Letting Guide

Whether you are letting for the first time or an experienced investor, our letting guide has some useful tips for you to follow when letting out your property. 

Step 1 – Accurate Valuation

Once you have decided to let out your property, the first thing you must do is have a market appraisal.  Andrew Craig offer a Free Marketing Appraisal so that we can determine the best achievable market rental for your property.  If you would like to arrange a free valuation of your property with no obligation, simply complete our Valuation Request form or call us on 0800 350 350.

Step 2 – Selecting a Management Level

The next step would be to choose how much involvement as a landlord you want to have with your tenant and property.  This includes the day to day maintenance, the monthly rent collection and other responsibilities.  At Andrew Craig we offer different levels of Property Management to Landlords which you can read more about here

Step 3 – Marketing the Property

As soon as you instruct us to market your property, we will prepare your property details including professional photographs and an Energy Performance Certificate, and your property will then go live on the market.  Your property will be advertised within the branch, in the branch windows, on our website and on the property portals Rightmove and OnTheMarket.com.

Step 4 – Selecting the right tenant

Once someone has viewed the property and decided that they would like to rent it, we will then let you know of the offer that they have put forward.  We will handle the negotiations on your behalf but it will be ultimately up to you to decide whether to accept the tenant or not. 

Step 5 – Reference and Credit checks

Once you have accepted a tenant, we will then carry out a reference check on everyone that will be living in the property and possibly any guarantors if applicable.  We do this to ensure that your tenant is in the right area financially to pay the rent on time and to make sure that they are not using a fraudulent identity. 

Step 6 – Signing the Tenancy Agreement

If there are no problems with reference checks then the tenant will sign the tenancy agreement online and then pay a set up fee, damage deposit and one month’s rent upfront.  We use an online system for signing tenancy agreements for speed and efficiency.   

Step 7 – The inventory

Before a tenant moves into your property, a full inventory should be carried out.  At the end of the tenancy the inventory can be referred back to to measure the condition of the property to see if anything has been damaged or needs replaced, so that the tenant's deposit can be returned back to them or not.  

Step 8 – Tenants move in

Once the tenants have moved in you should arrange a number of visits per year to check the property and to ensure that the property is being well looked after.  If you choose Andrew Craig to fully manage your property, we will complete quarterly inspections on your behalf.