FAQs for student lettings

It’s simple! Once you have found a property you like, and you want to take a closer peek inside, just call the office on 01273 645797 and we will book you in. We’ll then ping you a  text with all the details confirming your appointment.

We always arrange to meet you at the property you want to view – we won’t make you walk extra miles by asking you to come to our office first! Just wait outside the property and we’ll find you.

Hold your horses! Please don’t knock on the door. We organise a specific time with the tenants to view the property – and we all know there’s nothing worse than someone arriving earlier than expected! One of our agents must be present for safety reasons, plus we are then on hand to answer any questions you may have.

Absolutely! Make a shortlist of your top three and we’ll book you in. If the properties you viewed weren’t quite what you were looking for, please just let us know and we can book more viewings in for you. However we do try to limit viewings to three at a time so we can accommodate all our enquiries.

Ok, here comes the maths. You’re not the first person to ask this question, most tenants assume their monthly rent will be the weekly rent amount multiplied by 4. There aren’t always 4 weeks in every month so the calculation to work out monthly rent is as follows: Weekly rent x 52 (weeks in the year) x number of tenants ÷ 12.

Before you move we’ll send you an email and text message confirming your check-in time. Come to our office on this day and time to collect your keys!

We need to you come to the office in person to provide your ID before we can give you your keys. Each tenant must bring one of the following;
> UK passport
OR
> Driving licence AND birth certificate
OR
> International Passport AND sharecode.

You’ll need your phone to scan a QR code and complete an online form that contains lots of important information about moving in to your new home.

After this you’ll be given the keys to your new home! You can now move in at your leisure! Make sure if you’re travelling from afar, or have organised moving vans, that you won’t get access to your property until after the key collection appointment, it’ll take roughly half an hour.

Generally only large appliances like fridges, freezers, ovens and washing machines will be included. You’ll need to bring small items such as kettles, toasters and microwaves with you.

Set your alarm folks and dig out the rubber gloves! Our independent inventory company will come to your property any time from 7am on the last day of your tenancy to conduct a check-out. Please make sure the property is returned to the same condition as the inventory and completely clean and clear of all personal belongings or rubbish, including outside areas, by 7am. No matter how useful you might think an item will be for the next tenant, it’s important to not leave it, otherwise you may be charged for its removal. We recommend moving out the day before to avoid any last minute stress!

The check-out report is a condition report compiled by a third party inventory company, who will use the original inventory document to independently assess if the property has been handed back to its original condition, taking into consideration fair wear and tear. The inventory company are a professional, independent company employed to provide an unbiased report of condition. These reports are very detailed and will not list anything that is considered to be fair wear and tear. Any items listed as tenant charges are areas the inventory clerk has identified as in need of cleaning, gardening or as damage that is in excess of fair wear and tear. Any items that were in a room on the original inventory that are not in the room at checkout, will be listed as missing items even if they have been moved to another room.

You are expected to return the property and its contents in a clean and good state of repair – as it was at the start of the tenancy. Fair wear and tear only relates to damage, not gardening or cleanliness.

You are required to return the garden back to your landlord in the same condition that it was given to you. There is no wear and tear allowance on gardening, therefore, if there are any differences from your inventory at check-out, they will unfortunately be noted as dilapidations by the inventory company and you could be charged. The amount that you are charged depends on the size of the garden, the extent of the difference from your inventory and how much work is involved to return it to its original state. For example, small patios with a couple of flower beds will take the gardener a lot less time to do than a large garden with a lawn and hedge borders. Similarly, if a garden has been cut back to some extent, but some parts missed, this will not take as long to sort out than if the garden has been left to completely overgrow for several months. The gardener factors all of this in when invoicing for the job as well as costs involved in any green waste removal needed. Gardening charges can therefore vary considerably from around £50 up to £300+.

Sometimes it is not necessary to replace whole items when damage has been caused, particularly if the damage is aesthetic and does not impact on its functionality. For example, if a carpet has an iron burn mark, this has affected how the carpet looks but has not had too much impact on its function as a carpet for the immediate future. Apportionment charges are usually taken when items are not needed to be replaced, the money taken is to compensate the landlord for the loss of value and to go towards eventual replacement when needed. Therefore, apportionment charges should be a portion of the cost of replacement which is dependent on the severity of damage, original condition, life expectancy and type of tenant. To charge the whole amount of replacing the item would be betterment for the landlord as they would be receiving something brand new that was not necessarily new in the first place. In the above example, it would be deemed unfair if a landlord changed the whole carpet because of this burn mark, therefore, to avoid betterment, the landlord would take an apportionment charge for the aesthetic damage that has been caused.

Dependent on the damage, there may be some instances where you could also be charged for the most economical cost of any necessary remedial works. For example, if the marks to the carpet were particularly bad in one area and they could not be covered easily with furniture, the landlord would be entitled to charge not only for the aesthetic damage caused to the carpet but they could also include the cost of a rug to cover the marks. This would be deemed a fair charge as the landlord is not enjoying any betterment from this situation – they would be in a similar situation as before.

