To book a viewing:

1. Find a house you would like to view (choose a maximum of 3 possible houses on our housing list).
2. Email us enquires@key10.co.uk with the houses that you would like to view (with a time and date good for you) to arrange a viewing.
3. Decide on a house (Read all the details / rents / what is included / length of contract) and contact us to reserve it.
4. Complete an Application Form.
5. Commit to your booking by paying a Holding Deposit and returning the Application Form.
6. Successfully complete all background checks required (including Right To Rent in the UK).
7. Sign your Tenancy (Guarantors to sign where needed) and pay the remainder of the deposit.

To Reserve A House:

1. Please have a good read through the terms displayed on our website.
2. Send an email to admin@key10.co.uk to confirm which house you want to reserve. We will email you a Rental Application form. This will include details of your guarantors.
3. A  Holding deposit of £100 is payable by bank transfer to Key10 Lettings Ltd to carry on reserving your house. 
4. Once we have the completed Application form and Holding deposit we will draw up a Tenancy Agreement. This Tenancy Agreement must be completed, fully signed by all tenants (and guarantors if required) with a copy of each person’s identification within two weeks of the application date or the property will be re-listed and the Holding Deposit will be lost.
5. Each tenant must undertake background check to confirm their Right To Rent in the UK.
6. The full deposit will registered in a deposit protection scheme and must be cleared prior the tenancy start date.
7. The first month’s rent is due on the 1st day of the tenancy.

Safety is our number one concern:

• All houses will have current Gas Safety Certificate, Mains Smoke Alarms will be fitted as required, Carbon Monoxide detectors provided, Fire blanket provided. All houses will have a current Electrical Safety certificate. All houses are registered with Portsmouth City Council and licensed. All electrical appliances will have been PAT tested as required.
• Once you have moved in, check that you can open any windows and doors that may be your escape route in the event of a fire.
• Check where your fire blankets and smoke alarms are.
• Practice a fire drill and work out a strategy for safe evacuation.
• Modern smoke and heat sensors are very sensitive and may annoyingly go off whilst cooking or burning toast! However, they are provided to save your life, which they cannot do if disconnected. Do not tamper with them or remove them. They are there for your safety.
• We do not allow candles or tea lights.

• All tenants are liable for the total rent and condition of the property.
• Rent is due one month in advance each calendar month. 
• Rent is accepted only by bank transfer.
• We also accept payments for 2/3/4/5/6 etc month block payments in advance. The payments must be whole month payments.
• We send a rent statement to all tenants a few days after the due date.
  
  

Use of deposits for rent

• Your deposits are registered in a tenancy deposit scheme and are intended to cover damage to the property and inventory items. It is not possible to use deposits as rent. The deposit will be refunded (subject to any damages/cleaning costs) at the end of the contract after final check out.

For any repairs required please use the house WhatsApp group or email us on admin@key10.co.uk and we will have a tradesperson come round as soon as possible during normal working hours. The out of hours numbers are a backup service for real emergencies only.

Is it really an Emergency?

• The Emergency “Out Of Hours” phone numbers can be found on your House Notice Board. Please note that there is a difference between a genuine “Emergency” and “something you would like fixed very quickly”. It is very important that you understand the difference as Emergency call out charges are very high.
• If you call the emergency service for a non-emergency, we do reserve the right to charge you for this misuse.
• For example, if you have water leaking from a pipe and you can not turn the stopcock off and it’s causing a major leak, that would be an emergency. If the leak was small enough and you could put a bucket under it it is not an emergency and please just email and we will get fixed the next day.
• No hot water or heating at night is not an emergency as it can wait until the next day.
• If the roof is leaking in a storm at night it would be impossible for someone to fix it at night in the rain so you would have to put a bucket under it, let us know and we have someone round the next day.
• If the power goes off at night, check the trip switches (see house booklet), and email us, we will have someone the next day.
• If your shower or bath has a leak, do not use it until we can fix it; if there is a large leak switch the water off at the mains. These are not emergencies as we can fix the next day.
• We do respond to requests to repair an item straight away, sometimes something like a boiler can not get fixed the next day as a new part may need to be ordered (for example), or you may have to wait a day or two for a new appliance to be delivered. We will ensure that all repairs are dealt with as soon as practically possible. Due to the number of houses we have and the good relationships with tradespersons we have, we would be able to have items repaired sooner than a normal residential property.
  
