Manage rented property

Make sure that you check potential tenants by obtaining a credit report, a copy of their passport and references from their employer and bank. You need to be satisfied that they will look after the property and be able to pay the rent. Remember it is illegal to discriminate against potential tenants on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, age, nationality, race, disability or religion. Landlords are now obligated to provide more information and documents to tenants, such as gas safety certificates and energy performance certificates. Landlords must also make sure that any tenants have the legal right to rent and must ensure any immigration checks are done. You don't need to do these immigration checks in Scotland.

Prepare an Inventory of the items that are at the property including their state and condition. Having a written record makes it easier at the end of the tenancy to show what needs to be replaced and/or repaired. It also will resolve any disputes at the end of the tenancy about the condition of any items and whether money needs to be deducted from the tenant's deposit in order to repair or replace the item.

Consider if you want to ask the tenant to pay a rent deposit at the start of the tenancy to cover cleaning, breakage and damage that may occur during the tenancy. Any deposit will need to be protected under a government-approved tenancy deposit scheme. For further information, read Rent, deposits and utilities.

Avoid conflicts by preparing a set of House rules for lodgers setting out what is and isn't permitted so that it's clear what you expect from them. Use the House rules for lodgers in addition to a Lodger agreement (or a Lodger agreement for Scotland) so that the lodger has an accessible list of rules.

Make sure you provide a written Tenancy agreement when you rent out your property to potential tenants. This will ensure that both parties know the terms of the tenancy, how much rent is payable, who's responsible for repairing items within the property and what happens if any of the terms of the agreement are breached. For further information, read Tenants and owners obligations and Tenants and owners obligations in Scotland.

You can terminate the tenancy if the tenant breaches an obligation by first serving a Notice of breach of covenants (also known as a section 146 notice) for England and Wales. A section 146 notice is suitable if the tenant has not repaired the property as required, has let another person into the property without your consent (ie subletting) or is using the property for a purpose that is not allowed. For further information, read Dealing with breaches of covenant.

Unpaid rent should be chased immediately and if the rent is seven days late action should be taken by sending the tenant a Rent demand letter and if the rent continues to remain unpaid, a Final rent demand letter should be sent 14 days later. These are the first steps to taking back the property.

Not all tenants will comply with their tenancy agreement or obligations, like paying rent or repairing items. There are procedural steps to take in order to resolve these issues and possibly evict the tenant in the event that they are no longer cooperating. However, you should never forcibly evict tenants or harass them into leaving as the correct procedure should always be followed. For further information, read Difficult tenants and How to deal with difficult tenants in Scotland.