New Tenant Information for July 2021

The safety of our Tenants, Staff and Contractors – and a commitment to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 – is of utmost importance.

If you are moving in to one of our properties in July, we’ve made some changes to our processes to keep everyone as safe and ensure your move is a smooth as possible.

Every year, the Student Changeover Period is the busiest time in our calendar with hundreds of tenants moving out, hundreds more moving in, and every single property to clean in between – traditionally within a 24-hour period!

Following Covid-19, we implemented new procedures for the key handover process. If you are one of our Student Tenants due to move in early July, we have already written to you to let you know how the new procedures will work in detail.

In summary, extra measures we are taking for your safety include:

• Extending the changeover period to allow for thorough cleaning of the property between Tenancies and additional time between Tenants moving out and Tenants moving in.
• Undertaking professional cleans of each property, by cleaners fully equipped with PPE, to minimise risk of infection.
• Maintaining social distancing and controlling numbers of people coming to the office by offering key collection strictly by appointment only.
• In addition, only one nominated person from each household will be permitted to collect keys on behalf of all housemates.
• The office will be clearly marked to maintain social distancing at appointments.
• Staff and contractors have also been issued with PPE including masks and hand sanitiser.
• We will be issuing all relevant documentation for the Tenancy (such as the prescribed information, copies of your Inventory and Tenant Handbook) electronically after keys have been collected, instead of giving you a pack to collect with the keys.

 

Covid-19 Information

We are taking a number of precautions to ensure the safety of our Tenants throughout the changeover period. However, even with these in place, there are some circumstances that are beyond our control.

Positive cases of Covid-19 in the Hyde Park and Headingley areas are rising sharply and there are a significant number of households self-isolating. As cases continue to rise, unfortunately it is likely that this will affect the tenancy changeover period. We are in close communication with outgoing tenants to keep abreast of their circumstances, but if the existing tenants are self-isolating on the date of the move, you will not be able to move in to your property as planned.

The Government Guidance states”We encourage all parties involved to be as flexible as possible and to be prepared to delay moves, for example if one of those involved becomes ill with COVID-19 during the moving process or has to self-isolate…..You should not expect to immediately be able to move into any home where people have COVID-19 or are self-isolating.”

If this happens with your property, we’ll let you know as soon as we possibly can, but please be aware circumstances can change at any time, including on the date of the move. For further advice, and how to seek temporary emergency accommodation with the Universities directly, take a look at the Unipol website.

 

Collecting Your Keys

To make the key collection process as smooth as possible we ask that you double check you are fully prepared, before you come to your pre-booked key collection appointment:

• Bring your ID: Keys will not be released without the nominated housemate’s ID (original passport or driving license).
• Ensure Rent is Paid & Paperwork Complete: We cannot move anyone into the property until all paperwork is on file, including Application Forms, Guarantor Forms, and the first rent payment has been received in full, from everyone on the Tenancy.

 

Paying Your Rent

Your first rent payment must be in our account 2 weeks before your Tenancy Start date – for most Tenancies (starting 1st July) this will be Thursday 17th June 2021. Remember to use your unique payment reference, as specified in your Tenancy Agreement, so we know where to allocate your payment. This is made up of the property number, street name and your surname e.g. 88StreetSurname.

Your rent payment is due in line with your Tenancy Agreement, so if you have any queries regarding payments, please refer back to your Tenancy Agreement in the first instance.

 

Inventory

To minimize contact, we will be issuing the prescribed information and copies of your Inventory electronically, after you have collected keys.

You will receive a full photographic Inventory within 14 days of moving into the property. The Inventory is a full list of everything in the property and the condition it is in and must be checked thoroughly. You be given 14 days to go through it and respond. You’ll have the option to either
approve it or update it with any additional photos or comments.

Please note that feedback on the Inventory is not the same as logging a Repair or Maintenance request, which needs to be done on Fixflo – see below for more details.

 

Cleaning

Your property will have been professionally cleaned from top to bottom after the previous Tenants and you will find a cleaning card in the property to confirm this has been done.

Wherever possible, we will try leave each property empty for 72 hours after it has been fully cleaned. This will rely on the existing Tenants being able to vacate the property in good time, prior to the start date.

Should you have any concerns regarding the clean, then please contact the cleaning company directly using the details on the card within 7 days of collecting your keys. We ask that you text or email – as well as call – so that there is a written record of your comments.

 

Initial Maintenance

Any maintenance that you would like to report when you first move in will need to be reported on Fixflo , our online maintenance portal online, using the Move Ins button. To ensure your request is actioned correctly, please ensure you use Fixflo to make a record of your request. You can log any issues online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and it also has details for what to do in case of an emergency.

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