  

Locked out:

• Be careful not to lock yourself out of your room or house with your key inside, sometimes the doors can slam with the wind.
• If you do get locked out, firstly use any spare keys provided or housemates keys; Secondly, the key contact on notice board may be able to arrange to let you in out of hours (at a sociable hour). We may also be able to arrange if you contact us. There is a call out charge for this service, which will be deducted from your deposit (see fees).
• Please respect our team and do not ring up at unsocial hours, if you have lost your key during unsocial hours you have a choice of sleeping on a friends sofa or calling a locksmith (please note… they are not cheap).
• If a locksmith has to let you in by changing the barrel on a front door lock, you will have to pay for new keys for all members of the house, plus a 3 spare copies for us in addition to the new lock and locksmiths charge. Also, any other incidental costs incurred by us in changing keys over.
• If a locksmith has to change an internal lock you will have to pay for keys for yourself and 3 copies for us in addition to the new lock and locksmiths charge.

We will arrange a detailed check-in to show you how everything works in the house and answer your questions.

We advise checking the instruction manuals to ensure everything works ok. If an instruction manual is not provided it is easy to download from the Internet.

Basic A-Z tips on home maintenance:

Central Heating

• Gas and electric central heating boilers can be set for the heating and/or the hot water to come on at the times you choose. The heating should not be switched off between December and January, even if you are away from the house, in case of pipes freezing and bursting. If you are away just put it on minimum setting.
• Do not put clothes (wet or dry) on the heater (if one) as this can start a fire. Use a drying frame instead,
• In most student houses, water is heated by a combi boiler, this is a gas boiler that heats water for the central heating and also the hot water on demand. There will not be a water tank. A combi boiler will just produce hot water when you turn on the tap. Advantages are you never run out of hot water, a disadvantage is that if you have a shower upstairs and someone turns on the kitchen tap you may lose hot water.

Condensation & Ventilation

• In winter, the Portsmouth climate is damp. Following a few simple measures can help to avoid condensation:
• Keep the heating on consistently at a minimum of 15 degrees celsius
• Whenever possible when you are in the property open windows regularly to ventilate the house, particularly bedrooms
• Always use the extractor in the kitchen or bathrooms
• Draw back curtains during the day, and wipe off excess water condensation from window sills. Some windows have ‘trickle’ vents at the top of the window to leave open constantly.

Cookers & Extractors

• Many ovens have an automatic timer, and if this is activated or flashing the oven will not work.
• The kitchen extractor will have either a stainless steel filter or a paper filter. Stainless steel filters can be put in a dishwasher or cleaned in the sink, and paper filters just need to be replaced.

Electric Supply

• At the check-in, you will be shown where the fuse box is. Most fuse boxes have circuit breakers (these are switches which can be re-set by hand). In the event of a power failure to any part of the property, we would advise that you first check that none of the circuit breakers has ‘tripped’. If there is a complete power failure to the property, we recommend checking with your neighbours before contacting us, in case the power cut is local (rather than just your property).

Fridge & Freezer

• In order to keep your fridge and freezers working properly, they need to be cleaned/defrosted regularly. Be sure to use up all your food supplies before doing this! Scraping or chipping away at the ice may cause damage beyond repair.

Light bulbs

• Replacing a lightbulb is the tenant’s responsibility. We recommend finding out the type of the existing bulbs in the property, and buying a small supply to replace when they fail. Halogen bulbs should not have direct contact with your skin so use a piece of tissue to fit. If you get stuck (say with bathroom bulb) let us know and we will send someone to help.

Overflow pipes & plumbing

• All bathrooms & WC’s have an overflow pipe to prevent flooding. Sometimes overflowing water may appear outside the house. Whilst not being considered an emergency, it is important that you let your Property Manager know as soon as possible.
• It is advisable not to flush any paper product apart from toilet paper down the toilets.

Pictures & Posters

• Using Blu-Tack, White-Tack or clear tape to hang posters will leave an oily mark when removed, and you will have to pay for redecoration charges. We recommend only using proper picture hooks, after getting permission from your Property Manager by email.

Recycling

• Portsmouth council operates a recycling bin collection with green bins for recycling and black bags for landfill waste. Visiting Portsmouth City Council’s website will give you information on exactly what you can recycle and on which days your bins are collected.

Showers

• If you find you are getting less water from the showerhead, this could be due to a build-up of limescale. It is usually possible to take off the showerhead and put it in a limescale removing solution or vinegar, which you can buy at a supermarket.
• Cleaning the seal around the shower should prevent black mould appearing (which will damage the seal).
• Keeping the shower curtain inside the bath or the shower door closed will prevent water leaking onto the floor.

