Hubert Road 1, Birmingham

For a lot of their properties you'll be asked to collect your keys from their office after midday on the 1st day of your tenancy. You can pick your keys up at any point after that date during their office hours. Remember, everyone in your house will need to have completed all of their paperwork first, paid their rent and you'll need to bring your ID with you so they know they are giving the right keys to the right people!

For some properties your landlord will provide keys directly to you. They will email you a month before your move in date to confirm where you should collect your keys.

For properties which they manage, they’ll be asking you to set up direct debits to pay your rent which will either be monthly in advance or quarterly. They'll email you a link to a website where you'll need to enter your bank details to set up the direct debit. You can forward this link to your parents if they will be paying your rent for you. You'll need to make sure that you've got enough money in your account each month for the direct debit to work, if there's not you may be charged a late payment fee by them and your bank.

There aren't exactly 4 weeks in a month so we calculate monthly rent in the following way: divide your weekly rent by seven (number of days in the week), then multiply by 365 (number of days in the year); finally multiple this by twelve (the number of months in the year). The equation is: (weekly rent / 7) x 365 / 12 = monthly rent. 

Please note that for leap years you need to adjust the equation to 366 to take the extra day into account.

Often landlords will ask that you pay your rent quarterly, this means, once per quarter of the year meaning you will pay 4 larger payments during the year rather than 12 monthly payments. If your contract starts on the 1st July your payment dates will be 1st July, 1st October, 1st January and 1st April. The payments due on each of these dates will be equivalent to 3 months' rent.

If they manage your property you will need to let them know about any maintenance issues, they have a team of trusted tradesmen and contractors who will resolve any issues you may have.

Most tenancy agreements (especially student ones) are joint and several which basically means you sign the agreement as a group and are all responsible jointly for the liabilities explained in the contract. For example; if there is damage to the property the landlord can hold you all liable; the landlord is also able to hold any one of you as being liable for the damage. It also means that if the landlord is required to give you notice of anything they are only legally required to inform one of you.

Although your obligations are joint and several; your guarantor's are not. this means that the landlord can only ask your guarantor for a particular share of any joint liability. For example if it is a 4 bedroom house; your guarantor can only be asked for ¼ of the total rent due if you haven’t paid or ¼ of any damage not covered by the deposit.

While their standard process is to ask tenants to provide a UK-based guarantor, who passes a credit check, they know that sometimes this may not be possible. For instance, if you are an International student.

There are two options available if you don't have a UK guarantor: you can pay your rent upfront, or apply to the company Housing Hand to act as your guarantor.

Housing Hand charges a one-off fee of £299 for this service, which will mean that they act as your UK guarantor for 12 months - the usual length of your tenancy. The fee is exclusive to pmg, so make sure you mention them to pay this fee.

If more than two unrelated people rent in the same house the property is classified as a ‘house in multiple occupation’ (HMO). If the property has five or more bedrooms and is on three or more floors it has to be licensed with the local Council and has to meet certain safety requirements. The HMO certificate should be on display in the property but if you want confirmation that the property is registered you should call your local Council.

Your landlord is responsible for making sure the gas appliances at your property are safe and is required to have them inspected by a ‘Gas Safe’ engineer every 12 months. They will make a copy available to you when you move in and again when it is renewed.

You are all jointly liable for rent payments so if someone doesn't pay their rent the landlord is able to pursue all of you for any rent due. It is normal practice however that a landlord would pursue the individual tenant first and then their guarantor before approaching the other tenants.

It is normal practice for your inventory to be supplied to you within the first 14 days of the tenancy agreement. You then usually have 7-14 days to return it signed with any amendments. If you don’t return the inventory then you agree to accept the property in the condition described in the inventory.

An EPC shows how energy efficient a house is and can help you work out how much your utilities will cost. They put them on our website for you to look at but if you can’t find one let them know.

As with living on campus, you'll need to bring the essentials with you. While your off campus student accommodation will be fully furnished, you'll need to bring things like bedding, kitchen equipment and towels. It's unlikely that the property will include crockery and cutlery, so make sure you have something to eat with, too! Some accommodation will be supplied with a kettle and microwave. Many have hoovers. 

Yes happy for you to pay on behalf of the tenants as long as you are aware that its non refundable if the tenant drops out.

They cannot do dual occupancy in their properties.

They require all rent payments in advance of each month or quarter.

They do require UK based guarantors but if they do not have one then they will accept them using Housing Hand but they do charge a small fee to act as a guarantor for students.