Existing Tenants

Your tenancy at LiFE Residential: what you need to know

We understand that whilst moving home is really exciting, it can also sometimes be a stressful process. We want to make your experience with us as easy as possible so you can enjoy LiFE. For information on what to expect at each stage of your tenancy with us, please refer to the sections below.

Start of tenancy

1. On the day you move in, your dedicated property manager will contact you via telephone and email in order to introduce themselves and provide you with their contact details, should you require any assistance throughout your tenancy. The welcome email will also provide you with some useful information regarding utility bills in your property and contain our emergency number, should an urgent issue occur out of hours. 

   You can find your property manager’s email address on our website.

   Should you need to contact us out of hours, our out of office emergency number is +44 (0)7876 502 396

2. An inventory report will be sent to you shortly after you move in, and you will be provided with the opportunity to note any discrepancies on this report and send this back to your property manager for their records.
3. Ordinarily all council tax, utility bills, TV licenses, broadband and telephone bills are considered the tenants’ responsibility whilst you are residing in the apartment, so it is advised to set up accounts as soon as you move into your property. Should you receive any bills that are not addressed to you or are for the incorrect liability periods, please forward on to your property manager as soon as possible. You may be liable, should any penalties be imposed for late payment due to failure to send bills to your property manager.
4. Once the tenancy has started it is very important to set up a standing order for your full monthly rental payment. If payment is made up front, please make a note of when your next payment will be due. The bank details for your rent will be found on your tenancy agreement. For managed properties, the rent will be paid to LiFE Residential directly, and for properties managed by the landlord directly, you will be given their details. It is imperative that the correct details are used including the reference for your tenancy.
5. You will have a set account manager for your property. Should you have any accounts related queries, please contact them directly. You can find your account manager’s email address on our website.

Mid tenancy

1. Throughout your tenancy, should you require any assistance, your property manager can be contacted via telephone and email. Please be advised that light bulbs and fuses are the tenant's responsibility to change, so make sure these are checked first before an engineer is instructed. In regards to any issues with appliances or white goods, please ensure the manual is checked for any fault diagnostics, before informing your property manager.
2. Should an engineer be instructed to attend and the report state the issue was due to tenant misuse or negligence, you would be liable to cover the cost of the call out. We would kindly ask that you do not instruct your own maintenance work without prior authorisation from your property manager, as this could invalidate any warranties and we cannot guarantee that the cost of the invoice will be covered by your landlord.
3. Should an engineer be required to attend to rectify an issue at your property, we are able to use management keys to gain access should you be unable to be present. If you wish to be present throughout any maintenance visits, a mutually suitable appointment will be scheduled with yourself. Should you confirm that you will be present to provide access, and (for any reason) access cannot be gained, you will be liable to cover the cost.
4. As you pay your rent in accordance with your tenancy agreement, you will receive rent reminders as well. All reminders are automatically set up and sent 7 days before the rent due date. These are sent out for your records and are not a chaser emails. If your standing order is set up, you should not need to acknowledge or reply to these emails.
5. Should your rent fall into arrears, chaser letters are sent at days 7, 14, 21 and 28. Please do not ignore these if you think payment has been made. Call your account manager to discuss this immediately.
6. Certain properties have a communal heating system, as such these bills will be charged to you by your account manager. Payment must be made on receipt of the invoice as these costs are your responsibility in accordance with your tenancy agreement.

End of tenancy

1. Three months prior to the end of your fixed term, a member of our renewals team will contact you to discuss the possibility of renewing your contract. This will be agreed and negotiated between yourself and the landlord. On the day of your checkout, a third-party inventory clerk will attend to conduct a checkout report. This report will be compared with the inventory report created at the beginning of your tenancy, noting any discrepancies. Once your property manager has received this checkout report, they will form a table of dilapidations for any cleaning, repairs or damages that may have occurred in the apartment. This table will be sent to both yourself and the landlord to check and your property manager will request you provide your bank details, a forwarding address and proof of paid bills. Once both yourself and the landlord have agreed any final proposed deductions, the remaining amount of your deposit will be able to be returned to you. To find out how to clean your apartment prior to check-out, take a look at our handy video:
2. Your deposit is protected at the start of your tenancy using the chosen scheme, My Deposits. This will be protected for up to three months’ after the end date of your tenancy. Your Deposit Protection Certificate will be provided to you at the time of move in and will contain all the relevant information you require regarding this.
3. Should you issue notice and the end date falls between the rental period, please contact your account manager to discuss the prorate rent amount due to ensure you do not overpay. If you have overpaid the rent, please email your account manager with your bank details to request a refund.
4. Once your dilapidations have been agreed with your property manager, your account manager will process the deposit refund. As payments are made by BACS they can take 3 – 5 working days to reach your designated account once the payment is processed.

*Important to note*: Late payment in rent can result in interest charges being added to your account. Repeated late payments could result in legal action being started, or notice being served. This will also negatively affect any reference we would issue on your behalf.