Press Dispensary - April 23, 2007 - Additional landlord and tenant protection is being built into to a new scheme which enables residential letting agents to offer tempting “no-deposit” tenancies while still safeguarding their property. The ‘Zero In’ warranty developed by North Wales based LetsXL (http://www.letsxl.co.uk) now includes tenant dispute resolution (for which accreditation is agreed in principle with the Housing Ombudsman Service) and optional cover for non-payment of the last month’s due rent.
LetsXL provides specialist support services to letting agents, and is offering ‘Zero In’ in response to new legislation which came into effect on April 6.
The legislation prevents landlords from simply keeping tenants’ damage deposits if their property is left in a state of disrepair at the end of the lease, landlords being forced to place disputed deposit money in the hands of a third party while any dispute with the tenant is resolved.
However, ‘Zero In’ enables letting agents to provide an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) to tenants without taking a deposit at all. Instead, the tenant simply pays a small administration charge to the agent, and six low monthly direct debits to LetsXL. The tenant remains responsible for the cost of any damage, but ‘Zero In’ will pay out should the tenant dispute the amount determined and then refuse to foot the bill.
‘Zero In’ already provides two enormous benefits to landlords and agents, making properties more attractive to tenants who do not have to find large, up-front deposits, and speeding up the process of servicing a property and re-letting it.
And Wesley Weir, managing director of LetsXL, believes the additional refinements to ‘Zero In’ will now make it even more attractive to both landlords and prospective tenants.
“Our anticipated accreditation with the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) will see it offering authoritative, independent resolution for tenant disputes relating to damage to property,” says Mr Weir.
He adds: “The involvement of HOS can only add to the credibility of ‘Zero In’ as a realistic and progressive alternative to the government approved means of handling tenant deposits. It will provide landlords, tenants and agents with significant protection and peace of mind, so that that they will feel confident about participating in our new, deposit-free environment.
“We are also addressing a concern raised by some agents in what has otherwise been a hugely positive response to ‘Zero In’. This relates to instances where tenants fail to pay their last month’s rent due: this can now also be covered for a modest additional payment of just £10 per tenancy.”
Unlike the alternative dispute resolution providers operating under the government’s new tenancy deposit schemes, the HOS is the only independent organisation with statutory authority which specialises in resolving disputes in the UK property sector.
‘Zero In’ is linked to the tenant referencing services currently provided by LetsXL to around 1,000 letting agents in the UK. Although the new government legislation applies only in England and Wales , ‘Zero In’ is available throughout the UK.
However, if the landlord does require a deposit, or a tenant does not meet the ‘Zero In’ referencing criteria, LetsXL encourages its letting agents to use the free ‘custodial’ tenancy deposit scheme operated by the Deposit Protection Service. LetsXL consider this is preferable to the more costly ‘insured’ tenancy deposit option which also has government approval.
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Notes for editors
For further information, please contact:
Ian McDougall, sales director
Tel: 01283 762590
Email: ianiz@talktalk.net
Site: www.letsxl.co.uk
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