Here at Leicester Student Lettings we understand there is a lot to organise when you're due to move, so to help make things a little easier, we have tried to answer common questions that we have been asked in the past.
If you find we haven’t answered your question below, please do not hesitate to contact us on info@leicesterstudents.co.uk or give us a call on 0116 2551 333 and we’d be happy to help.
We may charge a tenant any or all of the following when required:
We shall continue to apply the charges within the existing tenancy agreement until 31st May 2020.
Once you have viewed a property with us and decided that you’d like to make a reservation.
This can be done by either coming into the office, making a bank transfer or by making a payment over the telephone.
We will then prepare a tenancy agreement for you to sign detailing the instalment dates going forward.
We may charge a tenant any or all of the following when required:
We shall continue to apply the charges within the existing tenancy agreement until 31st May 2020.
What is a holding deposit?
By paying a holding deposit, you are agreeing to take a property but haven't yet signed the tenancy agreement. We will stop marketing this property to other prospective tenants. The property is held for you, subject to contract and satisfactory checks and references on you and your guarantor. If the tenancy does not go ahead because you or your guarantor fails these checks you will lose the holding deposit. If you pull out or change your mind you will also lose this deposit.
The Holding Deposit is intended to compensate us for any abortive administration costs and/or other losses incurred resulting from your application for this tenancy and the removal of the property from the market. This may include loss of rent.
If you do not provide us with the necessary documentation in the time frame required to enable us to create an Assured Tenancy Agreement, carry out credit checks or send out Guarantor Mandates Form we will retain your holding deposit in its entirety and you will not be entitled to a refund.
Please Note - Holding deposits do not have to be protected in a tenancy deposit protection scheme.
Security deposit
Once you have provided us with the required information, you and your guarantor have passed our credit checks and you have signed and return all requested documentation, we will convert your holding deposit into a security deposit - we will then protect this in a Government approved deposit scheme.
The payment of a deposit is used as security against damage or getting into rent arrears.
A tenancy deposit protection scheme will pay back as much of your deposit as you are entitled to at the end of the tenancy. It also provides an alternative dispute resolution service that can be used if there is a disagreement about the deposit at the end of the tenancy.
To make it easy everything can be completed online. We will email you a link to your email address you gave us where you will be able to complete your details, review your Tenancy Agreement and sign it digitally. Alternatively, you can come into the office to sign in person if you wish.
A Guarantor is a UK Home Owner that acts as a guarantee that they will pay your rent if you the tenant failed to do so. They would be responsible for your rent should you become unable to pay during your rental period.
If you are unable to provide a Guarantor who is a UK Home Owner then we can help you, we would just ask that you pay in two instalments instead of four. Alternatively, you can contact housing hand who provide guarantees for tenants who do not have a suitable guarantor. You can contact them using this link http://www.housinghand.co.uk.
Most of our properties have gas, electric, water and internet included (please ask for further details on which properties do not include bills).
Instead of having to compare utility prices and arranging contracts for you and your friends we keep it simple for you.
Each tenant pays a utility contribution of £500, this covers you for the usage of gas, electricity, water and internet!
*Please note - a fair usage policy does apply:
Where each tenant agrees to pay £500.00 towards the cost of utilities (gas, electricity, water and internet). The landlord will contribute the same amount of £500 for the full rent period, whether the premises remains occupied or not. Upon expiration of the tenancy agreement, meter reads for gas, electricity, water and internet (total cost of internet over the year) will be taken by the Landlord’s agent. Any services which exceed the Tenant’s and Landlord’s combined contribution will be payable equally by the Tenants.
As a full time student you are exempt from council tax fees, so naturally you would not have to pay this. You would need to give us a council tax exemption certificate which you can obtain from your university admin office by 1st October. Should you fail to give this to us you may be charged for council tax until this is provided.
If you are a professional letting from us you will be required to pay council tax. Please contact us for more information.
No, all our costs are outlined clearly in our tenancy agreement which you will have the opportunity to read before signing.
All student tenancies are for 12 months (1st July – 30th June) but in most cases you will get the option of only paying half price rent for 8 weeks during July and August if you’re not moving in over the summer.
Our contact lengths can vary, i.e. if one of our existing tenants is leaving half way through the academic year, then of course the length of your tenancy will be different. If you have any further questions in regard to contracts or contract lengths please do not hesitate to contact us.
If you would like to live in the property from any point during July and August, you must let us know from the beginning of your application process. This way we can ensure the property and documents are ready for you. You will be required to pay your full rent for the summer period. This applies for the full property rent, even if only one of you wishes to move in over the summer.
We advertise our student properties as a ‘per person per week’ rental price as we understand this can make it easier for you to budget and compare with what you have paid previously. To convert this to a monthly price always remember it is not as simple as times by 4 (as there is actually 4.33 weeks in each month).
One way to calculate the monthly cost is to do this: E.g. £100(pppw) x 52 (weeks in a year) / 12 (months in a year) = £433.33 (monthly rental for the property)
Provided you have notified us in advance and have booked your room then you can leave your belongings in your room over the holidays, you would have to pay the Summer Retainer in order to do so.
You need to get in touch with us and tell us straight away. Depending on when you cancel your booking, certain charges will apply.
