What is a Lead Tenant?
Do you know who your Lead Tenant is?
It's really important you know who your Lead Tenant is for your tenancy, as they take on a lot of responsibility of behalf of the household.
What is a Lead Tenant?
A Lead Tenant is an appointed person who will act as the primary point of contact for their tenancy. It's really important to familiarise yourself with who your Lead Tenant is, as a large amount of communication will be sent to them on behalf of the household.
Signing Up For Your Property
Lead Tenants are appointed as soon as a property has been chosen and the holding deposit paid. It's the decision of the whole household who the Lead Tenant will be, but it's important to make sure that whoever is chosen is responsible and a good communicator. Before nominating someone, make sure they are happy to act as Lead Tenant for the tenancy. It's worth noting that your Lead Tenant cannot be changed during the tenancy, unless in exceptional circumstances, so choose wisely!
Starting Your Tenancy
Once you've placed your holding deposit, you'll be given three weeks to complete all your paperwork and provide proof of identification. If there's anything outstanding during this process, we'll contact your Lead Tenant to discuss this.
When your tenancy is due to start, we'll contact your Lead Tenant and advise them of:
key collection details
rent payments
completing an inventory
Paying Your Rent
During your tenancy, all rent payments will be due from one single bank account - we would normally expect this to be that of your Lead Tenant. We recommend all tenants set up Standing Order to go to the Lead Tenant each month, with their share of the rent, before the rent payment is due. The Lead Tenant should then set up a Standing Order to pay the full amount of rent to Seekers.
Please bear in mind that your tenancy will be joint several and liable, meaning all tenants are responsible should any payments be missed. Should any arrears arise during your tenancy, we would contact your Lead Tenant about this, who should then inform and advise the rest of the household. If we're unable to resolve the arrears within seven days, then all guarantors would be contacted.
Reporting Maintenance
Any tenant can use PropertyFile, our property maintenance software, to report any maintenance issues; however, we would recommend that all maintenance reports go through your Lead Tenant. Any duplicate orders raised may result in your household being charged to cover the additional call out, so it's worth avoiding confusion and asking your Lead Tenant to report any issues on your behalf.
Your Lead Tenant will be contacted no less than 24 hours before any scheduled visits to your property - including contractor visits, interim inspections and viewings. Your Lead Tenant should then notify the rest of the household about the visits. If any further visits are required, then we would contact the Lead Tenant to discuss any additional works that may be required to resolve any maintenance issues.
Checking Out Of Your Property
At the end of your tenancy, we'll carry out our Check Out Inspection and send the report to your Lead Tenant, advising of any deductions we would be looking to make from your deposit. We are only able to negotiate any deposit deductions with Lead Tenants, so if you have any concerns or queries, make sure you keep in regular contact with your Lead Tenant.
If you don't know who your Lead Tenant is, you can drop us an email at enquiries@seekersproperty.co.uk
