Frequently Asked Questions

In addition to your fully completed registration forms and payment we will need 

Current gas safety certificate (valid for one year)

Current Energy Performance Certificate (valid for ten years) in PDF format or the EPC registration number.

and for Licencable Houses in Multiple Occupation

Copy of HMO Licence or acknowledgment from you local authority showing that a Licence has been applied for.

Manchester Student Homes is committed to raising standards in private sector housing for students and will only advertise for landlords who protect their interests by meeting high standards of safety, in line with those required by their local authority. Because of this, we are able to assure students and their parents that property advertised on our site is safe, to the very best of our knowledge. This should encourage students to use our service and promote greater exposure for your properties.

There is no legal requirement to provide a written tenancy agreement, but you are obliged to provide certain basic details to your tenant, on request. In addition, certain terms, such as repairing obligations, are implied in verbal contracts. You will need to provide written agreements if you sign to the Manchester Student Homes Code of Standards.

The tenant is obliged to notify you of repairs required and so requires your name and address or the name and address of your agent. The address must be in England or Wales.

 Further to this, if the tenant requests the name and address of the receiver of rent, this must be supplied within 21 days of the request. It is a criminal offence not to comply. This means that an agency has to provide the name and address of the landlord if requested by the tenant.

All tenancy agreements are covered by the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. In essence, these regulations seek to prevent a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations, to the detriment of the consumer.

One of the most important aspects of these regulations is that a contract must be written in plain, intelligible language. If your contract contains copious amounts of legal jargon or ambiguous terms, the whole contract could be unenforceable and your tenants may not be obliged to pay rent. Please ensure you use contracts that comply with the regulations mentioned above. Click here for further information on unfair terms in contracts.

By granting a tenancy, you give your tenants exclusive possession of the property which gives them the right to ‘quiet enjoyment’. This means that you must give your tenants reasonable notice (normally 24 hours) of your intention to call at the property, stating the reason for the visit. 
Your visit must be at a reasonable hour of the day. 
Please note that you do not have the right to enter the property even when a notice has been served; i.e. the tenants can still refuse you access, but this would put them in breach of their contract. If your tenant(s) refuse access to the property without good reason and after you have served a notice, then you can serve notice of breach of contract. There is still no legal means of entering the property except with a Court Order.

The law does allow you to enter the property without notice in the case of an emergency, but we recommend that you never enter an empty tenanted property unaccompanied. 

The requirement to give notice also applies to any contractors you engage to carry out repairs, but normal practice would be to agree a time with the tenants when the contractor can call and this could be less than 24 hours.

Non-payment of rent is a breach of the contract and may allow you either to evict your tenants or to seek repayment of the outstanding money via the County Court. However, there is usually a good reason why rent has not been paid and you should make every effort to try to contact the tenants to discuss the issue. A little of your time spent on this, at this stage, could prevent lengthy proceedings later.

As part of the management of your property, you should organise regular inspections, keep a written record of your findings and advise your tenants of any issues. If necessary, you should carry out any repairs to items damaged by the tenants and charge them accordingly. 

You will need to fully redecorate your property from time to time and replace the furniture, carpets and curtains. Unless major damage has been done by the tenants, minor redecoration is fair wear and tear.

Hopefully you will have taken a deposit at the start of the contract and you should use this money to rectify any problems. However, please note that this cannot be used for items that have outlived their usefulness or for minor decorations. 

Once this is done, you should draw up a breakdown of any deductions from the deposit, along with copies of receipts and send this to the tenants along with any outstanding balance from the deposit. If you have used the whole of the deposit, you need to notify the tenants of this.

You should note that the tenants have the right to claim their deposit back via Small Claims Court if they feel that any deductions are unfair. You may need to prove that your deductions were legitimate. Providing a written inventory to tenants at the commencement of a tenancy is a good way to start a paper trail for deposit deductions.


From April 2007, the government is introducing a Tenancy Deposit Scheme and you need to be aware of the implications of this legislation. Click here [link to the ‘News’ section] for further information

If you are letting a property which you do not occupy yourself, you will automatically be creating an Assured Shorthold Tenancy. These tenancies can be for any length up to 3 years and are generally for a fixed term.

If you let a room in your own home, you will be creating a licence to occupy. These will normally be of a fixed term. 

If you have bought a property on behalf of your son or daughter, with the intention of them occupying the property and letting out any other bedrooms to their friends, you will be giving their friends a licence to occupy the property. That is, your son or daughter would be resident landlords. 

Apart from the fact that you need to maintain your property in good condition to ensure it continues to be let, you have legal obligations to carry out certain repairs on the property. These are most of the repairs to the exterior or structure of a property. This means that problems with the roof, chimneys, walls, guttering and drains are the responsibility of the landlord. Landlords are also responsible for keeping the equipment for supplying water, gas and electricity in safe working order. 
In addition, you need to supply furniture that complies with legislation and provide the necessary fire precautions as set out by the local authority.