First and foremost, it is essential that you work out who you intend to be living with during the next academic year. It may be that you choose to live with people from your first year accommodation, friends from your course or a combination of both. This is important as it will impact the number of bedrooms that you will require.

You can narrow down your choices using our ‘Property Search’ options:

• Location/University – the website will display the houses closest to your location/University of choice first and the distance to the University will be visible (this information is based on Google Maps data)
• Minimum and maximum number of bedrooms
• Availability - most of our tenancies start between July and mid-September and run for 12 months

Something else you’ll want to consider is price range. Have an honest and open conversation with your future housemates about what rent each of you can afford and are willing to pay, this may be a sensitive topic for some but it’s best to be honest before your group start seriously considering renting specific houses. Bear in mind that some properties have bills free or included with the rent, have a look at our ‘How to tell whether bills/services are included’ section for more information about this.

Each advert should have a video tour,360° tour, photographs and a floorplan. If you’re registered on our site you can also ‘download a sample agreement’ via the adverts.

If you have registered on the website you can view sample tenancy agreements on each advert.

The sample agreement is a copy of the specific tenancy agreement and guarantor form for the house you’re looking at. When looking at a sample tenancy agreement pay particular attention to:

• The tenancy start and end date – this information can be found on the front page
• Who manages the property, Adam Bennett Lettings or the landlord – this information can be found on the front page
• How often rent is due, it is usually due quarterly (every 3 months) and the first instalment will be due on or before the tenancy start date – this information can be found on the front page
• Custom clauses – see clause 3. ‘The Tenant agrees with the Landlord ‘– and then scroll to clause ‘27’ of this section to see custom clauses

If bills are included/free with the rent you’ll see icons in the bottom left corner of the photographs for a house, if there are no icons then bills are not included/free with the rent and you’ll need to organise these. Please note, some houses don’t have any gas appliances.

If bills are included, they are included on a fair usage policy.

While we want you to be as comfortable as possible in your home, we do need to ensure that gas and electric usage is not excessive and is kept within fair and reasonable limits, this is why bills are included on a fair usage policy.

Below is a table showing the annual utility allowance for 1 – 10+ bedroomed properties. The figures in the table are based on bills from previous years and research about average annual utility consumptions for UK households. The allowances are generous and if you are sensible with usage, it is unlikely you will exceed them, but you will be required to contribute towards the utility costs if as a household you go over the allowances.

If your utility usage is deemed excessive, you will be contacted as soon as this becomes apparent to us or the landlord.

No, for the safety, wellbeing and privacy of current tenants we do not offer physical viewings. We have however captured comprehensive marketing materials. The marketing on the adverts is designed to be as true to life as possible and we capture the footage on a regular basis.

If you're interested in renting a property with multiple bedrooms, unless otherwise stated in the property advert, you must be part of a group with the number of people equal to the number of bedrooms advertised in order to begin the process of securing the property.

Steps to secure a property:

1. Registration
• All members of your group must register individually on the website.
• Ensure that full names (as on legal documents) and permanent home addresses (not University term-time addresses) are entered.
• Email addresses must be accurate, as the Tenancy Agreement will be sent via email for electronic signature.
2. Right to Rent Check:
• During the registration process you will be asked to complete a Right to Rent check.
• Those with an in date British or Irish passport or those with a Government share code can complete the check online through the website.
• Those without the required documentation can explain this during registration and provide a date for when they can provide the necessary documents. Failure to provide sufficient reasoning/a timescale to provide us with the required documentation may delay or prevent the creation of a Tenancy Agreement.
• Important: To complete the Right to Rent check using an in-date British or Irish passport via the software integrated into our website, you must physically have your passport with you. The software will detect if you try to use a photo of the passport instead of the actual document, and the check will fail if the passport is not physically present.
3. Email Verification:
• After registering, each tenant will receive a verification email. All members of the group must verify their email addresses before a Tenancy Agreement can be created.
4. Call our Sales team:
• Once all tenants have registered and verified their emails, one member of the group must call the sales team to proceed with creating the Tenancy Agreement.
• The caller will need to provide each tenant’s full name and the email address they registered with.
• Before creating the agreement, tenancy details will be discussed. These can be reviewed in advance by downloading the Sample Agreement and Guarantor Form from the property advert.
5. Signing the Tenancy Agreement:
   • If you agree to the tenancy details, the Tenancy Agreement will be created, and the group will receive an email with next steps.
   • There will be a deadline (usually 48 hours) to electronically sign the Tenancy Agreement.
   • Deposits (usually £450 each) are due within two weeks, along with a completed Guarantor Form (also with a two-week deadline).
   • If the Tenancy Agreement is not signed by the deadline, the property will be re-advertised.

