My rental is sort of a little different to this setup, I offer rent a rooms in my home for up to 4 individuals at a time, I arrange all of my own safety checked, certificates, contracts / tenancy agreements, viewings etc etc. I use many external partners and don’t have anyone from using openrent services for advertising. I do however wish to look at arranging a rent collection service, I have tried to do this on the portal but it doesn’t appear to let me unless that tenant is loaded and / or comes through open rent, is there not a way I can simply add a tenant to a rent collection scheme via openrent that hasn’t come to me from openrent? When I load the portal it just asks me to select the tenant and begin the tenancy process which is already done myself.
You may need to take a more fundamental look at your arrangements as rent collection may be the least of your worries.
If you are living in the same home and sharing some living space with these lodgers, then they will be licensees, not tenants. What type of agreement are you giving them? What checks are you carrying out?
As there are 4 of them in addition to yourself, then the property is a mandatory licensable HMO and if you don’t have a license you could face a very large fine and/or 12 month rent repayment order.
Openrent do not offer a rent collection service unless for tenancies signed up through their portal.
My tenants set up ‘Standing Orders’ into my bank & that works really well, and it doesn;t cost me anything. If you prefer more control, then you could have direct debit facilities via GoCardless, but they will deduct a fee for payment processing.
That said, what David122 said… lots more to make sure you are compliant with.
Some great points, my occupancy is never above 4 people including myself due to local HMO licencing. (Hence my statement of up to 4 people) I refer to them as housemates but they / I have licensee agreements which have been checked over with legal.
All assured requirements are met and continue to be met in regards to safety and certification including fire, electric, gas etc. As I work in the industry as a main job (that being home security, fire, smart home / automation), I currently operate above and beyond legal requirements. I provide a safe home for my housemates. But I thank you for your considered response.
@Karl, does this require your tenants to physically arrange this themselves? How do you manage / confirm that this has actually been arranged?
Ok, good to hear, although the property will still be an HMO even if its not locally licensable. You will need to comply with the full HMO Management Regulations and get a Fire Risk Assessment.
Yes that’s correct, my company conduct an annual fire RA and I conduct monthly alarm checked, the house also fully adheres to HMO Management Regulations and I request annual inspections by the council to ensure adherence (They don’t always agree to send anyone).
It sounds like youre on top of things so congratulations. I dont know of a rent collection service though, so cant advise on that.
One final suggestion would be keep an eye on the Council licensing plans as more and more are introducing Additional Licensing for 3 and 4 person HMOs and reports on here suggest it isnt always well publicised.
I do as much as I can to provide a nice home for people. Trying to build a positive relationship with the area and change the trend of traditional landlord thought processes.
Openrents would have been ideal but they’ve confirmed I have to go through the entire tenancy process which is an additional cost that isn’t fit for purpose for my needs as all of my tenants are sourced externally.
I am refering to the standard ‘Standing Orders’ & ‘Direct Debits’ set up with banks. Nothing special. Standing order setup & controlled by the payer with their bank to send a set amount at regular intervals, Direct Debits set up by the payee via a Direct debit provider… of which I had suggested GoCardless.