FAQ for Tenants | Squarefoot Estate Agents
02920 990088 02920 371897 contact@squarefootagents.co.uk

FAQ for Tenants

Q.What is the minimum amount of time I can agree to rent a property?

Six months is the minimum contract term. A shorthold tenancy agreement is signed by both tenant and landlord, which is legally binding. You can give notice to end your tenancy at any time; however you will be required to continue to pay rent until the tenancy agreement ends, even if you have moved out.

Q. Do I need contents insurance?

The landlord is responsible for insuring the building.  As a tenant you are responsible for the contents of the property. We strongly advise you to obtain tenant’s content insurance to insure your own possessions that you store within the rented property. Your policy should contain accidental damage. Your possessions will not be covered by the landlord’s insurance if you suffer a break in or other loss or damage. Squarefoot can provide you with a quotation for suitable contents insurance form our preferred partners.

Q. What are the obligations of a tenant?

Tenants and landlords both have rights and obligations. Some are set out explicitly in the tenancy agreement. The main things to be aware of are property repairs, use of the property and giving property access to the landlord.

Q. Property Repairs

A tenant must use the property in what’s called “a tenant like manner” meaning that the tenant will be responsible for any property repairs that are the fault of the tenant. The tenant is normally responsible for the condition of the interior of the property. The tenancy agreement should be checked first as some landlords don’t allow tenants to redecorate. Tenants must pay for breakages and or damage in the property during the tenancy. If the tenant doesn’t pay for this at the time the landlord can make a claim for these deductions from the tenant’s deposit.

Q. Use of the property

A tenant must use the property solely for residential purposes and not to run a business of any kind from the property.

Q. Property access for the landlord

The landlord will need to visit from time to time to carry out repairs and safety checks and to check that the building is in good condition. A tenant must allow the landlord property access, however the landlord should always give notice to the tenants and give a minimum of 24hours notice. The landlord will have a set of keys to the property. They should never use these without the tenant’s consent, except in an emergency. If you have any questions please fill out the form to your right and we will be happy to answer them.

Q. Rights of redress

We are committed to dealing effectively with any complaints you have about our service. If we have made a mistake we will apologise and try to put things right. If we have failed to provide a service that you are entitled to and you let us know about this, we will provide it.

We want it to be simple and convenient to you to complain, make a comment or pay us a compliment.
• Call the office on 02920 990088
• Email to contact@squarefootagents.co.uk
• Write to us at:
Squarefoot Estate Agents Ltd
198 Cowbridge Road East
Cardiff
CF5 1GX

If we receive a complaint from you, we will do all that we can to help you and we will try to find a solution to any problems you have brought to our attention. We will ensure that:
• Your complaint is acknowledged within 5 working days of the date that it is received by Squarefoot Estate Agents Ltd
• Aim to resolve the complaint within 28 working days – if your complaint is more complex we may need more time.
• Let you know within the 28 working day period if we think it may take longer to investigate your complaint and tell you how long we expect it to take, providing regular updates.
We will respect your right to confidentiality and privacy and we will treat you fairly and in accordance with our commitment to equality.
The person who is investigating your concerns will firstly aim to establish the facts. In some instances we may ask to meet you to discuss your concerns.
We will look at relevant evidence and this could include files, notes of conversations, letters, emails or whatever may be relevant to your particular complaint. If you do not want the person investigating the complaint to see the files that we hold in relation to your complaint, it is important for you to let us know about this. If necessary, we will also talk to the staff or others involved and look at our policies and any legal entitlement and guidance.

If we formally investigate your complaint, we will let you know what we have found and we will use your preferred form of communication, such as letter or email, when we contact you. We will explain how and why we came to our conclusions. If we find that we have done something wrong, we will tell you this, explain what happened and apologise. If we find there is a fault in our systems or the way we do things, we will tell you what it is and how we plan to change things to stop it happening again.

If there is a simple solution to your problem, we may ask you if you are happy to accept this. For example, where you asked for a service and we see straight away that you should have had it; we will offer to provide the service rather than investigate and produce a report.
If we did not do something well, we will aim to put it right. If you have lost out as a result of a mistake on our part we will try to put you back in the position you would have been in if we had got it right.

We believe that all complainants have the right to be heard, understood and respected. However, our employees have the same rights and we will not tolerate unacceptable behaviour such as aggressive or abusive behaviour or unreasonable demands. We have separate guidelines to help us manage unacceptable / threatening behaviour.

You can contact the Property Services Ombudsman for Wales about your complaint at any time. However, the Ombudsman expects you to bring your concerns to our attention first and to give us a chance to put things right. The Ombudsman is independent of all government bodies and can look into your complaint if you believe that you, or the person on whose behalf you are complaining:
• Have been treated unfairly or received a bad service through some failure on the part of the body providing it.
• Have been disadvantaged personally by a service failure or have been treated unfairly.
You can contact the Ombudsman by:
Email: admin@tpos.co.uk
Phone: 01722 333306
Website: https://www.tpos.co.uk
Writing to: 4 Bridge St, Salisbury SP1 2LX