Telephone/Television

• Unless included in your package – Setting up the telephone and broadband accounts will need to be done by the tenants.
• If you have a television and you watch live TV on it then you need to make sure that you have a licence for it. You can buy this online at www.tvlicensing.co.uk or at a Post Office.

Tumble Dryer

• To reduce the chance of the filter becoming blocked, you could clean it each time the dryer is used. This is simple and easy to do.

Washer/Dryer

• If you have a combination washer/dryer, at the end of the washing programme, there will be a choice of drying cycles. The drying capacity of combined washer/dryers is reduced compared with separate tumble dryers. It is best to take out half the clothes and expect the cycle to take up to 2 hours for heavy cotton items such as towels.
• Most washer/dryers use a condensing system where the moisture extracted from the items being dried condenses back into water, and is removed through the outflow pipe.

Washing Machine

• Most machines will have a filter where foreign objects become trapped to avoid damage to the machine, it is the first thing to check should any problems arise with the machine.
• All machines have a soap dispenser: most have two compartments, the left-hand one is for the extra wash cycle. A third compartment is for the fabric conditioner. It is important to take out and scrub the soap drawer frequently to avoid a build-up of soap deposits, which clog up the machine.
• Only powder, liquid, liquid sachets or tablets for automatic machines should be used. Do not use a general detergent, which creates excessive soap bubbles and causes the machine to overflow and block up.
• Check your Operating Manual (on-line) for accurate information.

Water Supply

• At your check-in, you should be shown where your stopcock tap is. This tap is on the incoming water main and can be turned off in case of an emergency. If you have a major water leak, switch the stopcock off and call your Property Manager

• What do I need to do to reserve a property?
  See the tab on left called “Renting a Property”
• When do I have to pay the first month’s rent and deposit?
  The deposit (one month’s rent) – for most houses we are flexible as to the date paid (provided it is cleared before the start of the tenancy) as long as you let us know when it will be paid in advance. The first month’s rent is due on the 1st day of the Tenancy Agreement payable by Bank transfer.
• What type of Tenancy Agreement will we sign?
  You will sign an Assured Shorthold Agreement for the fixed term of the tenancy. Most of our agreements are joint agreements. This means that you and your guarantors are all responsible for all the rent and the condition of the property. If one person fails to pay, the burden falls to the others. Please think twice about signing a contract with someone who is likely to cause problems. You don’t want in your group the person who never does the washing up, can’t ever pay their share of the rent and is likely to put their foot through the TV when back from a wild night out.
• When will we sign our Tenancy Agreement?
  The Tenancy Agreement should be signed within a couple of weeks of the application.
• How long does the Tenancy have to be for?
  Our residential properties are for 12months period with possible extension thereafter.
• What about insurance?
  The owner insures the property and his/her contents. Tenants will need to take out their own contents insurance to cover their personal belongings.
• What about repairs? For example, what if the central heating breaks down?
  The owner is responsible for internal and external repairs, if we are managing the property we will arrange all works. We have a maintenance team and 24 hr emergency numbers.  The tenant only pays if the breakdown or repair is due to negligence or misuse.
• What about emergencies?
  For emergencies, where we are the managing agents, we have 24-hour call out sheet. Any out of hour call should be a genuine emergency otherwise a charge will be incurred. A list of these emergencies and numbers to call will be provided upon moving-in.
• How and when do we pay our rent?
  Your rent must be paid on the first day of every month directly to Key10 Lettings by bank transfer. Rent should be paid in one single payment for the house. Alternately, term rent can be paid in advance.
• What is the guarantor agreeing to by signing the guarantor forms?
  A guarantor is undertaking to guarantee the commitment made by The Tenant. The tenant is agreeing to a joint and several agreement and, therefore, the guarantor is agreeing to guarantee a joint and several agreement. By guaranteeing the tenant you will be guaranteeing the whole tenancy. The contact details for all fellow guarantors will be provided, should you wish to discuss this tenancy with them.
• Safety
  Safety is our number one concern.  All houses will have current Gas Safety Certificate, Mains Smoke Alarms will be fitted as required, Carbon Monoxide detectors provided, Fire blanket provided, all houses will have a current Electrical Safety certificate. All houses are registered with Portsmouth City Council and will be licensed. All electrical appliances will have been PAT tested as required.