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What does this all mean?

There may be times when a member of our team uses a word or abbreviation that you may not have heard before. If you don’t know your EPC from your EICR or your ARLA from your TDS, the below handy guide is here to help.

  • AST – This refers to a Tenancy Agreement and stands for ‘Assured Shorthold Tenancy’.
  • Deposit/Bond – A sum of money collected from a tenant at the start of a tenancy, held in a protected scheme, and can used at the end of a tenancy to pay toward any dilapidations/cleaning within the terms of the AST and deposit laws
  • HMO – House in multiple occupation
  • Landlord – An individual or company who owns and lets property/s
  • Fixtures and Fittings – include references to any of the fixtures, fittings, furnishings, or effects, floor, ceiling or wall coverings
  • TDS – Tenancy Deposit Scheme (A deposit protection scheme)
  • DPS – Deposit Protection Service (A deposit protection scheme)
  • Studio Flat – A dwelling consisting of one main room with open place living room/bedroom/kitchen
  • Guarantor – Someone who guarantees an obligation of another person – in the case of property and lettings, a person who guarantees the tenancy agreement on a financial basis
  • Holding Fee – A partial payment of the deposit
  • Notice Period – An amount of time that a tenant or landlord must provide prior to a tenancy ending
  • Prescribed Information –  Information which the Housing Act 2004 Sections 213 (5) – (6) and The Housing (Tenancy Deposits) (Prescribed Information) Order 2007 require to be provided to the tenant within 14 days of the deposit having been received.
  • Right to Rent – Checking ID by viewing the original document and holding a copy of file. Right to rent is guided by government regulations and more information can be found: https://www.gov.uk/check-tenant-right-to-rent-documents
  • Arrears – Money which is unpaid and owed in part or whole after the due date specified in the AST
  • Initial Term – The first term period of the tenancy
  • Inventory – A schedule of condition of the property, to include a list of all fixtures, fittings and free standing objects
  • Schedule of Condition: This describes the state of fixtures and fittings and free standing articles and that of the property itself
  • Jointly and Severally – A legal expression where two or more persons are held equally responsible under one tenancy. Each person can be held responsible for the whole of the tenancy as well as ‘Their Share’.
  • Periodic Tenancy – Either Contractual Periodic; a tenancy which is contracted by agreement to run from month to month or Statutory Periodic; when a fixed term comes to an end and the tenant remains, by agreement, in the property under the same terms and conditions as the original agreement and runs from month to month or quarter to quarter, depending upon the basis on which the rent is paid.
  • Termination – The ending of a tenancy
  • ARLA – Association of Residential Letting Agents. (A Professional Body)
  • CMP – Client Money Protection. An insurance scheme that covers any money handled by a lettings agent, whether you’re a landlord, tenant or other client.
  • EPC – Energy Performance Certificate
  • EICR – Electrical Installation Conditioning Report (Fixed Wire Test)