Charges for any missing or broken items of furniture are assessed fairly on a case-by-case basis and there are many factors to take into consideration. We will be looking at the following items initially:

• Whether the item can be repaired or whether it must be replaced
• How old the item is, and the original quality of the item
• The reasonable expected usage of the item
• What the cost of a replacement item would be
• The length of the tenancy

We would then calculate the apportionment for each item. For example, a item of furniture costing £90 with an expected lifespan of 4 years, which was new at the beginning of a 1 year tenancy has been broken and needs replacing. The item still has a further 3 years life expectancy and the landlord has only had 1 years use of the item. We would therefore calculate £90 divided by 4 years equals £22.50 per year, so the tenants would be charged £67.50 (3 years) and the landlord would pay the remaining £22.50 (1 year).

If the same item of furniture was 2 years old at the start of a 2 year tenancy, the item has reached its life expectancy of 4 years and would be replaced at the landlords cost.

If the item has been broken and the landlord decides they would like to replace it with a more expensive option, the tenant would still only be charged as though the item had been replaced with a ‘like for like’ replacement costing £90, with the landlord covering the additional cost of increased quality.

The check-out clerk will thoroughly check the property and list any items that appear in different rooms compared to the inventory. A staff member from Coapt will also visit the property the day after you vacate, as well as the day before the next set of tenants are due to move in, and will ensure that you are not charged for items that are recovered.

When vacating the property, you must leave your keys in the property as instructed. If this does not happen, the keys can get lost in the post or lost meaning a charge will be incurred to cover the cutting of a new key.

During your tenancy, you are responsible for carrying out all works of repair that are not the responsibility of the Landlord and taking appropriate care of the property. This includes the replacement of disposable items such as fuses, batteries and lightbulbs and acting as a guardian of the property throughout the tenancy. Tenant invoices often result from an unnecessary call out to the property which the contractor then invoices for wasted time. i.e. if a tenant reports their oven is not working and it turns out one of the tenants has unplugged it at the wall. Or if a sink or toilet is blocked due to excessive food waste or sanitary items blocking it as a result of the tenant’s actions.

If you do not pay these invoices during your tenancy, they will unfortunately be deducted from your deposit so that the contractor is paid for their time. You can contact us and we can help explain why any invoices have been raised and help you avoid any further charges in the future.

We do make every effort to chase tenants for any overdue rent, as well as calling guarantors where applicable. If the tenant continues to ignore our requests and does not pay the rent after they have vacated the property, we will be left with no choice but to deduct the rent from the deposit. Please note that if the rent, along with any other deposit deductions exceeds the deposit amount, we will request any outstanding amount from all tenants.

We are only able to discuss the breakdown with tenants named on the agreement. Please do speak amongst yourselves as tenants and feel free to drop us an email and we will be happy to liaise with you directly.

We know you’ve got busy lives and things to do, so our viewings normally only take around 15 minutes. We don’t want you running around Brighton in a mad dash, so if you are booking a viewing straight afterwards, just make sure you leave enough time to travel to the next location. (If you’re a keen cyclist there are loads of Beryl Bikes docking stations around the city and it’s a great way to get around town between viewings).

No problem, these things happen! Please call us on 01273 645797 to let us know – we’ll try to wait for you if we can. If it’s more than 5 or 10 minutes we might have another appointment to get to and therefore will be unable to wait. If this is the case we’ll let you know and re-arrange another time.

Possibly; we try to limit disruption to the current tenants as much as possible, so if we have multiple enquiries for the same property we will book you in to the same appointment slot. You can’t bribe us with chocolates I’m afraid (as much as we like them) – to make things fair we show groups around one-by-one, in the order of booking.

If you think you’ve found where you belong, everyone in your group needs to complete an application form. We generally operate on a first-come-first-served basis – over the years we’ve learnt it’s the fairest way. In some circumstances, if multiple forms come in at the same time we will submit them to the landlord for approval.

Just ask, we’ll run you through all the details and you can submit your application forms. Once your application has been approved, you’ll receive an email from Coapt Ltd via Concurrent (don’t forget to check your junk!).

• Click the link on the email
• Follow the steps on the Concurrent platform to progress your application. You’ll need to enter information for yourself and your guarantor.
• Review and sign your tenancy agreement
• Make your payment. Depending on the service we provide your landlord you’ll pay either your damage deposit or your first months rent. We’ll let you know which one.

Once all housemates have completed this process (bear this in mind if you have a flaky last-minute.com friend) and Coapt have dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s on the paperwork the property is off the market! You can then head out and celebrate!

There’s a couple of extra things you’ll need to do after this. We’ll email you all the info at a later date.

• Complete your ‘Right to Rent’ check.
• Set up your standing order to pay your rent monthly.
• Book your check in appointment.

A standing order is an instruction to your bank to make regular, fixed payments to an organisation or person. Trust us, it will make your life a lot easier to set one up. Who needs extra things to remember each month?! You will receive a payment schedule prior to moving in this will confirm which payments are due and when, along with an email containing a standing order form where you will be asked to upload evidence of your standing order. This is then checked over by a member of the team and confirmed. If it is incorrect the link will be resent to you to reupload the correct standing order.  If this standing order is not received before your move in date you will not be issued keys so it’s really important to get it done.

