Binks Estate Agents advertise regularly in the local press and, of course, on our state-of-the-art website and on Rightmove and other portals.  Details of all our rental properties are available at both offices in Chorleywood and Amersham. These will include floor plans, photographs, an EPC of the property.

You can visit us at one of our offices or call us and we can register you on our mailing list.  You can also register your details on-line. We will advise you as soon as a property becomes available for rental and e-mail details of the property to you.  We will need such details as name, home address, telephone numbers together with an e-mail address.  We will also ask how many people are looking to move into the property and if there are any children, smokers or pets.

Once a property has been viewed and a choice is made, an offer should be put forward. Those details will be passed onto our client who will make the decision as to whether or not to proceed, subject to contract and satisfactory references.

If an offer to take a property is accepted, we will need to take full details of the individuals wishing to rent the property together with reference details. The reference information required will usually include employment details, bank details and previous Landlord or Managing Agent details. We do reserve the right to do credit checks if necessary. Once the references have been approved, the paperwork will normally be sent out to both Landlord and Tenant for approval and electronic signature.

We do not take holding deposits and, as such, the property will remain on the market until such time as the documentation has been signed. Typically, a month’s rent is payable in advance on the signing of the Tenancy Agreement and no later than 48 hours prior to the commencement of the term, a further 5 weeks’ (or 6 weeks’ if the total rent equates to more than £50,000 per annum) rent will be required by way of a security deposit.  This is held for the duration of the tenancy by the Deposit Protection Service (the DPS) against any future claims for dilapidations or unpaid bills or rent.  Binks (Sales & Lettings) Ltd, as an agency, is registered with their Custodial Scheme.

Once all the necessary paperwork has been signed, references approved and completion monies collected, the tenant will meet the appointed Inventory Clerk at the previously agreed time, typically the commencement date of the tenancy but not before. The Inventory Clerk runs through a list of contents and a Schedule of Condition with the tenant. The Inventory Clerk will then hand the keys of the property over to the tenant and the tenant is free to move into the property. Depending on the size of property, the Check-In Process will normally take between one and two hours.

At the end of the tenancy, the Inventory Clerk will re-visit the property at the mutually agreed time, with the tenant, and run through the list of contents and after having made an allowance for fair, wear and tear, compile a Check-Out Report. The meters to the gas, electricity and water (if applicable) are read and those are noted on the Check Out Report together with the tenant’s forwarding address.  A copy of the Check-Out Report will then be forwarded to the tenant a few days later and any proposed dilapidations discussed and agreed between the parties. Once those have been agreed, we can give an instruction to the DPS to release the deposit monies to the tenant less any agreed.  The tenant can then go on-line to the DPS to agree it.