Landlord terms of business

Letting your property

Valuation and preparation

We assess the property, discuss an appropriate advertised rent and advise on presentation and the information needed before marketing. We explain relevant letting requirements, including licensing, safety documentation and the rules applying to assured periodic tenancies in England.

Marketing and viewings

• Prepare property particulars, photographs and a floor plan where included in the instruction.
• Advertise on our website and the property portals agreed with you; use appropriate applicant, relocation and marketing channels.
• Arrange a letting board where permitted and supply details to suitable applicants.
• Conduct accompanied viewings, keep you informed of interest and submit offers for your decision.

Please provide the access arrangements and keys required for viewings. Where we use a sub-agent, we remain responsible for our agreed service and any sub-agent commission is not an extra charge to you unless expressly agreed in advance.

Applicant checks and tenancy preparation

• Take application details and arrange proportionate references for tenants and any guarantor.
• Complete the applicable Right to Rent checks before occupation, including lawful follow-up checks where required.
• Prepare the tenancy agreement, guarantor documentation where appropriate and required written tenancy information.
• Provide the relevant safety certificates, energy information and any government information required for that tenancy.
• Collect the agreed deposit and either arrange protection and prescribed information or transfer it under documented arrangements identifying who will protect it.
• Book an independent inventory or check-in service where you instruct us to do so.

You approve the applicant and proposed tenancy terms. Referencing is an assessment, not a guarantee of future payment or conduct. If you withdraw after authorising work, only the abortive-transaction charge and expenses properly payable under your agreement may be charged. Tenant holding deposits are not a fund for paying our fees.

An independent inventory clerk is responsible for their own professional work. We remain responsible for the reasonable care and skill required in selecting and instructing suppliers within our service. Where you receive the tenancy deposit directly, you must ensure protection and prescribed information within 30 days of receipt.

During the tenancy

For both service levels, we receive rent, provide statements and send the balance to you at the agreed intervals after deducting our fee, authorised expenditure and any tax deduction required under the Non-resident Landlord Scheme. With your permission, statements can also be sent to your accountant.

We administer agreed tenancy correspondence, assist with re-letting when a tenant leaves and, where instructed, prepare the statutory rent-increase notice. Any increase must follow the applicable Section 13 process. Specialist valuation evidence and representation at a tribunal are not included in the routine service.

Rent arrears

1. 01

   First contact

   When an instalment is more than 7 days overdue, we seek payment from the tenant by the available contact channels.

2. 02

   Report to the landlord

   If payment is not secured within 7 days of our first approach, we explain the position to you and continue reasonable collection efforts.

3. 03

   Further action

   At more than 28 days in arrears we report again. You decide, with appropriate legal advice, whether to instruct a solicitor or take other lawful action.

Our reporting dates are management milestones, not possession grounds or legal notice periods. We do not guarantee rent, fund a shortfall or conduct litigation as part of the standard service. Legal costs and any separately agreed attendance are additional.

Deposit proposals at the end

Please give prompt written instructions about any proposed deduction, normally within 10 working days of the tenancy ending. Deductions require evidence and must allow for fair wear and tear. Once the parties agree the amount to return, the deposit must be returned within 10 calendar days; disputed sums remain protected pending resolution.

Full management

Full management includes the letting and rent-collection activities above, together with the following services for the instructed property.

Property visits

We arrange at least two routine visits each year, subject to lawful access and the tenant's rights, and can provide a written report. These are visual reviews of apparent condition, not structural surveys or a warranty that every defect has been identified. Additional visits for serious management issues are arranged where reasonably necessary.

Where attendance is needed because a tenant cannot be present, an agreed attendance charge of £25 and waiting time of £25 per hour may apply. These are Wingate charges with no VAT added. Necessary non-emergency access is arranged with proper notice and agreement; an inspection does not create a right to enter without permission.

Funds and property outgoings

You must keep sufficient cleared money available for authorised expenditure. We are not obliged to advance our own funds. We may pay properly presented property costs from available rent, including authorised insurance, utilities, safety checks, ground rent and service charges, and will query obvious discrepancies.

A normal maintenance float is £300. A higher float, including £500 where expressly agreed for your property, must be documented. The float remains client money available for authorised costs, is replenished from net rent where agreed and is reconciled when the service ends. It is not an additional management fee.