Don’t snooze and lose! It’s important that you meet the tenancy paperwork deadline to avoid losing your holding deposit and new home for the next academic year. However, if you miss the deadline, hop to it and contact our Property Admin team ASAP to discuss whether it’s possible to have an extension.

We understand that this can be a pain, but as of 2014 it’s also the law. We need to see original copies of ID’s to comply with the Right to Rent Act, there is government approved technology that means you don’t have to bring your ID to the office. We use TrustID, you’ll have to follow the steps on the app to upload your ID and take a live photo or video to pass the check. If you’re an international student, you’ll also have to upload your visa and share code.

Not to worry, there may have been a typo in the email provided, or it may have been input wrong (we’re only human!), or it’s in a spam folder in the internet ether somewhere. Drop us a call so we can check your details so we can update the system and get that resent to you.

There are a couple of options if you do not have a UK Guarantor. A lot of our landlords accept Rent Guarantor in place of a UK guarantor. They are a company who act as a guarantor for tenants who don’t have one and charge a fee, which is roughly a month’s rent. Click here to apply. Some of our landlords also accept six months rent in advance that covers the last six months of the tenancy. Ask us if you have any questions or if you are concerned then please ring the Property Admin team to discuss your options in more detail.

You can apply to use Rent Guarantor service through this link. When completing your application process on Concurrent, please enter Rent Guarantor’s contact details under the guarantor section 0207 193 4418 | info@rentguarantor.com.

Your deposit will be registered with MyDeposits within 30 days of payment, each tenant will be sent their deposit certificate and some prescribed information about the scheme. If you need any further information please contact our Finance team at finance@coapt.co.uk

Yes. We can accept a photo of any documents as long as the information is legible, this can be uploaded directly from your phone’s camera roll to our online signing platform.

Your tenancy paperwork will be reviewed by your property administrator as quickly as possible. Providing all of the documents uploaded are and we have received the relevant funds, we’ll sign your contract on behalf of the landlord.

Each tenant has their own guarantor who is responsible for their share of the rent. We will always pursue the individual tenant’s guarantor if the tenant defaults on rent. This is however a joint and severally liable contract, so each guarantor is guaranteeing the rent for the whole tenancy.

We understand this may feel invasive, but for the protection of all involved, we need to see proof of earnings and identification so we know you meet the requirements to act as a guarantor. This isn’t only to protect the landlord, but also the tenants and you as a guarantor. Every tenant’s guarantor needs to meet the same criteria so we know that they can cover the tenants rent in the event that they default. All of your information is stored securely, in line with GDPR.

The guarantor’s required earnings are three times the tenants share of the monthly rent after tax e.g. if the tenants share of the rent is £600pcm the guarantor will need to provide proof of net earnings of £1,800pcm.

Firstly, we would ask if you have any proof of savings to ‘top up’ your income. We do ask that guarantors meet this threshold to ensure all parties are protected. If you don’t meet the requirements there are alternatives available to tenants, please speak to our Admin team on 01273 645 797 for more information about this.

Yes. We can accept a photo of any documents as long as the information is legible, this can be uploaded directly from your phone’s camera roll to our online signing platform.

Unfortunately we cannot use the same documentation again as this is a new tenancy agreement. We do this because we need to verify that your circumstances have not changed.

We pride ourselves in being a paperless office, we have invested in software to ensure we are efficient and our paperwork is stored in line with GDPR so we are unable to accept printed documents via post. Our tenancy platform is compatible with smartphones, laptops, tablets & PCs (tip: the best browser for our website is Google Chrome).

Don’t worry, you are almost there! If you get stuck please call us on 01273 645 797 and one of our friendly admin team will be happy to help.

Of course! Once the guarantor agreement has been counter signed by ourselves you will receive a copy via email.

An inventory is a document compiled the day before your tenancy starts. It is an itemised and photographic list of contents and conditions. It includes everything from, walls, flooring, fixtures and fittings to furniture and appliances.

The inventory company we use are normally very accurate, however if you feel there is something not right, it’s important you let us know! If there is something missing on the inventory you have 7 days to make any amendments or comments. The inventory will be emailed to you and it will contain instructions on how to do this.

If either you or any of your housemates have any outstanding paperwork or payments, unfortunately we are unable to issue keys to any tenant.

Please make sure you read all paperwork thoroughly and complete everything required, this includes, referencing, guarantors, IDs, signing your contract and standing order. Payments must be fully cleared into our account before we can issue keys, so please make sure you paid any due payments and have sufficient funds for your standing order to avoid payments bouncing.

We know it’s frustrating if you can’t collect your keys if you’ve done everything but your housemate hasn’t, unfortunately, because you are on a joint tenancy agreement, all housemates must have completed all paperwork and paid all funds due before you move in.

We ask that you all attend together, however we understand that’s not always possible, especially with so many festivals and holidays falling over the summer months! Please organise so the majority of you come together. Anyone that can’t attend the original appointment can come to our office at a later date to provide their ID and collect their keys.

Please remember we cannot issue any keys if any housemate has any paperwork or money outstanding.

