Residential Lettings and Management, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

mail@johncaveproperties.co.uk - 01242 261 679

The Students Guide


Viewing

To view a house, please telephone the office on 01242 261679 or email us at mail@johncaveproperties.co.uk and we will sort out a mutually convenient time for you to look.

House Booking Process

Having chosen your property that you wish to move into, we will then ask for your group’s full names, mobile numbers and email addresses, so that we can start the booking process for you.

We will then email you copies of the short Application form, followed by a Confirmation letter, your Tenancy Agreement, Guarantor Agreement and details about how to pay your Deposit. Please take some time to read through the documents and if you have any questions, then please let us know !

In order to then secure the house, we need your group’s application forms returned and the initial deposit contribution paid, before you then sign your Tenancy agreement.

That’s it, job done. Your house is now booked !

Deposit

Like your Rent, your Deposit is an individual responsibility. It is though fully refundable to you within 10 days after the end of the contract, subject to there being no damage or rent arrears. We do though accept fair wear and tear and minor breakages and in fact very rarely make any deductions.

The Deposit amount is £400 and is paid in 2 contributions. The first £200 is paid when you book the house and the balance £200 before you move in.

Please note, we fully comply with the Tenancy Deposit Legislation, with our compliance provider being The Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS). You canfind out more information about the Deposit Legislation on https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection.

Rent

Like your Deposit, your Rent is an individual responsibility and is ‘quoted’ on a weekly basis and paid by Bank transfer, either by semester or monthly.

Rent is payable for 10 months from September - June (inclusive), but with only half rent paid over the summer months of July and August.

This is an example of what we mean by being fair and reasonable as a number of other Landlords now expect 50 week Contracts or even a full year at full rent.

This means you can occupy your House during the summer, if you wish, with the exception of the first two weeks of July, whilst we take back the house and undertake the initial cleaning process.

And finally ! It’s not necessary to spend upwards of £100.00 or more per week, to get a decent house. It’s expensive enough going to University and we strongly believe that the value paid for the accommodation you occupy, should be fair and reasonable.

Client Money Protection

As from 1st April 2019, Client Money Protection became mandatory. Accordingly therefore, with us your rent and Deposit money is fully protected by Client Money Protect (CMP) to fulfil this legal requirement.

This means that in addition to the protection afforded by the Deposit Legislation for your refundable Deposits, your rental monies are also now protected aswell.

Utility Inclusive Cap

The Bills inclusive part of your rent is though “capped”, which currently is £200.00 per month, which remains one of the most generous caps in the town.

Furthermore, unlike some other Landlords, this amount is aggregated evenly across 12 months and not by Quarter, which means you benefit from offsetting the milder spring and summer Quarters against the more expensive autumn and winter Quarters.

Basically, another example of being fair and reasonable.

House hand over

As you will appreciate, our first responsibility is to get the houses handed back from the current years group at the end of their Tenancy and whereas in the past we have allowed keys for the new Tenancy to be released on the 1st July, this has now proved to be difficult and has resulted in a number of problems.

To tackle this issue, we will now not be releasing keys for the first two weeks of July.

If however we have all the keys returned early from the outgoing group, we will get the checking out and subsequent cleaning process completed early. We will then be in a position to release keys to the house earlier than the first two weeks of July.

In other words, the first two weeks of July vacant period will only be a guide, although either way if you wish to store any of your belongings, this will not be a problem and can be done.

Parental Guarantees

In light of the fact that Students effectively have no income, it is a requirement that either a Parent or Guardian signs a basic Guarantee. It is a simple document and in essence means that the Guarantor ‘indirectly’ has the same responsibilities as the Student themselves and will therefore act accordingly in the unlikely event that the Student fails to pay their rent or damages the property, less the amount of the held deposit.

However, Guarantors are not responsible for any other Tenant.

Lettings and Administration Fees

We do not charge any Lettings or Administration Fees for Student Accommodation. All these costs are covered by the respective Landlord's.

Council Tax

Currently, all full-time students at University are exempt from Council Tax. However, in the event a Student leaves the University but stays in the house, that Student will become liable for the Council Tax for the entire house (usually with a 25% discount), on which basis, we do require any Tenant ceasing to be a Student to inform us immediately so that we can let the Council know.

The Contract

The letting contract is basically a standard Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement under the Housing Act, although with some very minor modifications to reflect Student INCLUSIVE use and in addition, to comply with the requirements of the University of Gloucestershire - in particular, that rents are not “joint and several”.

Basically you and their Guarantor are not liable for any other Student.

Insurance

Your house is insured by the Landlord, although this cover does not extend to any of the personal possessions that a Student may bring. However, getting individual insurance is actually not straight forward, predominantly as we do not fit Bedroom doors with locks, unlike the University Halls of Residence.

