FAQs

Common questions and answers for our Landlords & Tenants.

What areas do you cover?

We have our head office in Peebles but cover the Scottish Borders, Edinburgh and surrounding areas including Peebles, Innerleithen, Galashiels, West Linton, Biggar, Penicuik, Melrose and Tweedbank.

What services do you offer?

We offer full letting agent services and can fully manage your property which includes marketing your property, advising on preparation of your property for marketing and letting, vetting and referencing tenants, preparation of Private Residential Tenancy documents, check in and check out of tenants, condition reports, organising of safety certificates, managing any repairs required and rent collection.

We also offer Landlord Insurance, Tenants Insurance and can arrange residential and buy to let mortgages as well as any other specialist finance.

How do you select Tenants?

This is probably one of the most important factors in letting a property and we ensure that reasonable steps are taken to research the prospective Tenants’ background to include instructing an independent credit reference company to make searches from bank, employers and previous Landlords.

Do you allow pets?

If you decide that pets will be allowed, we normally take an extra 50% deposit to cover any extra cleaning or damage.

Do Tenants have to pay a deposit?

Tenants pay a deposit equivalent to one months rent. The deposit will be returned to the Tenant(s) when they terminate the tenancy providing all the terms and conditions of the tenancy agreement have been met.

Should there be any contravention of the Tenancy Agreement, the costs incurred are deducted from the deposit and only the balance is refunded to the Tenant(s).

Deposits are held with Safe Deposit Scotland or My Deposit Scotland.

For ‘Tenant Find’ only properties, it is the Landlord’s responsibility to register the deposit with one of the appropriate schemes. We are happy to advise you on this.

What sort of Tenancy Agreement do you use?

We use Private Residential Tenancy agreements which are individually drawn up and are standard in Scotland. These are accepted by all major mortgage providers.

During the tenancy

When do the Tenants pay their rent and when do we receive our payment?

All rents are due monthly in advance and rent received by us will be transferred into your account, or one nominated by you, within 10 working days of receipt of cleared funds. We will send you a ‘statement of account’ at the time detailing the rents collected and expenditure incurred by us while acting on your behalf as your managing agent.

How do we know whether our property is being looked after properly?

For our Managed Properties, we make regular visits to all the properties on our register and you will be advised of any problems that are found during these visits. We also visit the property for other reasons such as late or non-payment of rent, following up problems as reported by the Tenant(s) or if we believe the Tenancy Agreement may have been breached.

Who is responsible for repairs and general maintenance?

Generally, you are responsible for all costs incurred for repairs and general maintenance. We have a comprehensive list of local accredited tradesmen we use or, alternatively, we will be pleased to follow your instructions and use your nominated contractors should you wish.

Who is responsible for garden maintenance?

Under the terms of the Tenancy Agreement, your Tenant(s) are responsible for your garden and its maintenance and it is, therefore essential that sufficient tools in good working order are included in the inventory for this to be carried out. If your Tenant(s) fail to carry out garden maintenance, we will arrange for the service of a professional gardener and charge the Tenant accordingly.

N.B. It is unlikely that your Tenant(s) will do more than keep the grass cut and borders weeded. If you wish to maintain your garden to a higher standard, please feel free to discuss this with us.

Can we visit our property during the period of tenancy?

Yes. However, we request that prior arrangements are made through our office in sufficient time for us to advise your Tenant(s) and the correct notice is given to the tenant.