If no one can make it, please respond to the email called ‘Moving in appointment’ and select a new date and time as early as possible so we can re-arrange. Please note, we may have limited availability of alternative appointments so it is important you let as know as soon as possible as we may not be able to move you in the same day.

If you’ve already confirmed your appointment and things have gone wrong last minute – never fear, just call us on 01273 645 797 and we can help.

Please let us know as soon as you can if you are going to miss your appointment slot. We will try our best to be accommodating, please note we often have back to back appointments, so it may mean you might have to wait for the next available welcome rep. You can’t move in until you’ve completed your check-in appointment, so it’s super important you allow for traffic or delays and get to us in plenty of time.

Meet your neighbours, find a home for your stuff and celebrate with your housemates. We hope you enjoy your new home and we’re really happy you’ve found where you belong. To help you settle in smoothly we’ve compiled a quick checklist below.

• Take meter readings and contact your utility providers (no need if you are bills-included!) Don’t know your supplier? Call 0870 6081524 for gas, 0845 6015467 for electricity and 0330 303 1263 for water.

• Contact Brighton & Hove City Council Full-time students are exempt from Council Tax during term time, in order to claim your discount you must register online. Or call the Council on 01273 291291 for further advice.

• Get a TV licence You need a TV licence if you watch or record live TV programmes on any channel, or if you watch or download programmes on BBC iPlayer http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk

• Set up Broadband, TV and Phone. If you haven’t opted to have these services included in a bills package, there are various suppliers available. Search the market for the best price, you’ll often find introductory offers available. Make sure you select a broadband speed suitable for the amount of tenants and devices online at any one time, the last thing you want is slow internet in the middle of conducting research for your dissertation because your housemates are playing FIFA!

• Check your refuse and recycling collection days. Missing a refuse bin or recycling box? You can order one online and find out the collection days for your street by calling 01273 292929 or by visiting www.brighton-hove.gov.uk.

• Get contents insurance (no need if you have it included!) We strongly advise you to invest in your own contents insurance as the landlords insurance does not cover your personal belongings in the event of a fire, burglary or leak. It may seem like an extra cost when living on a tight budget, but ask yourself if you could really afford to replace your things in the event they were damaged or stolen.
  If it’s included in your rent, please make sure you confirm you cover.

• Contact your neighbours. We recommend you introduce yourselves to your neighbours and exchange telephone numbers. After all, you may need them when you’ve run out of milk! Please always be respectful of your local community and keep noise to a minimum. We love turning the volume up and dancing in our rooms as much as the next person, but be considerate – your neighbours may work nights, have young children napping, or be older people who feel vulnerable.

• Keep on top of your garden. Gardens grow surprisingly quickly, particularly in the summer months! We would advise you to keep on top of it now and maintain it throughout the year to avoid complaints and a large gardening charge at the end! If you need any advice about what you need to do to maintain your garden just get in touch. If you’re a lucky tenant with a gardener included keep an eye on your emails for your the dates the garden will attend.

It is the tenants responsibility to maintain the garden throughout the duration of your tenancy unless it has been stipulated separately in your tenancy agreement under the ‘extra clauses’ section.

Don’t worry, these are not your responsibility. Phew! Please take a picture of the bill, email it to Fused and they’ll deal with it for you.

Please don’t panic! Instead, just contact the supplier and let them know you are not the tenants in question. They may ask to see a copy of your tenancy agreement to prove this. Please also take a picture of the bill and email it to us, or pop it into the office when you are next passing and we’ll provide the supplier with the forwarding address for the person responsible.

We generally conduct inspections twice a year. We do this to make sure the property is being looked after and to ensure it is safe and secure for you and your housemates. It’s also a good opportunity for you to let us know of any issues you’re having with your home or ask us any questions you might have. We will give you plenty of notice and we ask that at least one tenant is present. We do take photos to send to your landlord so please make sure the property is clean, tidy and free from rubbish. If we attend your property and we are unable to conduct the inspection because the property is in a poor condition or because there is no tenant present, please be aware there is a £30 re-inspection charge.

Yes, small reasonable repairs that happen during your tenancy are your responsibility as tenants. We don’t expect you to be DIY SOS, but changing lightbulbs, replacing fuses, unblocking drains, tightening loose handles and bleeding radiators all fall under this category. If you are unsure of what to do, just call us and we’ll be happy to help guide you.

No, subletting is not permitted as part of your tenancy agreement. We know circumstances can change, so it is possible to exit your tenancy early. However, to do so you will need to find a suitable replacement and pay an exit fee. Please refer to your contract or contact us for more information.

No, you do not need to be at the property for your check-out. If you are present you will be asked to wait outside while our independent inventory company compiles the report. This is for two reasons; firstly because they want to be able to complete the report independently without distraction and need peace and quiet in order to record it, and secondly to make sure there is no bias affecting the report. The same rules apply to your landlord, so we feel like it’s pretty fair.

