HOUSING TERMS
A handy guide to understanding technical housing terms.
Council Tax
This is a charge by the local council to residents living in the area. The charge helps cover
the costs of local services such as planning, transport, highways, police, fire, libraries,
leisure and recreation, rubbish collection and disposal, environmental health and trading
standards.
Full time students are exempt from this tax, given that their course is at least one year,
however you may be charged for any period you live in a property after your course
finishes.
EPC
An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) must be provided by a landlord when a
property is built, sold, or rented. An EPC contains information about energy performance
within a property and recommendations about how to reduce energy consumption.
Estate Agent/Letting Agent
An Agent helps a landlord find tenants for their property. Some landlords have the agent
manage their property which means they are in charge of taking rent and sorting out
maintenance etc. Other landlords use agents solely for the advertisement of their property.
Some agents will charge you admin fees for their services. If they do, make sure you know
how much the charges are and what you are getting in return, before you sign anything as
admin fees are generally non-refundable.
Fair Usage Policy
Your rent may include some or all bills and if it does then it is likely that your contract will
contain a Fair Usage Policy. This policy will outline how much you can use of a particular
utility (gas/electricity/water) and what charges you may be liable to if you go over the
agreed price.
Gas Safety Certificate
A landlord is required to have a registered gas engineer complete a safety check on gas
appliances in the house every year and to provide you with a copy of the record before you
move in.
Guarantor
A guarantor is someone that agrees to pay your rent should you fail to do so. Most
landlords will request a UK based guarantor, usually a parent or guardian. For those
students who cannot get a guarantor, or whose options aren’t in the UK, they may be
asked to pay more rent up front as an alternative to a guarantor.
HOUSING TERMS
A handy guide to understanding technical housing terms.
HMO
An HMO is a House of Multiple Occupation, which means a building where more than one
household (or family) is living together. If you live in a HMO, your landlord has more
responsibilities and the property may be required to have a special license. The property
must be licensed by the local housing authority if it is three stories or more and is occupied
by five or more people (who form two or more households).
Individual Contract
May also be called a Sole Tenancy. If you are on an individual contract (which many
postgraduates will be), this means you are responsible for your own portion of the rent and
you will not be liable for a fellow tenant's rent arrears. You will all be jointly responsible for
any communal arrears in the property. A landlord may also have more rights to enter the
property if you have individual contracts, although that applies to the communal spaces,
they would still need to give you 24 hours to enter your bedroom.
Joint Contract
This is the most common agreement for undergraduate students renting a property. The
contract is for the group to rent the whole property not just one room, so if one person
drops out or fails to pay then the landlord will likely make the others in the property cover
the arrears.
Landlord/Tenant
Landlord refers to a person who owns the property and allows another person to use it for
a fee. The person living in the property is called the tenant. A Resident Landlord lives in
the property that they rent out.
Right to Rent Checks
As of 1 February 2016, homeowners, landlords, and Agents are required by law to ensure
that a prospective tenant has the right to rent in England before they are able to let their
property to that person. As a result this means that your landlord or the Letting Agent will
ask to see certain documents, such as a passport, UK birth certificate, student visa, etc. to
prove that you have the right to be in England and to rent.
Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme
Most landlords will require you to pay a deposit. By law, your landlord must protect and
place your deposit in a government-backed tenancy deposit scheme within 30 days of
receipt. These schemes keep the deposit safe in case of a dispute between the landlord
and tenant.