Room in a 3 Bedroom Apartment, Newsham Road, Lancaster, LA1 4DG

It is really easy to reserve a property. All they need is a holding payment of 1 week’s rent. This is comes off your first month’s rent so is just a little bit of rent upfront. This allows them to take the property completely off the market for you whilst they go through the contract signing process for you.

Before You Have Signed An Agreement
If you have paid a holding payment and then decide to not rent the property then you will not be bound an agreement. The holding payment is only refundable in a situation where they have to withdraw the property from you.
After Signing An Agreement
If you have signed the agreement you are bound by the terms of it and from the start of the tenancy you will be liable for the rent in the agreement.
However if you still need to end the agreement you can do so by finding someone to take the agreement over from you. Once they have signed up you will no longer be liable for your part of the agreement.
They can help find someone to take over an agreement, however make no promises to be able to and until such a point that a replacement resident is found you remain liable for the rental payments.

In order to let you the room or property they need a guarantor for each resident to guarantee your rent. This means that you can rent a property from them even if you don’t have a credit score.
It is important to note that they do not ask your guarantor to guarantee the rent for the whole property, only for you.
If you do not have a guarantor you can easily sign up with Housing Hand through their system, or they can discuss larger upfront rent payments.

Once you and your guarantor have signed the contract, and the rest of your group if your contract is joint, then it is signed by them and the house is officially yours!
They will be in touch a few months out from move in with their resident guide and some other great tips before moving in.

Unfortunately, you are committed under the tenancy agreement to pay the full rent.
If you find a new resident, they’ll let you out of your agreement from the day they move in, and refund you any unused rent that you’ve paid in advance (minus a £50 admin fee)*.
They cannot refund your rent until you have found someone to take over your tenancy agreement, their booking is confirmed and they have paid the first instalment of their rent.

They try to be as flexible as possible with their payment schedules. They understand that for most of their residents it is better to make payments when student loans come in termly.
Their termly payments are usually due in the middle of October, January and April with a small payment due at the beginning of the contract prior to moving in.
You can also pay monthly if that is easier, they just need to let them know before the contract goes out.

Your rent includes the following:
Electricity, Gas (if applicable), water, tv license.
They provide the following free of charge:
Broadband, Contents Insurance
Holiday clean (once during Christmas and Easter break)

If you are a student you are exempt from council tax. All they need is a council tax exemption certificate from your University and they will apply for the exemption for you.
If you are not a student then you will be liable for the council tax for the property. Often the council tax is demanded from the owners and then they will invoice this amount from you.
If you are the only non-student in a property with students you are often eligible for a 25% council tax discount.

Yes! they provide all their residents with free contents insurance via Endsleigh. For no extra charge your basic contents (including laptops up to £1k) are insured against theft. If you would like to upgrade your cover please let them know and you will benefit from their discounted rates through Endsleigh.

Yes they are! they include all utilities and complimentary superfast fibre broadband in their homes so you don’t have to worry about splitting bills or setting up joint accounts with your housemates, just one payment covers everything. It is worth noting that council tax is not included however if you are a student then you are entitled to a full council tax exemption.

When you move into a property home you will be given instructions on how to download and use their smart maintenance app. This will allow you to report any issues immediately to them and attach photos & descriptions of the issue. They will then send out the appropriate contractor to fix the problem sharpish. If you have an emergency out of hours then please call the emergency number provided when you moved in.

Property uses a state-of-the-art locking system across their portfolio of houses allowing you to unlock your house and room with just your phone, no keys necessary.
Their iLoqs are brand new technology from Finland utilizing battery free NFC technology.
Their digital locks mean that if you lose your phone, they can temporarily provide access to your locks to one of your housemates to ensure you aren’t locked out. This helps to avoid costly call out and locksmith charges for you if you were to lose a key.

If your phone has Apple Pay then it will work with iLoq.
Make sure your phone is running the latest version if iOS
Android
You need to make sure your Android phone has NFC capabilities. Again, if you have the ability to use Android Pay then your phone will work
Make sure your Android phone is not rooted. The app can’t be installed on rooted phones as the device is exposed to security threats.
Make sure that your phone is running the latest available version of Android. Open the app on your phone
In the first instance when you open the app, please make sure you are connected to the internet so your phone can verify the permissions.
After this the key will work whether you have internet or not.
Press the “Tap to use the lock” button. You will receive a pop up telling you your phone is ready to scan.
Hold your phone up to the lock (for between 3 and 5 seconds usually) to unlock the door
– It is very important that you hold the right part of your phone up to the lock.
For iPhones you need to hold the top of the phone to the lock. This is because the NFC chip is at the top of the phone behind the speaker.
Unlocking the door
Once you have access simply grab the black disc and turn it to the left to unlock the door.
After that just use the handle as you normally would do.

At property they like to priorities letting their properties to pre-formed groups. However, they understand that this is not always possible.
If you just want to rent a room individually they will work hard to try to assemble groups of like-minded people to let properties together.

Your contract will outline the dates on which your rental payments are due. Whilst they will do what they can to remind you of rent payments being due please understand that the responsibility for paying your rent on time rests with you.
If you believe you will have difficulty paying on these dates or would like to align you rental payments with your student loans then please contact them to discuss this.
Please note that all residents will need to pay their first instalment of rent before they can release keys to any residents on joint contracts.

You can still live with them until the end of your contracted period; however you will become liable for council tax during this time. If you no longer want to live with us,they can help you find somebody to take over your tenancy, however this cannot be guaranteed and you will remain liable for the full commitments of your contract until such time that a replacement resident can be found.

Please give them a call and they will work with you to find the best way in which to pay your rent. All rent is due in advance.
Please note, if your payment is more than 21 days late and they have not heard from you, then late payment charges may be applied to your account.

The office opening hours are 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. The office is closed on weekends and bank holidays.
If you have an emergency out of office hours, you can contact your Kin Keeper below. If you cause any damage beyond fair wear and tear either maliciously or by accident you will be responsible of the cost to the contractor to attend and remedy the situation.

An emergency is a situation where the building is under threat of significant damage or is unsafe. In most cases they will carry out work quickly to prevent further damage or to make safe with the full repair being assessed during normal working hours.
If a problem that you have reported is due to lack of care or misuse by you or other residents occupying the property, you will be charged for the cost of putting it right.
Their key holders do hold spare keys in case of an emergency maintenance issue. Their contractors may still need to gain access via residents to make the necessary repairs.
It is therefore in your best interest to be available for appointments made with contractors to ensure the repairs are carried out as quickly as possible.

The contractors will attend to complete emergency repairs only, further remedial works may be required in working hours following the call out.
Please ensure all non-emergency maintenance is reported through your property portal, or you can call the office during opening hours.

If you have no heating please report the issue through your property portal and a plumber will attend as soon as possible during working hours.

They ask that you pay a small holding payment to secure your home and take it off the market. This is then deducted from your 1st month’s rent. They do not charge a security deposit. This means you don’t have to fork out a large lump sum and worry about it being kept unfairly at the end of your tenancy.

In case of a fire alarm fault or electrical emergency please contact your Kin Keeper. Please do not contact the Kin Keeper by text as they will not receive your message. If you call and there is no answer, leave a voicemail message and they will get back to you as soon as possible.