Our great new site is 100% FREE for the 1st 3 months for private people and agents to advertise property across France – you can list both sales and rental properties.

So, if your renting out or selling your UK property for a move to France – then we have a great new site for you to look for your dream French home.

It will of course be some time before the site is built up, but, we are going to actively market the site and have no doubt it will be a huge success very quickly.

So, if you have or are looking for a French Chateaux or a French Chambre D’hotes, a B&B, a Gite complex maybe or just that perfect family home then French Property Advertising has them all.

UPAD

Visum.co.uk are not the only online letting agents in the UK, there are two others to mention, UPAD and MakeUrMove, both nearly twice as expensive as Visum.co.uk.

In a bad economy for everyone it does seem strange for UPAD to almost double their prices (from £69+VAT to £99+vat).

At Visum we try to keep our prices as low as possible by ensuring we utilise the latest and greatest technology.

So, now UPAD are nearly £120 (unless your VAT registered which is unlikely for a landlord as you would have to charge VAT on your rent then) and MakeUrMove, whilst claiming to be free are really £120 in credit check fees that is a real obstacle to tenants, these two make Visum amazing value at just £29.38.

Come take a look at our online letting agents services at Visum.co.uk to see how we can help landlords find tenants quickly with our tenant finder service and our rightmove advertising.

Online Estate Agents

If you are looking at selling a house then there is an alternative to the more traditional estate agents of yester year.

Take a look at our “how to sell your house” article for further reading

Online Estate Agents

Online Estate Agents

Online Estate Agents

Selling a House – what are the choices?

When it comes to selling a house in the UK you do have a number of choices believe it or not.

You can go the traditional route and use a normal estate agent, pay the normal fees (read our article on estate agents fees), complain about the fees, complaing about the lack of service and support you received for all that money, or…

Use Visum-Sales.co.uk – an online estate agent who help with selling a house for a flat fee!  No commission, no hidden costs, don’t believe us?

Selling a House – Visum-Sales

Visum-Sales.co.uk is our online estate agent who, like with our landlord clients offer a unique service to people looking to sell their house fast, without paying huge commissions.

With Visum-Sales you pay a flat fee of £300, that’s it, no other costs, this fee gets your property advertised on all the major portals like rightmove.co.uk and primelocation.com.  We send around our surveyor who will measure up the property, write up the details, take the photos, create a floorplan, the lot.  We also take the calls, arrange the viewings with you and help with the negotiations.

Take a look at our further article on “how to sell your house” and “online estate agents” to find out more about online estate agents and your options.

Selling a House

Selling a House has never been easier, or more affordable, and, in todays tough economy every penny counts.  Take a tour of Visum-Sales now to find our more about selling a house fast yourself with the backup of an online estate agent.

When can a landlord increase rent?

You should check your Tenancy Agreement, because there may be a rent increase clause in there which would have been agreed and signed at the start of the tenancy. The procedure in the agreement should be followed.

If the tenancy agreement makes no provisions for the landlord to make rent increases, then the landlord has two options to increase rent:

• Renew the tenancy agreement at the end of the fixed term but at an increased rent.
• Landlord and tenant can mutually agree on the rent increase, which should be agreed on paper, so there is evidence. Write down the agreed rate, and both tenant and landlord should sign the document for the record. This is often referred to as a Rent Increase Agreement.

Note, the rent cannot be increased during the first fixed term stipulated in the tenancy agreement.

If the tenant disputes the increase, then the landlord can serve a Section 13(2) Notice of the Housing Act 1988, proposing an increase in rent, at the end of the fixed term.

What is a Section 13 Notice

The simplest way to make a rent increase is to make a Rent Increase Agreement or by renewing the tenancy agreement. However, failing this, serving a Section 13 Rent Increase Notice would be the next step

Section 13 Notice

The Housing Act 1988 provides for a Section 13 Notice to be issued by the Landlord to the Tenant in order to increase the rent after the initial fixed period has expired, and the tenancy is in the statutory periodic tenancy.

This route is not available in those cases where the Tenancy Agreement already provides stipulated terms for rent increases.

The Section 13 Notice must provide the following details:

• Details of the Landlord and/or his Agent
• Details of the Tenant
• Details of the Property
• The amount of the increased rent and any other increased charges
• The proposed commencement date

The landlord must serve the section 13 to the tenant, giving the Tenant at least 1 months’ notice where the rent is paid on a weekly or a monthly basis. For a yearly tenancy, a period of six months’ notice is required before the increase can be put into effect.

Free Section 13 Notice template download

Download your free Section 13 Notice in our free landlord tenancy pack on Visum.co.uk.

Landlord Registration Scotland

Under Part 8 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004, almost all private landlords must apply for registration with their local authority. The local authority must be satisfied that they are fit and proper persons to let property, before registering them.

The system of landlord registration Scotland will make sure that all landlords meet minimum standards and will remove the worst landlords from the sector. It will allow tenants and neighbours to identify and contact landlords of private rented property, and provide information on the scale and distribution of the sector in Scotland for the first time.