Fair wear and tear is taken into account by the third party inventory company. They have undertaken thorough training to be able to decide what is fair wear and tear. It is dependent on many factors, for example the length of the tenancy, the type of tenancy and where in the property the affected area is. For example, if the tenancy was over 6 years it is expected that there will be more marks to walls than a tenancy of 6 months. The walls on a staircase or hallway are likely to become slightly marked as opposed to walls to a bedroom, due to heavier traffic.

There are items that will never be considered fair wear and tear. For example, but not limited to: Dirt and dust, burn marks or staining on floors and carpets, lost keys, broken windows, burnt on food to ovens / grills, grease build up on walls, hair, limescale, water marks, heavy scratching, pet hair / damage, avoidable damage to an item or area, staining to mattresses, allowing water damage to a property, misuse or abuse of an item, replacing an item with a similar one, but of poor quality,excessive usage causing damage, broken items disposed of, impact marks and blu tac.

You don’t need to contact us about your deposit – we have a process in place to ensure we contact everyone after they have moved out. Once you have moved out we will send you an email confirming what happens next. If there are any deductions from your deposit these will be broken down clearly for you and sent to you, along with a copy of the check-out report, within one month of your check out date. As you can imagine, we have a lot of student tenants that move out at a similar time. We work through them in order of each property moving out and will send them across as quickly as possible.

Once you have left the property and your check-out has been completed, you are not able to re-enter the property to carry out any cleaning etc. We will give you lots of notice and information in the months and weeks leading up to your check out, so you will know exactly what you need to do and when, before moving out. Unfortunately, due to the tight schedules in turning the property around for the new tenancy, we are unable to allow permission for you to go back to the property. We use tried and tested contractors to remedy any missed areas/items.

Please do contact us and let us know if there is anything you have left in the property that you need back. There is a very short period of time where items can be returned and we will try our best to keep anything for you. However, we would recommend that you double check every room, cupboard etc. before you leave. It’s important that all of your belongings have been removed as we are unable to guarantee they can be returned to you after works have begun or the new tenants have moved in.

Not necessarily. As the report is conducted by a third party company, they will not have been involved in your tenancy and therefore, will not be aware of certain changes. For example, they may list a blind as missing, however this could have been removed by the landlord mid-tenancy. Or they may list a washing machine as having been changed by the tenants, but this could have been replaced by the landlord mid-tenancy as the machine had broken. It is then our job to go through each check-out report and address these issues on a case-by-case basis and work out what has been legitimately changed and what has not. We will also look out for any items listed as missing that have actually been moved to other rooms. Please do not panic if there are lots of items that are listed that you feel you are not responsible for, we will look at these and work out if any of it is your responsibility. We do keep a log of changes like this on our management system (as long as we’ve been notified of them throughout your tenancy), so whilst it’s often a time-consuming tasks it’s usually very straightforward for us to work out what’s what.

Yes, of course. We only require one spokesperson for each property. It is best if you nominate a person and all speak together before coming back to us with any points you do not agree with in one go. It does not need to be the lead tenant that is nominated for this.

We do ask that all items are returned to the rooms they were in at the start of the tenancy to avoid any confusion on the check-out report. We will look at the check-out report when we visit the property to work out if any of the missing items have been left in a different room. Please note any large items (e.g. wardrobes etc.) that have been moved MUST be returned to the correct rooms as we may have to charge for a contractor to move these if they are too large for us to move (if it took four of you, it’s probably going to take that many of us!).

We work really hard to get your deposit breakdown across to you within 1 month of your check-out as we know how important that money is in taking your next steps – whether you’re moving into a new place, paying of bills or treating yourself. We process returns in order of move out dates, so please do bear with us as it is an incredibly busy time of year. It helps us to process everyone’s breakdowns more quickly if we can focus on these, so please avoid contacting us within this period. If you have not heard from us within this timeframe, please email deposits@coapt.co.uk and we will let you know when you will receive your breakdown.

We will provide a detailed breakdown of any deductions from your deposit on a room-by-room basis so you can easily negotiate any discrepancies with your housemates. There will be separate sections for items such as keys, unpaid rent etc. Each bedroom will also be itemised and there will be a cost per item listed. As the deposit is treated as a whole (due to a joint and severally liable tenancy agreement) this will help you to divide up who is responsible for each deduction, if at all.

After the check-out, we’ll give the cleaners guidance of how much cleaning is required as documented in the check out report. The cleaner will submit their invoice based on the amount of hours it takes to clean the property. We’ll double check this against the check out report and any additional cleaning will be paid for by the landlord.
We’ve worked with our cleaners for many years and they are all prepped in advance to clean efficiently in order to keep costs down.

Before you leave the property, we send through several reminders to clean the property and provide you with information on how to do so. You are welcome to have the clean carried out before the last date of your tenancy by a cleaner of your choice (Checkatrade is a great place to look for someone), which you would need to organise yourselves. Unfortunately, due to the sheer volume of work that comes with cleaning around 500 houses in a 12-week window, the cleaning firms that we use have a number of experienced end-of-tenancy cleaners, office staff, cleaning supervisors, company vehicles, etc. meaning larger overheads than a much smaller cleaning firm. Therefore their rates from £23ph is higher than some smaller firms. They also have additional fixed costs for oven cleaning, freezer defrosts, rubbish removal, carpet and mattress cleaning.