There are a number of reasons for this, including Safety and the fact that the house may not be defined as being "shared" if rooms have locks.

Inevitably, in the increasingly bureaucratic world that we live in, this has a number of potential implications, in particular, on the eligibility for one "shared" TV license.

It is strongly recommended therefore that Insurance is taken out, not least as “opportunistic” theft is on the increase and sadly in particular targeting the Student community.

Options for you to consider therefore are

  1. an individual stand alone policy or
  2. potentially (if possible) for your Parent or Guardian to extend their own Household Insurance to cover Portable Possessions for you.

It is our recommendation though to go with Option 1 and purchase your own policy. Cheltenham based Endsleigh Insurance are an option to consider as they are a specialist Student provider of choice.

For more information on this please click the following link: https://www.endsleigh.co.uk/student/student-contents-insurance/.

Safety

We take the safety of our Students and Tenants in general, very seriously and will take a dim view of any individual compromising this standard.

All our houses comply with the both the relevant Health and Safety Legislation (including the new HMO Regulations, where applicable) and where applicable University requirements. All the properties have electrically connected smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors and are comprehensively Safety tested on an annual basis resulting in both Electrical and Gas safety certificates being issued.

Please note: We do not allow the burning of candles or any incense and likewise, smoking is not allowed in any of the houses. Anyone burning a carpet, in any capacity, will be required to purchase a new one. Hence the suggestion to have insurance.

Maintenance

All of our houses have been the subject of considerable refurbishment and regular upgrading; furthermore they all are well maintained and thoroughly cleaned at the Tenancy commencement.

But in the event that there are any problems, please contact the office on 01242 261679 or email and we will endeavour to resolve the problem with immediate effect.

However, in the event that the problem is identified as either neglect or ill treatment, the cost will be apportioned accordingly.

Telephones

Some of the houses have an incoming telephone line, generally as a consequence of the provision of the Broadband connection. However, this will not allow normal outgoing calls, with the exception of 999 and certain Free Phone numbers.

TV License

All of the Houses are provided with a Television License (which also covers Students own TV's) and in most cases have TV aerial’s fitted with a socket installed into each Bedroom, thus allowing you to install a digital freeview box into your own room.

Broadband Internet

We now provide all the houses with fast cable wireless Broadband, as opposed to a hard wired local area network, as part of the Inclusive rent package.

Room Locks

Unlike a Halls of Residence, where you may not know your neighbours, we do not fit locks on room doors, not least as you will be sharing a closed house with friends of your choosing.

Reasons for this include the potential impact on the single TV licence, damage to doors and of course Health and Safety in the event that you are locked in a room and cannot get out. If however you have a genuine reason to be concerned about this, then please let us know.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

With effect from 25 May 2018 The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) replaces the existing Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). In order therefore to ensure compliance with the regulation, the following are the important area’s which we are required to highlight in general:

  • John Cave & Co., is your data controller
  • John Cave & Co., is your data processor
  • Your data is processed only for the legitimate reason that we hold it
  • We do not share your data with anyone other than John Cave & Co., other statutory bodies as and when required and if required, remedial contractors such as plumbers, gas engineers, electricians and so on in the event that a mutually agreeable meeting needs to be arranged
  • Your IT data is stored within the UK and is password protected
  • What hard copy data is kept is reference code protected and stored in locked and alarmed premises
  • Your data is not used for any marketing purposes at all by anyone
  • We will only contact you about the service we provide to you in our capacity as your Letting & Managing Agent
  • The data which we hold on your behalf is held in accordance with our legal requirements for up to seven years

However, in the event we collect Data in light of any respective Letting, then we will promulgate a full Data Protection Fair Processing Notice in order to support the Data we collect.

What if I change my mind and want to leave

If you decide you do not want to occupy the house either before or after the tenancy starts, then you or the rest of your group need to find someone to take your place.

Once your replacement has signed a contract and a new deposit has been paid, then you can be released from your contract and your Deposit returned.

Government produced 'How to Rent' guide

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has also produced a very helpful guide to the letting process aswell. Clearly it is somewhat “generic” and seems therefore to have little in the way of Student specific letting detail. However, ultimately the principles remain the same, not least as we still deliver the same supporting administration process that we do for Private Tenancies. It does periodically get updated, so by checking the following link:- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-rent you should get the latest version.



Reputable Residential Property Lettings and Management specialists located in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

All material and opinions presented on this website are provided for information purposes only and are not intended to form part of any offer or contract. Further, our policies and practices may change at any time without notice. Details of all properties are provided from information received, and their accuracy cannot be guaranteed.