More detailed information about landlord registration Scotland is available from the Scottish Government’s Better Renting website. This site provides information on the legal rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants, and advice on best practice.

Information on the legislation underlying the requirement, and how the detail of the scheme has been developed and consulted on, is provided on the Scottish Government website.

Landlord Registration Scotland – Who has to register?

Anyone who owns residential property in Scotland which is let must apply to register with the local authority for the area where the property is located, unless they are covered by one of the exemptions below. It is the owner of the property who must register. In some cases this may not be the “landlord” who has the letting agreement with the occupier.

Owners must declare any agents that they use to manage their property. An agent may be a professional such as a letting agent or solicitor, or a friend or relative who looks after the property, arranges repairs, collects rents and so on. Agents may also register in their own right if they wish. If an agent acts in relation to more than 2 properties, it is cheaper for them to register separately.

You can also register if you do not own any property, to check that you will be considered fit and proper before you invest in property to let.

In some cases the owner of a property leases it to an organisation or person who then acts as the “landlord” for the occupiers. For example, a private owner may lease a house to a company which lets it out to its employees, or to a charity which lets it to people in need. The lessee may also use an agent to manage the tenancy. In these cases the owner needs to register and the “landlord” is treated as an agent. The agent managing the tenancy must also be declared, this will also include “tied” property and sublet property.

Landlord Registration Scotland – Exemptions

Exemptions apply to properties rather than to people. If all of a landlord’s properties in a particular local authority area are covered by one or more of the exemptions, he or she does not need to register with that authority. If some of his or her properties are exempt, the other properties must still be registered. A property is exempt from registration if it is:

• the only or main residence of the landlord, where there are not more than 2 lodgers
• let under an agricultural tenancy and occupied by the agricultural tenant (please note that any properties that you let WILL require to be registered – including tied property, unless specifically exempt e.g. holiday accommodation)
• let under a crofting tenancy
• occupied under a liferent
• used for holiday lets only
• regulated by the Care Commission, in certain categories
• owned by a religious organisation and occupied by a leader or preacher of that faith
• occupied only by members of a religious order
• let to members of the landlord’s family only
• held by an executor for a period less than 6 months
• possessed by a heritable creditor for a period less than 6 months
• owned by a person acting as a insolvency practitioner for a period less than 6 months, unless the appointment is made by the Accountant in Bankruptcy. In that case, crown immunity applies and there is a permanent exemption from registration.
• owned by a local authority or Registered Social Landlord

If you are unsure whether an exemption applies to you, please contact the local authority where your property is located for further advice.

Properties subject to an HMO licence also have to be in included on the register, but licensed landlords will be automatically entered on the register by the licensing authority. Owners must declare any additional non-HMO properties they own.

Landlord Registration Scotland is here to stay, so, contact your local authority to find out what you need to do next.

Rent Guarantee Insurance

Rent guarantee insurance is one of the best policies on earth!  Sure, it’s a cost you could rather do without, but, it really does cost so little, and, generally most policies offer so much that to not take it is not a good choice.

Even the best tenant, who had the best credit score and reference report can lose their job, and, what is the first bill they stop paying… their rent, where does that leave you?

Rent Guarantee Insurance – what is it?

Rent guarantee insurance generally covers the landlord for:

• Rent for 12 months (from the 1st month of defaulting)
• Legal costs through to getting the property back
• Court fees
• Some element of damage

Rent Guarantee Insurance – cost?

Obviously this depends on a few criteria, the number of tenants and often the value of the monthly rent.

At Visum.co.uk, our rent guarantee insurance is only based on the number of tenants upto a high rent, and is around £65 for one tenant and £95 for two tenants, this is an average.

So, what is £65 throughout a year?  A fiver a month.  Compare that with the peace of mind you get knowing that if things go wrong with the tenant you are covered and your mortgage gets paid.

Rent Guarantee Insurance – How do I get it?

You have to take the insurance before you take the tenants (of course…), so, before you sign a tenant up you need to go through tenant referencing, again through Visum.co.uk tenant referencing is free to the landord.  If the tenant passes the referencing procedure then rent guarantee insurance will be offered to you, you do not have to take it, but it is offered.

Rent Guarantee Insurance – Summary

Take it, don’t let your property without it.  It’s quick and simple to arrange through Visum.co.uk – lets go get your rent guarantee insurance in place now!

Tenant referencing – why?

To reference your prospective tenants is probably one the most important things you can do as a landlord.  A property is an expensive asset, and, these people are more than likely complete strangers, so, it’s best to know who you are letting into your property!

It is a lot more cost effective to do this up front than get lumped with some tenants who don’t pay, destroy your house and are anti-social and costs you thousands to evict.

Tenant referencing – How?

Referencing tenants has never been simpler, or quicker.  At Visum.co.uk, our sister site you can create a free account and simply and quickly fill in the form and we will do the tenant referencing for you, within 24-48 hours you will get a professional tenant reference report back detailing their history, financial, work etc.  You do not have to have advertised with us, or take any other services, we WILL reference your tenants for free!

