Top tips for tenants looking to rent a property

Maidenhead Estate Agents

Due to partly the slump in the property sales in the Maidenhead, Marlow and Windsor areas, the house rental market has seen a significant improvement in 2011.
This has led to a lot of would be tenants competing for the same houses or flats in the Maidenhead and Marlow areas. And, the applicants are finding it harder to get their dream property to rent.
At Appleton Estate Agents Maidenhead, we gathered some top tips on securing a house to rent in Maidenhead in today’s highly competitive lettings conditions for you tenants:

• Work out your budget
  Renting a property has additional costs associated beyond the monthly rent! You need to work out the council tax, average utility bills, commuting costs, etc.Before booking viewings, set in place key ‘deal-breakers’ as well as areas for compromise. Knowing what things you’re willing to be flexible on can aid the decision-making process and help your agent select properties to suit your specific needs. This will determine the range of properties you can afford.
• Prioritise your needs
  Do you have constrainst that you cannot change? For example, do you need to be near a particular location? Do you need to be near the Motorays, within walking distance of the station etc? Then work down to wanting an extra bedrooms, etc. Again, this will focus your search.
• Be ready to make a quick decision
  When you find the property that is within your budget, and inline with your prioritised needs, be prepared to make an offer pretty quickly. With the number of applicants targeting the same properties, this will increase your chances.

If in doubt, do you a local letting agent in Maidenhead or Marlow. Appleton Estates have helped thousands of tenants in finding their dream home in the local area, and they will be able to help you though the rental process as well.

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Appleton Estate Agents Maidenhead and Estate Agents Marlow provide residential property sales, rental and management services in Marlow, Maidenhead and Windsor.

Landlord’s key obligations for maintenance and repairs

At Appleton Estate Agents Maidenhead, our landlords sometimes ask us what their obligations are as a landlord for the maintenance and repairs of the rental property. The following is a simple guide to help give you some guidelines:
The tenancy agreement may have explicit clauses on the rental property’s maintenance and repairs. These are the easy ones to refer to.
In addition, there are also other legal requirements on you as the landlord that you should be aware as well:

• Keeping the rental property in a “good state of repair”
• Maintenance of the property
• No dampness (either as rising damp or damp penetrating from outside)

Also, there should not be any unacceptable health or satefy risk of the tenants or the visitors either.
For more information, please contact Appleton Letting Agents Maidenhead.

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Appleton Estate Agents Maidenhead and Estate Agents Marlow provide residential property sales, rental and management services in Marlow, Maidenhead and Windsor.

Estate Agents Maidenhead

The following article is courtesy of Appleton Estate Agents Maidenhead:

Maidenhead is an attractive and vibrant town on a delightful stretch of the River Thames between Windsor and Marlow, close to Bray, Henley and very charming open countryside.


Maidenhead is situated 25 miles west of London and has easy access to large parts of the country.
Maidenhead has the standard range of High Street shops in a compact shopping area. With the ongoing re-development of the town centre, it will become more vibrant.


Maidenhead also boasts being in the Thames Valley corridor where quite a few multi-national blue-chip companies have offices.


Properties for sale in Maidenhead have great railway and motorway connections to surrounding towns, but more importantly to London. Property sales market is very dynamic in the Maidenhead area. One good indicator of ththe buoyant market is the increased number of estate agents in the town centre. Another good indicator is the increasing property prices despite the recent economic pressures.


Maidenhead and nearby towns of Marlow, Windsor and Henley house world famous residents. Maidenhead, like its close neighbours of Cookham and Twyford, host a range of popular bars and restaurants; ranging from small independent ones to the national chains. Trendy bars, a shopping centre, cinema, Leisure centre, bowling alley and a theatre serve the community and visitors alike.


With its good transport links via buses and trains as well as being linked via the motorways to Slough, Marlow, Windsor and most importantly to London, Maidenhead has become always been a commuter hotspot.

Property sales in Maidenhead

A house for sale in Maidenhead has become quite popular. Property sales in Maidenhead have seen an increase over the last decade mainly as a result of its close proximity to London and Oxford. A property for sale in Maidenhead really is very desirable, which pushed up the property prices significantly. If you wish to make Maidenhead your home, be prepared to live in a town where the cost of living is amongst the highest in the UK.

