If one of the tenant’s fails to pay or causes damage to the property, we want to have the backup that any rental arrears or costs for any damage will be met by the guarantor. For tenancies that are joint and several this will reduce the chance of any costs being passed back to the group giving protection to all the other students and their guarantors.

We are professional and thorough with our procedures and it is likely that any previous agent or landlord were simply not as thorough as we are. However, it is for everyone’s protection that we have the guarantor agreement in place for the reasons explained above.

We require a copy of either a photo card driving license or passport and a recent utility bill (dated within the last 3 months). We need this information to confirm you are who you say you are and live at the address provided.

All applicants will be required to pay a refundable holding deposit and to sign a pre tenancy agreement when securing a property. The holding deposit will either be £50 or 1 weeks rent, depending on the property, and will enable us to withdraw the property from our marketing. Applicants are at risk of losing the holding deposit should the following occur: –

Should the prospective tenant(s): –

1. Withdraw from entering into the full tenancy agreement.
2. Provide false information for referencing (including undisclosed adverse credit history)
3. Fail to act reasonably to enter into the tenancy before the deadline for agreement, they will be liable for the reasonable costs incurred by the Landlord and his Agent. In most circumstances these reasonable costs will exceed the value of the holding deposit; however, they will be limited to the value of the holding deposit.

The holding deposit will be retained should any of the above points occur and will cover or contribute to the following costs. Should the Landlord or Agent decide that the costs incurred do not require the whole holding deposit to be retained they will arrange for any surplus amount to be returned to the prospective tenant(s), without interest, as soon as possible. A refund to pay any one of the joint and several prospective tenants will be considered adequate as a total refund to all concerned. The cost considerations that may be deducted from the Holding Deposit can include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Costs of any reference or credit checks sought
2. Costs of any administration undertaken to prepare for the tenancy
3. Costs of re-advertising the property to let
4. Costs of any guarantor agreements
5. Costs, in lieu of rent, of keeping the property empty for the tenant(s).

If a tenancy agreement has not yet been signed, and provided it’s been no more than two weeks since a holding deposit has been paid, we will, in most cases, be willing to transfer this deposit to another Fresh property. However, please note that we’re only able to transfer a holding deposit once.

We are instructed on either a ‘Managed’ or ‘Finders Fee’ basis, so it will depend on the landlord’s initial instruction. The prospective tenants should ask the question at the outset and we as agents will point this detail out during the paperwork process. In reality, it should not be a concern either way. For ‘Managed’ instructions the tenants will of course know that they will be dealing with the Fresh team and will benefit from our professional office set up. However, we only do business with ‘Finders Fee’ landlords that we know have a good reputation. If they did not we would get to hear about it.

We respectively point out that parents and guarantors are not the legal tenants of the property and should not communicate with the landlord or agent concerning tenancy related matters. We will, on occasions, discuss some matters with parents. However, this will be at the Landlords or Agents discretion.

All information will be handled and stored in line with the Data Protection Act 1998. All information will be stored and handled electronically and any paper documents are destroyed in house in line with the data protection act 1998. All documentation will be erased within a reasonable timescale of the tenancy ending and all payments settled. Information you provide can be sent to third parties for the purpose of debt collection and credit assessment if the agreement terms are not met. All information you provide is managed and handled with the strictest of confidence.