To create an account is free, you will then see a link to create a reference report, it takes 2 minutes.

Tenant referencing – Cost?

There is NO cost to the landlord to reference your tenants, you can reference as many tenants as you like.  We charge the tenants £45 for tenant referencing, which is one of the industry lowest and certainly no expensive barrier to stop them taking up your tenancy.

Tenant referencing – rent guarantee insurance

If tenants are referenced through us, we will be able to offer you rent guarantee insurance for the complete piece of minds, at a price we guarantee you cannot beat, sure, everyone says that today, but we mean it!

Tenant referencing – summary

Never let a tenant into your house without a full tenant referencing service.  It costs you nothing, takes around 24 hours for us to complete, takes you 2 minutes to start the process, and, with the tenant referencing report in hand you can then decide if you wish to take rent guarantee insurance or not for total piece of mind.

How to evict a non paying tenant

So you have a non paying tenant, how to evict a non paying tenant?  what damage will they cause, where do you turn, where do you start?  There are so many questions and handling situations like this are never easy because human emotion comes into play and you want to go around and shoot someone, certainly that is how we often feel, even as letting agents non paying tenants are the same headache, if they pay no rent we earn no commission and landlords get upset with us.

Evicting a tenant who is not paying their rent always starts with the serving of either a section 21 or a section 8 notice.  A section 8 notice is really what should be used for rent arrears, but, there are reasons sometimes not to.

How to evict a non paying tenant

Rather than go into length here, on whether to use a section 21 notice or a section 8 notice we will pass you over to our sister site, Visum.co.uk - they have a lot of advice in place and an great automated system that will fully guide you through creating the section 8 notice or a section 21 notice, it’s foolproof, faultless, tried and tested and takes 2 minutes to get it right.  Be warned, ALL eviction proceedings MUST start with an eviction notice and 70% of landlords get it wrong, and have their case thrown from court, so, if you have a tenant not paying rent and you have waited 5 months to get your court date, do you want to have it thrown out on a technicallity of an incorrect notice, to have to fill it in again and wait another 5 months with no rent coming in, do it once, do it right, use Visum.co.uk for automated eviction notice creation.

How to evict a non paying tenant

How to evict a non paying tenant, simple, do it right, do it once, use Visum.co.uk automated eviction notice generation system, just £19.99, takes 2 minutes, tried and tested, foolproof system, immediate notice creation, fully completed, immediate download in PDF format, and, Visum are on hand to answer any queries once you start the process.

Tenant Eviction – overview

When ever you want to evict a tenant from your property, for what ever reason, you HAVE TO always start the process with either a section 8 notice or a section 21 notice.  There are no exceptions to this rule, it does not matter if you are at the end of the fixed term tenancy period, or the tenants owe you thousands in rent, you must start with an eviction notice, and the right one filled out in the right way!

70% of landlords use the wrong notice or fill it out or serve it on the tenant in the wrong way, this just gets you kicked straight out of court costing you thouands, be warned and read on.

Tenant Eviction – Rent arrears

If your tenant owes you rent then you would normally evict with a section 8 notice.  Generally you only use a section 8 notice if the tenant is a full two months in arrears for monthly tenancies or 8 full weeks for weekly tenancies.  These are the only mandatory grounds for a section 8, you can still use a secion 8 notice to evict a tenant for persistant late payment, but, this is non mandatory.

You can download a free section 8 notice template or, we have an automated system that is childs play, you fill in some really basic information and our system creates a perfect section 8 notice every time for you to immediately download and print, the system explains when and how to server the notice on the tenant.  The details are stored in our system so you can re-produce the notice at any time, just £19.99 – now that’s value compared to the cost of getting it wrong!  It only takes a couple of minutes to complete the section 8 notice.  Use our tenant eviction system to generate your section 8 notice now!

A section 8 notice does require that you as the landlord OR a legal representative attend court!  That is one downside, but, if you win the case you will be get a CCJ agains the tenant and can pursue rent owed.

Tenant Eviction – other reasons

If you need to go through tenant eviction proceedings for other reasons than rent owed, such as selling your home, new tenants, need to move back into your property, then you would use a section 21 notice.

There are two types of section 21 notice, both can be download from our site in our free landlord tenancy pack.  One type is for when your tenancy is still within the dates of the Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement and one is when you are outside these dates and in a periodic tenancy.

As explained earlier in our section 8 notice, we have an automated system that will create your perfect section 21 notice each and every time, the right type, the right format with the right information in place, each and every time, court tested and approved, just £19.99.  Go create your automated section 21 notice now, it takes about 2 minutes.

Tenant Eviction – summary

Tenant Eviction can be quite complex if you do not do it right, you must use a section 8 or a section 21, and, 70% of landlords get this wrong, it’s confusing, time consuming, so, we recommend using our automated section notice tools to take the pain and worry out of tenant eviction.