You will need to let us know 2 weeks in advance of the first person arriving to collect the keys. That person will then visit the office, sign any remaining paperwork and collect a set of keys for each of you.
We prefer if you use our GoCardless system which acts like a direct debit and is hassle free for both us and you. However, if it is agreed with us, you can pay via Bank Transfer, or a card payment (charges apply). International students can make online bank transfers.
This varies from situation to situation, for small issues, if you are able to simply repair them then please go ahead. For example, if you owned a house and the light bulb blew, you would not pay for an electrician to come change the bulb for you, so why would a landlord be required to do this?
For some helpful and handy tips on the little things you might be able to repair yourself, click on our maintenance FAQ’S page.
For any maintenance issues you are unable to repair we have a dedicated maintenance team which you can contact to resolve any problems that you may have. They will endeavour to address any problems as soon as they can. All maintenance issues can be reported through our website by clicking ‘Report A Repair’at the top of the page.
Please note, should there be any damage which has been caused intentionally by a tenant or through tenant negligence, you will be liable for the cost of the repair. For example, if a sink has been blocked due to misuse and waste being disposed of incorrectly, then this is tenant negligence.
Once you have reported a repair, the maintenance team are unable to inform tenants when they will be coming in to make repairs. This is due to the large number of queries they receive on a daily basis. It is assumed that once a maintenance issue has been reported, tenants are happy for our maintenance team to attend to the issue(s) as and when they can during our normal office hours (depending on the level of urgency).
Please call Regent Security on the below number and they will assist you as best they can (charges apply):
Contact Regent Security on 0845 371 0101
Quote – 70946
If you lock yourself out when our office is closed please contact Regent Security on the below number and they will let you in (charges apply):
Contact Regent Security on 0845 371 0101
Quote – 70946
If you lose your keys, you will need to let us know immediately. We can provide you with a new set, but you will be liable for the charges of this. (Should lock changes be required due to misplaced keys, this is something we will arrange, but you will be charged for!) So please take care of your keys!
You legally need to purchase a TV Licence if you are watching television in your room or in the communal areas.
You should always insure your belongings, especially expensive items like laptops, tablets and phones.
As students, you may have lots of possessions during your time at university, from computers and laptops to expensive jewellery pieces. Shockingly, over one quarter of student's aren't insured. Students are amongst some of the highest for loss of items or getting things stolen, so why risk it?
Contents Insurance is key, whether you add it to your parents home contents insurance as items temporarily removed from the home, or you get an affordable quote from comparethemarket.com. It will cover you for fire, flood, storm and malicious damage as well as theft, if the property has been broken into.
Of course, you want to avoid this as much as possible so remember to:
We recommend you first discuss the cleaning with your flatmates and work out an agreed time for cleaning before you all check out so that the work is divided fairly between you. If the flat hasn’t been cleaned to a certain standard when we complete the check-out inspection then we will make appropriate charges which will apply to everyone in the flat.
We recommend you first discuss the cleaning with your flatmates and work out an agreed time for cleaning before you all check out so that the work is divided fairly between you. This includes emptying cupboards and the fridge/freezer. Anything that is left in the freezer once the whole flat has checked out will be removed and a charge may apply.
We do charge for damages, however, if the person responsible for causing the damage is willing to take full responsibility then we will only charge that person. If no one accepts the responsibility for damages in a communal area then the charge will be split between everyone in the flat. If this happens, you can discuss this further with a member of our reception team.
If you have a valid tenancy covering the time period, then yes you can. We just ask you to label any items in shared areas to confirm that they belong to you and not to someone else who has already checked out. This will help our cleaners.
This varies depending on your property so check with a team member at reception well in advance of your check-out date. It is likely that the latest time will be 12:00 noon on the last day of your tenancy.
Not unless you have booked to continue staying with us in your room and have a valid tenancy. Anything that is left once you have checked out will be removed as we have to get the room ready for the next tenant. A charge may apply if we have to remove any leftover belongings, so please remember to clear everything out when you leave.
This depends on your room and property, so please speak to the reception team regarding extending your stay or to discuss your options.
Possibly yes, this is to be fair and consistent with our approach. We encourage you to complete the inventory thoroughly when you first move in. We also document any damage on our own inspections so you may find that we have a record of this damage.
As we need to get rooms ready for our next tenants, we cannot allow things to be left in your room after your tenancy end date. You must clear all your belongings from your room, and from any common areas, before 12pm on your check out day. If you don't do this then we will dispose of your belongings without any liability, so please ensure you take everything with you.
As we only have limited space for parcels and post we cannot keep mail once your tenancy has ended. All items delivered after the tenancy end date are returned to the sender.
Yes, we will be happy to do so. There is a charge of £20 per landlord reference. Once this payment has been made we would be happy to provide a reference for you.
Shortly after you leave, we will conduct an inspection of your property. We’ll inspect your room and the communal areas against your check-in inspection report to make sure the room is clean and there isn’t any damage. If there are any issues with your room, we’ll get in touch with you via email with more information relating to any charges. If your room and the communal areas are all ok then you will get your deposit back within 28 working days of your tenancy end date.
Whilst we aim to get your deposit back to you as soon as possible, please bear in mind that June/July/August is our busiest time of year. Your deposit will be returned within 28 working days after your last day (providing there are no disputes).