Repairs and emergencies

Unless your instruction sets a different limit, routine repairs can be authorised up to £300 in total, including any supplier VAT. Above that amount we seek your approval and a quotation where practicable. For urgent threats to safety, security or the property, we may arrange reasonable protective work if you cannot be reached in time.

Emergency examples include a serious water leak, a suspected gas escape, dangerous electrics or a break-in leaving the property insecure. Contractors remain independent suppliers. Their charges are plus VAT where applicable; we will disclose any referral fee or other financial interest before instruction. No undisclosed supplier mark-up is authorised by these terms.

Insurance claims, notices and disputes

We can help administer an agreed property insurance claim. For claims exceeding £1,000, additional administration may be charged at 10% of the claim value, with no VAT added, only where the scope and charge have been approved beforehand. Insurers may not reimburse that charge. We do not provide regulated insurance advice.

We forward planning, party-wall and similar notices for your instructions. Straightforward management correspondence is included; prolonged neighbour, freeholder or managing-agent disputes, specialist appointments and other additional work require agreement on scope and charges.

Check-out and deposit evidence

Where an inventory clerk is instructed, we review the check-out report, obtain reasonable costings where needed and submit proposed deductions for your approval and the tenant's consideration. Check-in and check-out supplier costs are payable by you, not charged to a tenant as an inventory fee.

Statutory compliance and authority to instruct

Where compliance administration forms part of our instruction, you authorise us to book necessary inspections, renewals and reasonable remedial work and to pay the authorised cost from available funds. Your underlying statutory responsibilities remain in place.

We normally obtain approval before work exceeding the £300 VAT-inclusive spending limit. Urgent safety action or work required to meet an enforceable deadline may need to proceed first where delay would create a serious risk. We notify you and account for the cost. External work is plus VAT where the supplier lawfully charges it.

An appointment as managing agent does not by itself transfer every fire-safety duty or make Wingate the sole responsible person. The duties of any responsible person depend on the law and the actual control of the premises.

What is not included

Unless specifically agreed in writing, the standard services do not include:

• Taking over responsibility for transferring utility accounts or council tax. We may pass on lawful occupation information, but the account holder remains responsible for registration and payment.
• Obtaining lender, freeholder, superior-landlord or co-owner consent. You must secure all necessary permissions before letting and supply any relevant lease restrictions.
• Checking that your insurance cover is sufficient or arranging insurance advice. Tell your insurer about the letting and any vacant period; consider the risks and cover appropriate to your property.
• Personally certifying gas, electrical, furnishing or structural safety. We arrange suitably qualified external services where instructed; their professional fees are additional.
• Structural surveys, specialist planning advice, litigation, tribunal advocacy or lengthy disputes. A separate instruction and fee are required where we can lawfully assist.
• Assuming statutory fire-safety responsibilities which the law places on you or another responsible person.

Items of financial or sentimental value should be removed or properly insured. For a non-managed property, any optional safety work or contractor appointment requires a separate instruction and sufficient funds in advance.

Ending the service

The service continues during the relevant letting until ended under the signed agreement. Any continuing-introduction commission must be clear, fair and expressly agreed; it must not be hidden in a general reference to associated tenants or other properties.

Either party may end the standard service on at least two months' written notice, normally ending at the close of a rental period, unless a different lawful arrangement is agreed. During notice we continue the instructed service and the usual agreed deductions. This does not remove rights arising from a serious breach or any applicable consumer cancellation right.

If a consumer instruction is concluded at a distance or away from our business premises, the applicable cancellation information must be supplied. Work during a statutory cancellation period requires the appropriate express request, and any payment for work already performed must be lawful and proportionate.

Handover and deposits

We reconcile rent and authorised expenditure, arrange the transfer of records and keys and identify who will manage the property afterwards. Ending this agency appointment does not end the tenancy. Deposit transfers must follow the protection scheme's requirements and preserve the tenant's rights.

Where deposit administration must continue after our appointment ends, any additional work is charged only as agreed in writing, normally at the additional-work rate. We do not retain a tenant's deposit to secure payment of a landlord's agency bill.