The hourly rate is for general cleaning which only requires regular cleaning products (i.e bleach/antibacterial spray/vacuuming), not specialist chemicals/equipment. As specific chemicals must be used to clean an oven or defrost a freezer as well as the additional time this takes, the cost of this will be in excess of the hourly rate and you will therefore be charged separately. To avoid this, we recommend you do a deep clean before you leave the property (there are some excellent, if slightly cheesy videos on how to do this on YouTube like this one).

The cleanliness of the carpets are compared to the state they were in when you moved into the property. If the carpets were clean when you moved in but they are dirty when you vacate, you will be charged for the cleaning. In some cases, if carpets were showing stains when you moved in and then were in a worse state when you vacate, the cost of cleaning can be split between Landlord and Tenant. Again, carpet and mattress cleaning requires a large cleaning machine to be brought into the property. This is why carpet cleaning is charged separately, with a set up charge for the initial area cleaned.

The hourly rate is for a general clean that does not require specialist chemicals/equipment. Mattress sanitising is very time consuming and requires specialist equipment. This does not constitute general cleaning and you will therefore be charged separately. Sometimes accidents happen, and if you know that your mattress needs a clean and would like to organise one yourself, then we’d recommend finding a supplier on Checkatrade.

In accordance with your tenancy agreement, you are responsible for keeping the property clear from rubbish and ensuring that it is regularly collected by the local authority. If there is an excessive amount of rubbish (more than 1 wheelie bin load), the council will not remove it. If you do not remove it at the end of your tenancy, we will be required to hire a rubbish removal company to ensure the property is clear of rubbish for the incoming tenants. If you think you have the wrong bin size, you can also request a new one from the Council during your tenancy – just follow this link. It’s important to know that if you don’t put your rubbish in the correct bin (e.g. soft furnishings, large bulky items etc.) then the council will not collect the rubbish.

It completely depends how much you’ve left. If the amount left is more than one van load, you will be charged for the use of another van. Rubbish removal contractors also have to take waste to a trade waste site which is time consuming and often incurs charges. It is much more cost effective for you to take it to a non-commercial tip.

We do ask that all personal items are removed from the property prior to your check-out, no matter how useful you think they might be for the next tenants.This is so we can keep the standards of our properties the same across the board.

Of course! Please let us know if you would like copies of any invoices for works carried out – just email deposits@coapt.co.uk.

Part of the clearance of your garden prior to your check-out should include removing all green waste. Large piles of this left in gardens attracts vermin and can take a long time to break down naturally. New tenants will be moving into the property shortly after you vacate, therefore, the garden needs to be cleared and ready for them to use. If we need to get our gardener to remove any green waste once you have checked out, then unfortunately there will be a charge for this. Our gardener charges for their time to remove this as well as the cost of disposing of it at a commercial green waste disposal site. The amount you could be charged depends on the amount of waste left; the larger the amount, the longer it will take our gardeners to load it onto their truck for removal and the more they will be charged for disposal.

If the check-out report states that marks have been caused to walls in the property that are in excess of normal wear and tear, the landlord is entitled to receive some compensation for this damage. Dependent on the extent of the damage, the landlord may decide to instruct a contractor to repaint the wall/s (although this is not necessary in order to make a charge from the deposit for any marks caused).

Our contractors charge £60 to repaint each wall. We instruct contractors to repaint whole walls rather than touch in marks as this often leaves obvious patches of new paint and can look much worse than the original damage. The apportionment of this cost between landlord and tenant is worked out based on the theory that a landlord is expected to repaint their property on average every 4 years. Therefore, over 4 years, the wall would depreciate at £15 per year (£60 being the cost of repainting divided by the number of years it could be expected to last).

If the check-out report states that a wall has been marked during your tenancy, it is our job to then look at your original inventory and investigate when that wall was last repainted. We can then work out how much should be apportioned to the tenants and to the landlord. For example, if the inventory states that the wall at the beginning of the tenancy was in a ‘good clean condition,’ or ‘appears freshly painted,’ and that same wall is then marked at the end of the tenancy and in need of repainting, the landlord has only had 1 year’s worth of ‘use’ out of the wall. In this instance, the landlord should pay £15 for that year and the tenant would be responsible for the 3 years that the landlord missed out on due to the damage caused, so the tenant would be charged £45. In another scenario, the inventory could list the walls as having some marks present at the start of the tenancy and then the check-out report shows that there are additional marks to these at check-out. If we find that this wall was repainted two years prior to the check-out, the cost of the repainting would be split 50/50 between the landlord and tenant.

Consequently, different walls in the same property may have been repainted at different points in time so varying charges could apply for the same damage from one wall to the next. Please note that walls do not necessarily need to be repainted in order to apply the same apportionment of charges.

Unfortunately, employing contractors to carry out repainting is much more expensive than buying a tin of paint and doing it yourselves. Contractors have overheads to cover and need to charge for their labour to do the work on top of the cost of the materials. The walls often need to be treated before repainting especially when blu-tack has been used as the greasy residue needs to be cleaned off properly before paint can be applied, otherwise it will just seep back through the paint again. This process adds to the amount of time our contractors have to spend repainting. We have sourced reliable and reasonably priced contractors to carry out the work and they have kept their prices the same for several years now despite the rise in the price of materials. These prices have also been accepted as reasonable by deposit dispute adjudicators.

