Who is Homes2Rent
Homes2Rent is a lettings agent business backed by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) and used exclusively by its members to offer rental properties in England and Wales.
All the property adverts posted on this website have been reviewed by a trained and trusted agents who are skilled in helping landlords and tenants find a match. The software service behind this website and property portal has been configured to help landlords in advertising their properties and setting up a legal, communicate with prospective tenants and to improve the tenancy creation process by speeding up the processes required to agree and sign an agreement.
Homes2Rent Limited (registered in England under Company Number 04255833), is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA – registered in England under Company Number 12187275) that is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. The registered office for these companies is at Suite 323, Tootal Buildings, Broadhurst House, 56 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 6EU.
Who is this site for
This website is primarily aimed at prospective tenants trying to find a suitable rental property. If you are an NRLA member landlord viewing this site then you first need to head to the main NRLA website to accept the terms and conditions of use and register – you can do that here.
If you are a landlord interested in advertising on this site and you are not a member of the NRLA then please join the association first here, it only costs £85 per annum to be a member (if you pay by direct debit) and you will be able to use the Portfolio service as well as have access to a range of other information, advice and guidance about being a good landlord.
What does it cost
Advertising your property on the Homes2Rent website costs nothing as an NRLA member as use of the Portfolio application is included within the membership subscription. If you want to improve the coverage of your advert, you can choose to list with one of the property portals at the following rates:
| Portal | Cost (inc. VAT) | Period |
| Homes2Rent | Free | 30 days |
| Rightmove & Zoopla* | £27.99 | 30 days |
If you need longer to advertise your property then you can extend your advert for another period for the same fee. Fees are shown inc. VAT
To conduct a reference for your prospective tenant, then you can do this as part of the Portfolio service as well, the costs for this are shown below:
| Type of reference | Turnaround | Cost (inc. VAT) |
| Full reference | 3-5 working days | £18.00 |
| Express reference | 1 working day | £21.60 |
Note: if you require additional references for guarantors, these will be charged separately.
What do you need to do before you can advertise a property
Before you can advertise a property with us, we need to carry out some basic checks to validate you are who you say you are. As our landlords and all members of the NRLA we already know quite a bit about you but we still need to confirm your name and address by you uploading a copy of proof of name and address. This can just be a copy of your driver’s licence, or a copy of you passport and a recent utility bill or similar. This is called a ‘know your customer’ check and is quite common these days and helps reduce fraud.
Once we have confirmed who you are we need to establish that you are able to legally let the property. To do this we need to establish your ownership of the property by providing us with proof of ownership, this could be a mortgage statement or title register from the Land Registry. We will need to carry out a further check if you own the property though a company.
Before you advertise a property, you need to make sure that:
- The property has a valid gas safety certificate (if served by a gas supply)
- You can provide a record of any electrical inspections and particularly a Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR)
- The property has a current Energy Performance Certificate
- Is safe and ‘fit for human habitation’ (see Government website for further information here)
- If the property is classed as an HMO (House in Multiple Occupation) then there can be additional compliance requirements
- Evidence that smoke alarms and any carbon monoxide alarms are in working order at the start of the tenancy
- And, that it complies with any local licensing or regional requirements
Further information can be found on the NRLA website, look at the Landlord Starter Pack and the Starting your tenancy checklist as well as the Government How to Rent website .
How do you list a property
Our Portfolio service will take you through the steps you need to take to list a property with us. This includes providing the proofs required as well the other documentation you need to provide. Information on how to do this is available on the Portfolio Online Help site.
To advertise a property effectively, it helps to have quality photos and a good description (this is a legal requirement too, so something we need to ensure is accurate). Once you have uploaded all of this information, we will check it over for you before we advertise it. It normally takes us up to one working day to carry out these checks for you.
What happens next
Once we have approved your listing and your property is live on one or more of the property portals you should start to receive some enquiries. Any prospective tenant may call our agents at Homes2Rent or email us for information, we will make sure that they are registered with us before introducing them to you to discuss any specifics or arrange a viewing. Any communication between you and the prospective tenant will be managed though us initially but you may choose to engage directly as the process progresses.
If your prospective tenant wants to make you an offer then they can do this through the application at any time, once you accept the offer you may want to arrange to take a holding deposit for the property while you go through any referencing you wish to undertake, note that this can be legally no more than 1 week’s rent. Make sure you agree the terms on the holding deposit, the NRLA website provides lots of helpful resources to help landlords with this step, including a form that sets out the conditions under which this might be refundable.
A holding deposit is different from a tenancy deposit which is normally paid before a tenant moves in. Any offer is not legally binding and remains so until the rental agreement is signed. Note that unlike some lettings agents, Homes2Rent does not take holding deposits for you, the landlord, this is something that you must handle directly with the prospective tenant.
Once you have received an offer an optionally taken a holding deposit then you will probably want to carry out some referencing checks on your prospective tenants. Our service makes this easy for you to do though our online partners either on the main website or via the NRLA website here. This process can take between 1-5 working days to complete, depending on the thoroughness and type of referencing required and whether any guarantors are required in addition.
After satisfactory completion of the referencing you can move ahead to create and agree the tenancy with your chosen tenant(s). Again, our service makes this easier for you by providing a draft agreement already filled in for you and your tenant(s) to review and, sign electronically when all parties are happy.
Remember to think about how you want to hold and manage the deposit with the tenant(s), by law you are required to:
1. Protect the tenant’s deposit with a government approved scheme within 30 calendar days of receiving it from the tenant.
2. Provide the tenant with the prescribed information within the same 30-day deadline.
You can do this with either of the NRLA deposit partners here.
What else can you do on the Portfolio site?
The NRLA Portfolio website has been created to help landlords and tenants find each other and set up a quality and long-lasting tenancy. As well as advertising through the Homes2Rent website, the service can also help you with
- Property compliance – making sure that your property is and remains compliant with relevant legislation and good practice.
- Maintenance management – making it easier to report and communicate around maintenance required during the tenancy
- Bookkeeping support – helping with the management of income and costs from a property
The NRLA will continue to innovate the service, making it even easier to use and access the types of services required by the landlord and tenants.
What other services are available?
The NRLA has negotiated partnerships with many providers to offer best-in-class offers to help, these include:
- Landlord Property Insurance
- Mortgage brokerage and sourcing
- Viewings management, photography and floor plans
- Deposit protection services
- Inventory management
- Property compliance services including sourcing safety certificates
- Discounted appliances, furniture and DIY (through Tradepoint)
Details of all of these are available on the main NRLA website under the Services tab.