Letting Your Property

Mark Fairweather is a practising solicitor and is one of the founding partners of the legal firm Fairweather Stephenson Co. He and Rosy Border have written 14 titles together, including five in Cavendish Publishing's Pocket Lawyer series. He has two children and lives in Suffolk. Rosy Border, co-author of this title and series editor of the Pocket Lawyer series, has a first class honours degree in French and has worked in publishing, lecturing, journalism and the law. A prolific author and adapter, she stopped counting after 150 titles. She owns and manages several properties, which she describes as her 'pension fund'. Rosy and her husband, John Rabson, live in rural Suffolk and have a grown up family. Rosy enjoys DIY, entertaining and retail therapy in French markets.

• Part 1: Before You Let Your Property 1. You are making history 2. The assured shorthold tenancy explained 3. Is your property safe? 4. Is your property habitable? 5. Some important considerations 6. Buy-to-let Part 2: Finding a Tenant 7. Do you need an agent? 8. Set your stall out 9. Track down a tenant 10. Tenants receiving benefits 11. The selection process 12. References and deposits Part 3: The Nitty Gritty 13. Getting down to business 14. During the tenancy 15. Parting company 16. A word on tax 17. The Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement Part 4: Documents and Information 18. Sample letters 19. Useful contacts