Casual Lets

Overview

On a casual let your agency finds the tenants and sets the tenancy up, and the owner takes it over from there. Rent is paid into the owner's own bank account instead of your trust account, and the owner signs the agreement as the landlord. The move-in costs are a separate choice: they can go to the owner too, or your agency can collect them. You set all of this on the offer, or in the agreement's Landlord & signing section.

Send a casual let offer

Open the offer

From the left menu, click Properties, open the property and click Set Up Tenancy. Choose Send offer.

Tick the casual let box

Under Key terms, tick This is a casual let (the owner manages the tenancy after letting).

See where the rent will go

Ticking the box routes the rent to the owner on its own, there is nothing else to set. The owner's name and bank account then show on the offer, the welcome message and the agreement, and Payments go to underneath shows the payee the tenant will see. If the property has its own bank account set, that account is used instead of the owner's default one.

Build a casual let agreement

Open the agreement builder

From the left menu, click Properties, open the property and click Set Up Tenancy. Choose Set up a tenancy agreement, or Resume an agreement already in progress. Open Landlord & signing, which is section 2.

Choose how the landlord is named

Landlord shown as decides whose name prints as the landlord. Owner only prints the owner's name on its own and needs nothing else. The other options name someone from your agency, and they use whoever is picked in Signing agent (contact on the agreement) on the right. The agreement won't print until the option you've chosen has what it needs, so a missing signing agent will hold it up.

Tick Casual let

Casual let means rent and move-in costs pay to the property owner's own bank account instead of the agency's trust account.

Decide who collects the move-in costs

Ticking Casual let reveals Tenants pay the move-in costs to the owner. Leave it unticked and the bond, rent in advance and any entry charges are paid to your agency instead, while the rent still goes to the owner's account. This question is only asked on a casual let.

Note: The Move-in costs section further down the builder is a summary for the tenant. It sets out the bond, any rent in advance and what is due before they move in, and it doesn't create charges or change any financial records by itself.

Who signs a casual let

The owner signs as the landlord

The tenants sign first, as they always do. On a casual let the owner is the landlord, so Keyhook emails them a link to sign rather than your agency countersigning.

The owner can raise an issue instead

If something looks wrong to them, the owner can raise an issue back to you from that link rather than signing, and the agreement waits.

Who collects what

The agreement prints the account the tenant pays into, and the two settings decide which account that is. There are three combinations.

Not a casual let. Rent and move-in costs are both paid to your agency's trust account, as on any managed tenancy.

Casual let, with Tenants pay the move-in costs to the owner ticked. Rent and the move-in costs all go to the owner's own account. Your agency collects nothing.

Casual let, with it unticked. The rent goes to the owner's account, and the bond, rent in advance and any entry charges are paid to your agency. This suits an agency that lodges the bond and hands the tenancy over once the tenants have moved in.

What happens after that is your agency's own arrangement with the owner. The agreement tells the tenant where to pay, and Keyhook follows the same accounts.

Frequently asked questions

Can I change a tenancy to a casual let after the agreement has gone out?

No. Once an agreement has been sent it can't be edited. Open Tenancies → Pending Agreements, find the agreement and choose Void & reissue from its Actions, which voids it and starts a draft you can change.

Can my agency still collect the bond on a casual let?

Yes. Open the property, click Set Up Tenancy and Resume the agreement, go to Landlord & signing (section 2) and leave Tenants pay the move-in costs to the owner unticked, which is the box that appears under Casual let. The bond, rent in advance and any entry charges are then paid to your agency, while the rent goes to the owner's account. Tick it and the owner collects everything.

Set Up a Tenancy → Building and sending the agreement itself.
Owner Payment Options → The property-level bank account override.

Casual Lets

Frequently asked questions

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