How to close a potential agreement loophole

Tenacious tenants have got fire in their belly's and they could trip you up when it comes to out-of-hours maintenance.

Did you know that when it comes to emergency repairs, it is actually an 'opt out' scenarioUnless an agent makes it clear in writing, at the start of each tenancy, that it does not provide an out-of-hours property service, both landlords and tenants can acceptably assume you will provide emergency cover outside of office hours and at weekends. If you're not clear, headstrong tenants might hold you to your non-specific tenancy agreement, leaving you open to cover emergency repairs you haven't budgeted for. For some tenants 'knowing their rights' and causing you difficulties are one and the same thing.

Roy Fuller, Sales Director at Everything Lettings, comments: "A growing band of vocal renters, spurred on by the likes of charity Shelter, online forums and organised 'anti letting agent' demonstrations, are making their voices heard. While not representative of every tenant in the land, there are some that have a grudge against lettings agents. They will use any loophole in a tenancy agreement to get the upper hand, such is their bitterness."

So, you have to come clean from the start and state if you're a 9-5, Monday to Friday business only. This in itself can cause problems; disappointing service-hungry landlords and giving your better-equipped rivals the competitive edge.

But what if there was another alternative The Everything Lettings Home Emergency Helpline is designed for agents who want to offer out-of-hours cover but who do not have the resources or time to do so. Our Home Emergency Helpline allows agents to state in a tenancy agreement that out-of-hours maintenance is provided but by partnering with us, the agent doesn't have to lift a finger.

Everything Lettings uses a combination of professional call handlers and a bank of hundreds of tradespeople to provide nationwide emergency maintenance cover. The line can even be white labelled, so the tenant hears your agency name when the phone is answered. Use Everything Lettings to close a possible loophole and show your tenants you take duty of care and service level agreements seriously.

Everything Lettings - providing the rental industry with property maintenance plans, gas safety care programmes, boiler leasing, 24/7 365-day emergency maintenance cover, utility switching, EPCs and PAT testing.

Everything Lettings - Tel 0844 272 2442 Mobile 07970 840561 E: tellmemore@everything-lettings.co.uk W: www.everything-lettings.co.uk