This website is controlled and operated by Portico Direct Limited
(Portico Direct). Portico Direct is a limited liability company
registered in England and Wales, with company number 12435868. Our registered
office address is: The Hop Exchange, 24 Southwark Street, London, SE1 1TY. You
can contact us at this registered office or by email at direct@portico.com or
directprivacy@portico.com
if you have any questions.
By using this website, you agree, whether you are a prospective
landlord or tenant to be bound by these Terms, that these Terms are governed by
and construed in accordance with English law and that the English courts will
have exclusive jurisdiction in the case of any dispute.
Last updated: 7 May 2020. These terms and conditions may be modified from time to
time but, should this happen, they will be posted on the website. Your
continued use of the website or the Services following the posting of the
revised terms and conditions means that you accept and agree to the changes.
Changes to terms and conditions won't apply retrospectively unless you agree to
it.
If you don't wish to be bound by these terms and conditions then you must not use
this website or buy any Services from it. In these Terms a reference to "you"
or "landlord" is a reference to the person or entity who uses Portico Direct's
advertising platform to advertise or list a property for rent. Tenants will be
referred to as "tenants". "Users" is a reference to both landlords and tenants.
Using Portico Direct's Advertising Services
Portico Direct's advertising platform is designed for private
landlords only. It should not be used by persons or entities who do not own the
property which is to be advertised, for sub-letting or by third parties. By
choosing to advertise on Portico Direct, landlords proclaim that they are the
legal owner/landlord of the property they are advertising, or have the written
permission of the owner/landlord of the property to place the advertisement and
are not acting as an agent.
You agree to indemnify Portico Direct for any loss including
consequential loss, claims, actions or proceedings that may be brought against
Portico Direct as a result of a breach by you of clause 1.1, agree that Portico
Direct may take legal action against you if you breach clause 1.1, and that you
will be liable for any legal or enforcement costs reasonably incurred by
Portico Direct in relation to such a breach including if we are required to
take action against you.
Prices for advertising through Portico Direct are per property
until: the advertising period expires, the property goes under offer, the
Landlord chooses to pause or end their advertising of that property or where we
are entitled to remove that advertisement as a consequence of a breach by you
of these terms.
Landlords will only be charged for services they have chosen to use
or purchased during the set up and selection process on this website.
All advertising and other services with a fixed or maximum
duration are deemed to commence on the date that they were purchased through
our website and to be continuous from that date.
When ordering services such as advertising or referencing, users
acknowledge and agree that for those services to be most effective Portico
Direct will commence provision of the service immediately or as soon as is
practicable after receiving and checking your instructions.
We will aim to check and produce validation feedback on
advertisements within 1 working day, or more quickly where possible.
Under the Consumer Contracts (Information Cancellation and
Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (Regulations) we cannot begin providing
you with our services including marketing under these terms unless you have
made an express request that we begin the services in writing. By agreeing to
these terms, you agree that you expressly request that we commence the services
including marketing and acknowledge and agree that you lose the right to cancel
under the Regulations and must pay the Fees for the Services up until the time
you cancel.
As the services are for the supply of digital content
that is "made to the consumer's specifications or
are clearly personalised" and that such supply begins
within 14 days of the order being placed they are excluded by regulation 28 of
the Regulations, and we are not required to issue any refunds except at our
sole discretion after the service has begun.
Notwithstanding clause 1.7, you are free to end your advertising
with Portico Direct at any time after placing the advertisement. This can
be done through our website.
Refunds will not be offered once services have been purchased if
users are subsequently found to be in breach of this agreement or are unable to
provide satisfactory evidence of authority to advertise or ownership.
Advertising Content Standards
These advertising content standards apply to any
advertisement or part thereof that you instruct Portico Direct to place on your
behalf. If we determine, at our sole discretion, that the content is not
appropriate you agree that we may refuse to publish, remove or ask a third
party to remove any such advertisement.
You agree that all Content must be accurate and
comply with all applicable laws. We reserve the right to edit or remove any
relevant sections of the advertisement which we think does not comply.
You agree that you will not use Portico Direct's website (or other
websites to which the same information is syndicated) to distribute unsuitable
content. Specifically, content must not:
contain anything defamatory, obscene, offensive, hateful,
threatening, or inflammatory;
contain or promote sexually explicit material or violence;
be used for deception, or to mislead as to your identity or
affiliations;
promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality,
disability, sexual orientation, or age;
infringe anyone else's copyright, trademark, or other intellectual
property rights;
promote or suggest anything unlawful, including copyright
infringement or computer misuse;
be made in breach of any legal duty, including a contractual duty
or duty of confidence;
promote any illegal activity;
invade another's privacy, be likely to harass, upset, embarrass,
alarm, or annoy another person;
give the impression that they come from us or any other
third party when they do not;
list more
than one advertisement for the same room or property;
create dummy or "ghost" advertisements which do not
accurately reflect a property currently available for rent from that landlord;
include: any content in advertisements if they do not
have the permission of the owner or any other relevant person who may have
rights in or connected to such content (including any individuals who appear in
any images that are uploaded); if
including this content would be a breach of applicable data protection or
privacy legislation; or if using this content would infringe the intellectual
property rights of another party; and
contain hyperlinks, phone numbers, names or other
personal details or promotional material.
You agree to indemnify
Portico Direct for any loss including consequential loss, claims, actions or
proceedings that may be brought against Portico Direct as a result of a breach
by you of this clause 2 and as a result of content you have included in an
advertisement and agree that you will be liable for any legal or enforcement
costs reasonably incurred by Portico Direct in relation to such a breach
including if we are required to take action against you.
