for the subsequent let.
- Our charges are inclusive of the costs of advertising, photography, references, inventories, inspections and maintenance management.