Please refer to the explanation of how these charges are worked out above. The apportionment of charges between landlord and tenant should reflect the condition of the walls at the start of the tenancy so the fact that they were not freshly painted has been taken into account already in the amount that you have been charged.

It is very difficult to remove marks through cleaning the walls and doing so can often cause more damage. Although some very minor marks can be removed by wiping the wall gently with a damp cloth, the majority will not clean off. Rubbing the wall too hard in an attempt to remove marks will cause damage to the paintwork which often looks worse than the original mark and will need repainting anyway.

Blu-tac and nails are classed as avoidable damage and so do not class as fair wear and tear. Fair wear and tear is light damage such as scuffs in communal stairwells which accumulate over the period of the tenancy. Fair wear and tear is calculated based on the length of the tenancy and the type of occupant.

The inventory clerk will have examined the property at the point of constructing the original inventory. They will at this point have highlighted any areas that already have blu-tac marks, scuffs, nails, etc. If the clerk has highlighted that a wall that was unmarked on the inventory, now has marks at the end of the tenancy then they will highlight it as new damage that needs to be remedied at the tenants cost.

Grease marks are not classed as fair wear and tear as it is avoidable damage. The landlord is not obliged to provide headboards and it is the responsibility of the tenant to either ensure they are not marking the walls with grease or that they make good any grease marks prior to checkout by repainting the wall.

Of course! If you wish to see an invoice of works then our Deposit Return team can provide this. In most instances, an invoice will be available. However if the landlord has decided to only charge an apportionment charge for damage, then works will not have been carried out and therefore no invoice will be available.

It would be excessive for the landlord to replace a whole carpet due to a small number of burn marks. Therefore, every time a tenant contributed to the damage of a carpet the landlord should only charge an apportionment charge for that specific damage. Once the carpet is so badly damaged through numerous damages, over various tenancies, he will then pay for the replacement himself, having received various contributions over the years.

Lightbulbs can stop working at any time. Unfortunately, we do have instances where lightbulbs that were working one day, are not working the next day. The condition of the property is relayed at the official check-out, so any bulbs that are not working at this time will need to be replaced at the tenants cost, provided they were stated as working when the original inventory was constructed.

Like all contractor charges, there is an element of labour involved. Not only to fit the light bulb but to make the trip to buy the bulb needed. To avoid this cost for labour, it is advised that you always replace all non-working bulbs prior to your check-out.

Our Deposit Return team have been on various deposit courses run by My Deposits adjudicators so that they can fairly apportion cost depending on the damage caused. This includes cigarette burns, iron burns and marked furniture etc.

We always look for the most economical option when remedying any dilapidations. As cleaning is cheaper than replacing a mattress, we will try this in the first instance. Unfortunately, sometimes stains won’t come out and the mattress may need to be replaced after it has been cleaned. If it is excessively stained and beyond cleaning, we will arrange for a replacement and not attempt to clean it.

We recommend at the start of tenancies that mattress protectors are used to avoid these issues.

Unfortunately not. You are allowed access to the property (either yourself or via a third-party) during the dates of your tenancy. After you have vacated the property, any access or works need to be arranged by the Landlord or Coapt.

If an item is listed in the inventory but missing from the check-out report, the landlord has every right to charge the cost towards replacing the item although they do not actually have to replace it, as it is an asset they have lost.

If a minority of tenants return their keys at the end of their tenancy, we will normally need to change the locks to ensure the next tenants’ safety. Whilst we do understand that it is normal for tenants to lose their keys, we can only be sure that no third party has unauthorised access to the property if we change the lock.

The inventories were checked by yourselves to confirm that everything listed in them is correct. You had 7 days at the start of the tenancy to notify us of any discrepancies in the document otherwise it is deemed to be an accurate representation of how you received the property. Unfortunately, if there is no evidence that the damage existed at the start of your tenancy, it will be chargeable to yourselves. If you have any queries, do let us know and we will be happy to discuss this with you.

Most tenancy agreements are joint and severally liable. This means the deposit is classed as one joint deposit. Although we allowed you to pay your shares of this individually, we are unable to send individual portions of deposits back. Any communal damage is down to you as tenants to resolve and to allocate costs depending on who caused that damage. The full breakdown will be provided for you to discuss amongst yourselves and the full cost of repairs deducted from your joint deposit. The only exceptions to this are if only one tenant is moving out or if you are on your own separate tenancy agreement. Then of course, the one tenant will have their share of the deposit returned to them.

Unfortunately, we are not able to get involved in internal disputes such as issues with bills, nor are we able to deduct these from the deposit. We do suggest that tenants take our bills-included package to avoid any issues with bills at the end of the tenancy.

No problem! Just reply to let us know, we will then put this on hold until we hear from you and we’ll look after your deposit until the issue is resolved.