Maidenhead Amenities

• Maidenhead Golf Club and Henley Badgemore Golf Clubs are the two of the best in the area.
• There are excellent sporting facilities at the Magnet Leisure Centre including ten-pin bowling as well as Maidenhead Athletic Club, Maidenhead Hockey Club, Maidenhead Rowing Club, Maidenhead Rugby Club, Maidenhead Sailing Club.
• St Marks and the Windsor & Maidenhead Community Mental Health Team are the main hospitals around Maidenhead.
• Maidenhead also boasts a range of guest houses and hotels.

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Appleton Estate Agents Maidenhead and Estate Agents Marlow provide residential property sales, rental and management services in Marlow, Maidenhead and Windsor.

Estate Agents Maidenhead

Maidenhead has always been the home of a buoyant real estate market as it has been placed on a strategic location right on the river Thames as well as the major motorways.

It is also very close to major cities, such as London and Oxford.

This has spawn a lot of different letting agents and estate agents in Maidenhead.

Despite the current economic downturn, the inflation of the real estate agents is continuing. However, there are not many that can offer a personalised service, such as Appleton Letting Agents Maidenhead.

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Appleton Estate Agents Maidenhead and Estate Agents Marlow provide residential property sales, rental and management services in Marlow, Maidenhead and Windsor.

Weather in Maidenhead area

Weather by Freemeteo.com

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Appleton Estate Agents Maidenhead and Estate Agents Marlow provide residential property sales, rental and management services in Marlow, Maidenhead and Windsor.

Minimise Issues for Return of Tenancy Deposit

Appleton Estate Agents Maidenhead has provided the following article for your information:

The government introduced a mandatory Tenancy Deposit Scheme on 06/April/2007, which governs all the Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreements in England and Wales where the landlords and letting agents take a deposit from the tenant.

This is a scheme design to protect the tenant’s deposit from the rogue landlords or agents following from a high number of disputes about the security of the deposit as well as significant number of cases where tenants felt their deposits were retained by the landlords unfairly.

However, this scheme does not remove the tenant’s duties in looking after the rental property beyond the general “wear and tear”. Neither does it ignore the landlord’s right of ensuring that the property is still in an acceptable condition at the end of the tenancy.

To start with, having an inventory at the check in is a crucial step. This is a document where everything in the property is listed and their conditions. It can be done between the landlord and the tenant but using independent professional inventory clerks further reduces the disputes.
When you decide to vacate the property, check if the property requires any repairs. Do get in touch with the trades people with enough notice to arrange repairs. If your landlord or letting agent has done a professional job, they would have inspected the property throughout the tenancy regularly, and would have pointed any potential issues.

Make sure that the property is cleaned to a “professional” standard. Most of the landlords arrange professional cleaners to clean the property prior to the tenancy, and rightfully expect it to see the same quality at the end of the tenancy. You can either do this yourself, call in professional cleaners or accept the cost to be deducted from your deposit.
If you decide to clean the property yourself, pay special attention to

• the cookers and ovens
• windows, carpets
• also consider re-decorating any walls, doors or skirting boards that may have been damaged during the tenancy.

When you confirm the moving out date, contact your utility companies and the local authorities to ensure payments are up to date.
Provide a forwarding address to the landlord (or the letting agent where applicable), the post office, the utility companies and the council.
When you move out, ensure to go through the inventory again to discuss the state of the property, any issues and resolve them
At Appleton Estate Agents Maidenhead, we have a good network of professional cleaners, inventory clerks and local tradesmen; all with good reputation. We would encourage both the landlords and the tenants to not take any shortcuts in these matters.

Maidenhead

The town of Maidenhead has not managed to escape the recent snow blizzard. Over the last couple of days, around 20 cm of snow has fallen, and all the side roads are very slippery and icy.

Director of Appleton Estate Agents Maidenhead, Adil Akkus, commented that the property market has been badly affected in the area due to the 2 recent snow storms, with most of the property viewings being cancelled.

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Appleton Estate agents Marlow provide residential property sales, rental and management services in Marlow, Maidenhead and Windsor.