Morgan Associates has been a member of The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), the industry’s regulatory body, for more than 30 years.
Members of ARLA must comply with strict guidelines which serve to protect tenants and owners and maintain a fair and professional level of service.
A crucial but often overlooked aspect of this professional regulation is that members must provide Client Money Protection, so that your rent and your deposits are ring-fenced in a separate client account. This is audited annually and backed by the ARLA Bond, giving you complete peace of mind.
If you want to rent a house of flat in Cheltenham, then please get in touch and register with us. Tell us about your must-haves, and your preferences, and our team will keep an eye out on your behalf. If we see a house or flat that we think might be suitable, we’ll send you an alert.
We recommend checking-out any virtual tours first before you draw-up a shortlist of potential properties.
If you would like to arrange a viewing of a property then please contact our letting team by phone (01242 514285) or email Lettings@morgan-associates.co.uk and we will make an appointment to show you around.
Our normal viewing hours are between 9.00 am and 5.00 pm Monday to Friday and 9.00 am to 12.30 pm Saturday, but appointments at other times can arranged if required.
When you have seen the property that you’d like to rent, we’ll ask you to complete an application form and a credit reference form. We will ask for an employer’s reference (or an accountant’s reference for self-employed applicants), a bank reference, a previous Landlord’s reference (if applicable) and a personal character reference.
The processing of any application usually takes about 4-5 working days, so moving in typically takes a minimum of one week from initial application.
You will also need to pay a reservation fee equivalent to one week’s rent to secure the property. If your application is successful, then this amount is credited against your initial account.
If you withdraw from the tenancy, or knowingly misrepresent any information on the application form, the whole of the fee is forfeited and retained by Morgan Associates to offset the expenses incurred in processing the application to this point.
Please note that we and the Landlord reserve the right to decline an application without having to give a reason.
If the Landlord decides to withdraw your application then your reservation deposit will be returned to you.
You will need to satisfy the Right to Rent checks, by supplying the following identification in person to our office: either a passport, or photographic driving licence plus your original birth certificate as proof of identification.
More information on what can be accepted to satisfy the Right to Rent checks can be found here. (Please note that only original documentation can be accepted).
We will also need to see a utility bill, council tax bill or bank statement, dated within the last three months which displays your current address.
The majority of our tenancies are for an initial fixed period of six months, although sometimes it suits both Landlords and Tenants for this to be 12 months or longer.
Most of our tenancies ‘run on’ at the end of this initial fixed period, until terminated by either party with relevant notice, which for the Landlord is three months and for Tenants is one month.
On or before the start date of your tenancy, you will have to pay your initial account.
We are unable to accept personal cheques or credit card payments. Payments are preferably made by bank transfer and you will be provided with the details of where to transfer the funds. Alternatively, you can pay by a personal debit card.
On the day you move-in, you can come to the office to collect your keys to your new home.
We’ll also give you two copies of your inventory; you will then have a week to check the inventory before returning one signed copy to our office. This is very important because when you leave the property, it will be checked against this amended inventory before the deposit can be returned.
If you don’t return the inventory then the property will be reviewed against our filed copy of the inventory.
Yes, if the Landlord is agreeable.
We require that each Tenant receiving Housing Benefit provides us with a suitable guarantor, who will have to complete an application form with the same references as those required from a Tenant i.e. employer, accountant if self-employed, bank reference and a personal character reference.
Once these references have been verified, the guarantor will have to sign a covenant which will form part of the Tenancy Agreement, agreeing to pay the rent and guarantee the terms of the Tenancy Agreement if the tenant fails to do so.
We also require Housing Benefit payments to be made directly to the tenant concerned as we will not accept direct payments from the Department of Social Security.
Again, this is possible with the permission of the Landlord. We require a guarantor for each student as outlined for Housing Benefit recipients above.
Yes, although some rental properties, especially flats, may not be suitable for children. Permission from the Landlord is required.
This depends on the individual property and the wishes of the Landlord. If the Landlord is prepared to accept pets then we will require the tenant to have all the carpets professionally cleaned when the property is vacated.
Normally, pets are not allowed in flats.
Once the details on the application form, including references, have been checked and verified we then draw up a tenancy agreement.
If you don’t want to move in immediately, then we can usually hold a property for a short time.
We are not just lettings agents, we also provide Landlords with a comprehensive property management service.
If any maintenance problem occurs at one of our managed properties, all you need to do is ring our office and we will arrange for a contractor to attend as soon as possible, depending on the Landlord’s instructions.
If something urgent arises outside office hours, then our office number switches to a 24-hour emergency line which will get you directly through to a contractor.
You usually have to rent a property for a minimum six-month period.
If you want to vacate any time after the first five months you need to give our office one month’s written notice, to end the tenancy on the anniversary date (i.e. if your tenancy started on the 10th of the month, your notice would need to end on the 10th of a month).
If your Landlord needs to regain possession of his/her property, you will be given at least two month’s written notice of this.
If neither you nor the Landlord wishes to terminate the tenancy it will continue indefinitely, subject to notice on either side.
All Tenants of Morgan Associates’ managed rental properties have the reassurance of knowing that their deposits are fully protected by the Tenants Deposit Scheme which became law in England and Wales in April 2007.
Once you have vacated the property you need to return all keys to our office and provide us with a forwarding address, your final meter readings and confirmation that you have closed your utility accounts.
Within a couple of days, we will send an inspector to compare the current condition of the property to that of the original inventory (as agreed by you on moving in).
Provided the condition of the property is unchanged (after allowing for fair wear and tear) and subject to the requirements of the Tenants Deposit Scheme, we then return your deposit.
If any damage has been done to the property, or if the property has not been cleaned in accordance with the instructions sent to you when you give notice to leave the property, we will contact you to make arrangements for this to be rectified, before returning the remainder of the deposit to you.
You can, if you wish, pre-arrange professional cleaning through us at the end of your tenancy
We can put you in touch with a reliable provider of Tenants Insurance if you do not have your own policy in place, but you should look for a policy which offers cover for your own possessions, PLUS cover for accidental damage to your landlord’s possessions to protect you in the event of permanent stains/damage to things like carpets.
We hope this information has been helpful. It obviously does not cover every aspect of renting a property but please call us on 01242 514285, or email us at lettings@morgan-associates.co.uk with any queries which have not been answered here.
