CELEBRATING 20 YEARS
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Personal Service From EPS

Do you know we offer a 24 hours service to your tenants, we give them an Emergency Number to call day and night.

Take into consideration: The changes in legislation are coming fast and furious. Technological developments have created a new way to interact with tenants and landlords.

What is a personal service?

Today, a personal service has come to mean offering customers the tools to manage all aspects of their lives easily and with transparency at any time of the day. Customers don’t necessarily want to do their personal admin during our office hours, they want to do it when it’s convenient to them. EPS are working on a more integral system for our landlords. Coming soon…

We reply to all our emails within 24 hours if not the same day.

We are committed to supporting our Landlords and Customer Satisfaction Technology is moving pretty fast and EPS are keeping up to date.

Our new updated database allows your tenants to report a problem easily, with the problem reported early, we can then arrange our contractors quickly, in the hope of less damage all around. It’s available 24/7, and it keeps a trail of all the works completed for your records and compliance.

We are a forward-looking lettings agency who are always aiming to offer a more personal service to our Landlords. We are also more than happy to receive your feedback and suggestions of any other service you may wish to discuss.

Please feel free to contact Susan at any time. susan@eps.properties

Safe Guarding your Money

It is vital that landlords know they are placing their trust in a professional letting agent and that their money is safe. This information outlines what precautions EPS takes, just to do that.

FEES & CHARGES + ALLOWABLE COSTS

Since 27 May 2015 all letting agents in England must publicise their fees. Letting agents must openly display a list of all fees, charges or penalties which may be incurred by a landlord or tenant.

NON-RESIDENT LANDLORDS

Determining whether a landlord falls within the HMRC non-resident tax scheme is based on where the landlord’s ‘usual place of abode’ is. For an individual, an annual absence from the UK of six months or more is normally regarded as meaning that the usual place of abode is outside the UK and thus the relevant tax regime applies to the landlord.

Letting agents are required by law to retain basic rate tax from the rental income received from properties owned by non-resident landlords. This retention must be made unless HMRC issue the relevant documentation to the agent relating to the non-resident landlord.

This absolves the agent from the requirement to deduct tax from the individual landlord’s income.

CONSUMER REDRESS SCHEME

Since 1 October 2014 it has been a legal requirement for all letting agents in England to belong to one of the three government approved redress schemes. These are:

The Property Ombudsman. EPS IS A MEMBER OF THE PROPERTY OMUBSMAN Property Redress Scheme

DEPOSIT PROTECTION The Agent Landlord must protect the Tenant’s Deposit. Deposit Protection Service (DPS). Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) EPS ARE MEMBERS OF BOTH DEPOSIT PROTECTION SCHEMES

A landlord or letting agent must put a tenant’s deposit into the scheme within 30 days of receiving it. The landlord must return the deposit within 10 days of agreeing with the tenant how much they will get back at the end of the tenancy. If a tenant has a dispute with their landlord, then the TDP scheme will adjudicate the dispute and allocate the amount of the deposit to be returned to the landlord and tenant based on their findings. Their decision is final and no appeal is allowed.

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New Legislation’s 2018

Some new legislation’s 2018 to be aware of

 

EPC – Energy Performance Certificate

As from the 1st April 2018 there will be a requirement for any properties rented out in the private rented sector to have a minimum energy performance rating of E. The regulations will come into force for new lets and renewals of tenancies with effect from 1st April 2018 and for all existing tenancies on 1st April 2020. It will be unlawful to rent a property which breaches the requirement for a minimum E rating, unless there is an applicable exemption. A civil penalty of up to £4,000 will be imposed for breaches.

 

GDPR: Our data protection laws are changing: 25th May 2018

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies to all companies, anywhere in the world, which process any information about EU citizens. It is global in reach and introduces a new, broader definition of what ‘personal information’ means.

  • Applies to any organisation that handles the personal data of EU citizens, regardless of whether the organisation is based in EU or not
  • Extended regulatory powers to enforce penalties
  • HUGE punitive fines for non-compliance of up to €20m or up to 4% of your Annual Global Turnover.

 

HMO – House of Multiply Occupancy

  • This is a minefield to say the least. I will post a separate blog on this to try to explain the complexity of this Regulation and the newest update.

However what you should be aware of in 2017, there was an important change to the way HMO is now handled. If the council find you in breach of HMO standards, they will fine you. Before 2017 these monies would be sent to central government – But now all monies from fines, stay with our local council. Which has encouraged all councils to be a lot more proactive in fining landlords if they are in breach.

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Welcome to the EPS Blog

ESRA Property Services has been undergoing a complete new face lift for the 21st Century.

Rebranding, new database, and new office equipment – all ready for an exciting new future.

We are now trading as EPS Properties, with our new website and newly designed boards on display, it will be hard to miss us.  Please keep an eye out for our new boards.

With the Cambridge property market and in particular the lettings industry becoming more and more competitive, we need to make sure we are ready and able to give all our clients the best service possible, as we have done so for many years.

Short synopsis about EPS

We are a local independent company, a family run business. EPS was established in 2004 and has successfully grown each year for the last 13 years.  We are determined to remain independent while expanding our business all over Cambridge.

Watch this space……….

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