Additional fees and external costs

The following schedule keeps agency charges separate from independently supplied services. No VAT is added to a Wingate fee. A supplier's VAT, where applicable, forms part of that supplier's charge; it is not VAT charged by Wingate.

What the £200 administration package covers

• Deposit registration administration and prescribed information.
• Applicable anti-money-laundering and identity-check administration.
• Online or other agreed document-signing administration.
• Preparation of the assured periodic tenancy documents.
• Right to Rent administration, including required follow-up checks where instructed.
• Preparation and submission of evidence for a deposit dispute where we administer the protected deposit.
• Agreed routine possession-notice administration included in the instruction.

The signed schedule must identify anything excluded from the package, including external-provider charges. We will not charge a separate notice or dispute-administration fee for the same work already included in the package.

HMO licensing and planning

We can provide general guidance and administer an agreed licence application, but we are not planning consultants. Licensing and planning permission are different requirements; obtaining one does not necessarily satisfy the other.

You must establish whether the property needs mandatory, additional or selective licensing, planning permission or other consent. Obtain specialist advice where necessary, provide the relevant permissions and comply with licence conditions, occupancy limits and any local requirements.

For an application we may request the information required by the authority about ownership, management arrangements, fitness and propriety, relevant convictions or findings, housing-law judgments, resources for repairs and any management orders or refused licences. Sensitive information is requested only to the extent lawfully necessary.

The administration fee is separate from council charges and any specialist advice. We do not guarantee that an application will be approved.

Data protection

Wingate and the landlord must comply with applicable UK data-protection law when handling applicant, tenant, guarantor and contractor information. Each is responsible for the purposes and means of processing that they independently determine; different arrangements must be documented where the actual relationship requires them.

• Use personal information only for identified lawful purposes and share only what is needed.
• Apply appropriate technical and organisational safeguards, access controls and confidentiality requirements.
• Use suitable written arrangements for processors and assess safeguards for international transfers.
• Cooperate where needed on rights requests, security incidents and regulatory enquiries.
• Notify the other party promptly where a relevant personal-data breach affects information shared between us.
• Maintain appropriate records and delete or anonymise information when there is no continuing lawful need.

Our Privacy Notice explains our processing purposes, recipients, retention and individual rights. A change in data-protection law may require a corresponding update to working arrangements. No clause in an agency agreement gives unrestricted permission to use or disclose personal data.

What you confirm to us

When instructing Wingate, you confirm that:

• You own the property, jointly own it with the necessary consent, or have documented authority to act for its owner.
• All permissions needed to let will be obtained before occupation, including any lender, freeholder, co-owner, planning or licensing consent.
• The property, furnishings and supplied equipment comply with the safety and housing requirements that apply.
• You will provide accurate information about defects, restrictions, notices, disputes, insurance and changes affecting the letting.
• You will supply the funds and decisions reasonably needed to manage the property and will not instruct us to breach the law.

Please tell us immediately if any confirmation becomes inaccurate. We may decline or suspend an instruction that would involve unlawful conduct, while taking reasonable steps to protect affected tenants and client money.

Complaints and regulatory details

Please raise concerns with our Complaints Manager at info@wingateestates.co.uk or 020 4531 0143. You can also write to 233 Regents Park Road, London, England, N3 3LF. We acknowledge complaints within 3 working days and aim to issue the initial response within 15 working days of acknowledgement. A final internal review is available.

Property Redress is the independent route for complaints within its remit. Allow up to 8 weeks for our investigation and follow its current referral conditions. Its service is free to complainants. Deposit deductions can also be disputed through the relevant deposit-protection scheme; these are separate processes.

Registered company

15700396 · England and Wales

Registered office

233 Regents Park Road, London, England, N3 3LF

Property Redress

PRS046304 · published certificate valid to 10 June 2027

Client money protection

Propertymark CMP · C0139849 · published certificate valid to 30 November 2026

ICO registration

ZB701860 · published certificate valid to 13 June 2027

Current certificates should be checked when needed, particularly at renewal. The detailed Complaints Handling Procedure is available from Wingate on request. These terms concern residential property in England; a company let, commercial arrangement or other excluded tenancy needs terms appropriate to that transaction.