Please do bear with us, this is an incredibly busy time. We have nearly 500 properties moving in and out in a very short space of time. The deposits are handled in order of move out date and we will respond to each of you. We aim to respond within 3 working days to each email, however please do bear with us, this could take longer depending on the number of queries you have.

Most tenancy agreements are joint and severally liable. This means the deposit is one payment and all deductions will be made from the deposit as a whole. We will send a breakdown of deductions detailing any charges on a room by room basis where we can, to help you divide up the balance. If one tenants ‘share’ of damages is more than their portion of deposit, it will be up to yourselves as tenants to reclaim the money off them if you wish.

We will give you 48 hours to initially respond to the breakdown. Please note, we will not return the deposit before this time period has passed. Once the 48 hours have passed, if we have not heard from you regarding this, we will return the deposit to you as soon as we can providing all tenants have completed the ‘Deposit return form.’ Please contact us if the deposit is not in your account after this time period and we will look into why this is.

Yes of course! If you are happy with the breakdown, please feel free to email us straight back to let us know and we can return this to you at the next available opportunity.

We always hope that we will be able to find a middle ground, where you are happy. However, if you do not agree with the deductions you have the right to dispute your deposit through MyDeposits. MyDeposits do ask that you have attempted to resolve the disagreement (e.g. you have told us you are not happy and asked us to clarify anything) before taking it to dispute. Please note the dispute process is the first step and will be judged by an independent claims official. Small claims courts will direct you to MyDeposits dispute service in the first instance. If you would like to raise a dispute, you can do so on the MyDeposits website www.mydeposits.co.uk.

Don’t panic, we will be as flexible as possible to facilitate a swap over. Please contact the Property Admin team ASAP to let us know so that we can work together to fill the empty room. It is up to the exiting tenant to find a replacement and once you have we’ll help them through the contract part as quickly as possible. The tenant that has withdrawn will lose their holding deposit.

Full-time students are exempt from Council Tax during term time (phew!). In order to claim your discount you must register online with the City Council.  Alternatively you can call Brighton & Hove City Council on 01273 291291 for further advice.

To find out who your current utility suppliers are call 0870 6081524 for gas, 0845 6015467 for electricity and 0330 303 1263 for water.

Check out our easy to follow guide to completing your paperwork here.

If you have signed up for bills included with a minimum of 2 weeks before you tenancy starts then your water, gas and electricity should all be sorted when you move in. We aim to have your WIFI set up when you move in too but please note that this can take up to two weeks after your tenancy starts as a third party company deals with the organisation of this.

Bills included packages are available so you can enjoy your home without the stress of managing your bills. Our packages include Electricity, Gas, Water and Superfast Broadband; no unexpected bills on your doormat, no worrying about price increases with the ever changing price caps, and no reason to chase your housemates for money. Just easy living!

If you are renting a Coapt managed property we’ll add your bills package in to your rent for one easy payment every month. See prices below. If you are renting a landlord managed property you’ll get a quote from The Student Energy Group to set up your bills directly.

Simply select the bills included option on your application form. Tada! ????

After the check out has been completed on the last day of your tenancy, we will have a breakdown of any deductions to you within one month at the latest, but we will aim for sooner. Once agreed, your deposit will be returned within 48 hours to your nominated bank account.

The best way is to use your inventory and go around the house room by room making sure the property is returned to the same condition as when you moved in. Don’t worry, we will of course allow for fair wear and tear. Pay special attention to cleanliness, this is the most common deposit deduction. We would recommend sourcing the inventory sent to you at the beginning of your tenancy to refer back to, just to be safe!

If you are on a bills included package, nothing! Prior to the last day of your tenancy, contact your gas, electricity and water suppliers to let them know you are moving out. On the last day take meter readings and provide them to supplier. (Tip: take photos of all the readings, they can come in handy!). If you have top-up meters for any utilities, you must ensure these have the same amount of credit as when you moved in. You can find this information on your inventory. Don’t forget about broadband / telephone providers, your TV license and to re-direct any post. We will not be able to collect any post for you once you have moved out.

All keys should be left together inside the property. Please do not hand-deliver or post keys back to our office, as this will mean they are not listed on the check-out report and you may be charged.

If your front door requires a key to lock when closed, please pop the rest of the keys inside, lock the front door and push the last set through the letterbox.

The differences in outgoing costs between traditional deposits and zero-deposit schemes are actually very little! For Reposit you pay one week’s rent to Reposit who act to insure your deposit. This is non-refundable. You then pay the first months’ rent within 15 days as security for the landlord leading up to the tenancy. This is the case with all zero-deposit schemes. For a traditional deposit, you would pay a holding deposit. You then pay 5 weeks’ rent within 15 days for the rest of the deposit, minus the holding deposit you’d already paid. The first month’s rent would then be paid 7 days before the beginning of the tenancy. After this, the differences are minimal until the end of the tenancy. With a traditional deposit, we will send you a breakdown of any deductions within a month of your tenancy end date and then once agreed, will return the balance of the funds to you. With Reposit, we will submit any end of tenancy charges onto their platform with 24 days of the end of your tenancy, you will be notified of these by Reposit and once agreed, you will pay this money to Reposit.