Buy Rent

We are proud to be a Propertymark approved letting agent, so you can be sure of best practice when you rent with us, including helpful advice and transparency of charges.

If you have rented a property before, you may already be aware of many of the procedures involved, but for those who have not, we hope you will find this checklist useful.

Fully Regulated

Alwyne Estates are members of Propertymark (ARLA) and have been for over twenty years. Our lettings department is fully regulated by ARLA and we fully comply with The Property Ombudsman Code of Practice for Residential Letting Agents. In addition, we are a member firm of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme and a member of the NFoPP Client Money Protection Scheme.

Narrowing down your budget

When looking for a property you should be mindful of your budget and what you can afford per month. At Alwyne Estates we have a strict affordability guideline which you must pass as part of the referencing process. To pass on affordability without the need of a guarantor or rent upfront, you must be earning 30x the monthly rent.

For example, if you are applying for a property that has a monthly rent of £1750.00, you will need to have a salary of £52,500. Calculations as follows - £1750.00 x 30 = £52,500.

Bonuses and commission may not always count so it’s always best to look for something within your fixed salary.

There are additional bills as well as the rent to counter in – council tax, gas, electricity, water, broadband etc.

A guarantor must have an annual salary of 36x the monthly rent.

Scheduling in and viewing properties

The next stage to finding the right property for you is to look on the Alwyne Estates website and appropriate portals Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket. All websites mentioned have a useful search engine which allows you to input exactly what you’re after – min and max price, min and max number of bedrooms and your ideal location. The available move in date, tenancy length and furnishing level are also vital points to take note of.

To book a viewing we are contactable via online enquires (through the Alwyne website and portals), phone 02073593191 or email info@alwyne.co.uk. Once confirmed you will receive an email from us with the necessary information for the viewing.

Our Lettings Negotiator will meet you outside of the property.

The viewing is your time to ask as many questions as possible and gain a real idea of the property and area. The rental market moves extremely fast and most of the time an offer will be accepted based on the initial viewing.

Submitting an offer

Our offer form will be sent to you prior to the viewing. All offers should be made through Alwyne Estates.

Please note we do not accept an offer from somebody who hasn’t viewed the property in person.

The offer form will need to be completed with the required information. It will then be sent onto the landlord and if they are happy to accept it, you will receive the offer acceptance document. This will have the offer written out as accepted and any necessary information you need to know.

A holding deposit of one weeks rent must be paid to secure the property and take it off the market. This is non refundable in the event that any relevant person (including any guarantor) withdraws from the tenancy, fails a Right to Rent check, provides materially significant false or misleading information, or fails to sign their tenancy agreement or guarantor form.

We will countersign the offer acceptance document once the one weeks holding deposit has been received.

Referencing

Once the acceptance document has been signed, we will submit your details to the third party referencing company we use. They will send you a link to their online referencing portal where you will need to supply all of the required information and complete the application. You will be asked for details of your current employer, previous landlord and addresses, right to rent and passport, bank statements, proof of funds emergency contact and some further general information. If you are self employed, you will need to provide your accountants details or the most recent tax return you filed.

For a tenant to pass the affordability check they must be earning a minimum of 30x the monthly rent.

For a guarantor to pass the affordability check they must be earning a minimum of 36x the monthly rent and be a UK based homeowner.

Tenancy Agreement

Once the referencing checks are completed, we will send them onto the landlord for their approval. A tenancy agreement will then be sent to you via DocuSign to sign and complete. Subject to whether you have a guarantor or not, a guarantor form will be sent to your guarantor via DocuSign which they need to complete. At this same time, a deal sheet with the outstanding balance will be sent to you via email with our bank details. The deal sheet will include the first months rent and outstanding four week security deposit. The outstanding balance must be cleared at least 14 days prior to moving in. Once all monies have been received we can countersign the tenancy agreement on the landlord’s behalf and issue the TDS Certificate.

Before moving into the property you will need to come by the office with your passport for us to take a copy in person.

Move in Day

Keys can be collected at our office 286 St Pauls Road London N1 2LH from 12pm onwards on the day the tenancy is due to begin.
A check in inventory will take place in the morning.

You will receive a welcome email from us which includes copies of the tenancy agreement, TDS Certificate, gas and electrical certificates, EPC, how to rent guide, Alwyne Management leaflet, what is the TDS, the bank details to pay rent to and details of who to contact for any maintenance issues throughout the tenancy. https://www.alwyne.co.uk/emergency-numbers

You will need to inform the relevant local authority for the Council Tax and chosen utility providers of your move. Usually you will need the
meter readings to arrange for this.