Lease advice for Students and Parents

Landlords of flats for students can have a fairly dreadful reputation.

A few of them deserve that reputation, but there are plenty of good landlords out there too.

If you have a youngster going off to university or college and they are taking on the Lease of a flat along with others you may have been asked to act as Guarantor. But do you know what you are letting yourself in for?

These are a few of the things to consider:

Is there a deposit payable?

If so, does the Lease give you details of where that deposit is going to be lodged? Landlords have to lodge deposits with a recognised Tenants Deposit Scheme. If they don’t they can be liable for a penalty of up to three times the amount of the deposit.

Is the landlord registered with the Local Authority?
Is the house registered as one for multiple occupancy?
Does the Lease provide that your child might be liable for the entire rent for the flat in the event of any of his or her flatmates defaulting?

These are all things that you should be aware of and know what you are letting yourself in for.

We can check the lease for you

The procedures for entering into a Tenancy Agreement are not entirely straightforward and getting it right is important for both landlords and tenants. Entering into a Lease is a fairly substantial financial commitment and deserves to be treated like an investment. If something goes wrong with the Lease it could turn out to be quite expensive. You really need to know what your rights and liabilities are so it pays to do some homework.

Hastings Legal are the largest solicitor letting agents in the Borders

We have considerable experience in acting for both landlords and tenants. We know the system well and one of our solicitors would be more than happy to check over your Lease and let you know if there are any potential problems which might not be immediately obvious.

“On the first day of college you worry about how you will do inside college. On the last day you wonder what you will do outside college”Amit Kalantri