Important Notes:

If one or more of your group are not comfortable signing for a house please do not pressure them to make a decision, you’ll be signing legally binding documents and once you’ve signed them you will be held to the terms of the agreement. Give people as much time as they need to make an informed decision. All members of your group should discuss signing for a house with your Guarantors before calling our Sales team. If you’re unsure what a Guarantor is, please see our ‘What is a Guarantor’ section.

Contact Information

Sales team phone numbers are below if a line is engaged please try another number:

01904611611
(07562) 340 258
(07562) 340 675
(07894) 964 425

Legal Requirement:

• The Right to Rent check is legally required to verify that tenants have the right to rent in the UK by checking specific documents.

Completing the Check:

• During registration, you'll be asked to complete the check.
• If you have a valid British or Irish passport or a Government share code, you can do the check remotely using the website's software.
• If you do not have these documents, select "I do not have the supporting documentation right now" and provide details of when you can bring the documents to the 58 Gillygate office.
• If you do not have the documentation and we are unsatisfied with the date provided to complete the check, we may delay or not create the Tenancy Agreement.

Important:

To complete the Right to Rent check using an in-date British or Irish passport via the software integrated into our website, you must physically have your passport with you. The software will detect if you try to use a photo of the passport instead of the actual document, and the check will fail if the passport is not physically present.

For more detailed information, you can refer to the Right to Rent guidelines here.

You don’t need to pay anything upfront, but you will be required to pay a deposit within two weeks of signing a tenancy agreement, deposits are usually £450 per tenant.

Once a tenancy agreement has been created, you’ll be required to pay your deposit, unless otherwise stated the deposit is £450 per tenant and needs paying within two weeks of the tenancy agreement being created.

To pay your deposit you’ll need to log onto your Adam Bennett account and go to your ‘Dashboard’, once there you’ll find a link which will take you to the deposit payment page.

If you have signed for a property managed by Adam Bennett Lettings then rent will need to be paid via the website too. To pay rent you will need to log onto your Adam Bennett account and go to the ‘Rent’ tab to find a link which will take you to the rent payment page.

If you have signed for a property which is not managed by Adam Bennett Lettings, rent should be paid directly to your landlord.

A guarantor is somebody who will sign to pay your rent in the event that you default on a payment. Usually this will be a parent or guardian, and they will usually need to own their own property. We recognise that students will come from a diverse range of backgrounds and family situations, so if you feel unsure or need any further advise as to who can be your guarantor please ask a member of staff before you sign the tenancy agreement. You will be expected to arrange for both your guarantor and yourself to sign the guarantor form within two weeks of signing the tenancy agreement. Your guarantor will also need to provide a copy of a document containing proof of signature; this could be a driving licence or passport. They will also need to supply a copy of a document containing proof of address, such as a utility bill. All of this will need to be submitted within two weeks of signing for a property.

From 1 June 2019, the only payments that landlords or letting agents can charge to tenants for new contracts are:

• Rent
• A refundable tenancy deposit capped at no more than 5 weeks' rent where the total annual rent is less than £50,000, or 6 weeks' rent where the total annual rent is £50,000 or above
• A a refundable holding deposit (to reserve a property) capped at no more than 1 week's rent
• Payments associated with early termination of the tenancy, when requested by the tenant
• Payments in respect of utilities, communication services, TV licence and Council Tax
• A default fee for late payment of rent and replacement of a lost key/security device giving access to the housing, where required under a tenancy agreement

A number of our properties are suitable for people with disabilities requiring easier wheelchair access and ground floor facilities such as bathrooms and bedrooms situated on the ground floor. Many landlords are willing to consider reasonable adaptations to their properties to make them friendlier for disabled people, please contact us for further details on which of our properties may be suitable for your requirements.

As a student tenant of an AdamBennett.co.uk property, you will be expected to follow and adhere to the points outlined here