We may at our sole discretion remove any advertisement or
content. You agree that any decision we make in connection with such removal
is final and we accept no liability to users in respect of any such decision.
Use of Portico Direct's Website
You agree that in your use of this website:
Portico Direct is the owner or the licensee of all
intellectual property rights in this website and the material on it (including
all text, trademarks, data, graphics, layout, logos, images, music or other
audio material, clips, films or other moving images, algorithms, product
details and/or software published or otherwise available on the website from
time to time). Subject to these terms of use, we grant you a limited,
temporary, revocable and non-exclusive licence to access, browse and use this
website for your personal and non-commercial use only. You may print off one
copy of any page(s) from this website for your personal reference;
except as set out in the limited licence above (or as
required under any applicable law), no part of this website may be used,
reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, resold, accessed, modified, or otherwise
exploited, in full or in part, for any purpose without our prior written
consent. In particular, you are not permitted to republish any part of this
website on another website, in any other medium (print, electronic or
otherwise) or as part of any commercial service without our prior written
permission. All the intellectual property rights referred to above remain owned
by Portico Direct or its licensors;
any information you provide on this website is
accurate and reliable (including all personal information, contact details and
information related to any property listings and any information which you
might supply on blogs or community pages on the website).
You will not do anything to interfere with other users' access to
the website;
you will not impersonate others or create false
accounts or advertisements on the website;
you will not harvest information from the website or
from other users of the website;
you will not attempt to send unsolicited information
to other users; and
that it is your
responsibility to keep your password secure. You agree you will be liable for
and indemnify Portico Direct in relation to any third parties, actions if they
access or log onto the website using your username and password.
Risk and Information Quality
Portico Direct does not provide any guarantee in regard to the
honesty or the accuracy of the information supplied on this website by it or
its users or in any advertisement placed by its users. It merely provides a
platform which enables landlords and tenants to meet and transact.
Landlords and tenants agree that they are responsible for
satisfying themselves of the accuracy of any information that they read on this
website and that they supply to Portico Direct.
Landlords and tenants must do their own due diligence on any
individuals which they are transacting with either through this website or as a
result of an introduction through this website before entering into any
contract or agreement or making or accepting payments directly to or from them.
Both landlords and tenants acknowledge and understand that Portico Direct
specifically advises them that it does not do any due diligence on such people
and that this is solely their responsibility.
Information supplied on this website, our blog, the FAQ section,
our messaging facility on our website and social media accounts (which may be
provided by third parties which are not affiliated or authorised by us) is
supplied for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Landlords and tenants agree that they place no reliance on the
information referred to in paragraph 4.4 in relation to the legal or tax
implications or otherwise or any listing or transaction made through our
website or platform and that they will obtain their own independent legal and
financial advice in relation to the use of and transacting with third parties
on and through this website.
Landlords and tenants agree that we have no control over, nor
accept any responsibility or liability for, any problems that arise from
properties or tenancy arrangements that are supplied by users of our website or
other third parties.
Fair Use Policy
You agree and authorise us to amend or remove any listings which
we deem in our sole discretion to be in breach of these Terms or misusing this
website or Portico Direct's platform in order to protect users of our website
without compensation to you. Such a breach might include spamming, deliberately
underpricing, retaining tenants' details and misrepresenting the condition or
location of a property.
We reserve the right to limit or set parameters on fair use by you
of our website, we may in our sole discretion remove or limit a listing for any
reason without compensation to you including but not limited to where we
believe the listing is receiving a higher than usual amount of interest,
viewing requests, where 1 month has elapsed from the time of publishing the
advertisement or to reduce ours or other users potential liability.
If we have reason to believe a property may not currently be
available to rent, we reserve the right to contact the landlord or registered
proprietor shown at land registry to confirm that the property is still
available, and to suspend the advertising of the property if the landlord does
not respond in a timely fashion or if we believe in our sole discretion that
the response is an inaccurate representation of the facts.
We also reserve the right to suspend or discontinue listings if:
we believe that you are not or you do not have the authority of the legal owner
of a property, or that the property does not hold legally required
documentation such as a valid EPC or a gas safety certificate or if the account
has not been used for 3 months.
You agree not to hold Portico Direct responsible for any loss you
may incur as a result of Portico Direct taking any of the actions described in
this paragraph 5.
Customer Service and Complaints
Portico Direct provides customer service to you by way of email.
You agree that any queries you have regarding our services or the use of our
website are to be made to us directly via our email at direct@portico.com.
We will endeavour to respond to these within 1 working day but
landlords and tenants agree that we ae not liable for any loss to them which is
a result of us not replying in that time frame.
Telephone calls made to Portico Direct may be recorded for
training and monitoring purposes.
If either a landlord or a tenant is not satisfied with the way in
which our customer services team deal with their query, they may make a complaint
by emailing us and using the word "Complaint" in the subject line. We will deal
with the complaint in the manner which is set out in our Complaint Procedure.
A supervisor will then investigate how you have been dealt with by our customer
service team. If you are not satisfied after going through our complaints
procedure you may contact the Property Ombudsman at
https://www.tpos.co.uk/consumers/how-to-make-a-complaint.
Legal Obligations of Landlords
You agree and warrant when you list a property on this website
that:
You are the owner of the property or
if you are a joint owner of the property, you are authorised
to give instructions to Portico Direct on behalf of the other owners.
You have the right to offer the property for rent and will not
breach any law, agreement or contract by doing so (including the terms of any
mortgage on the property, any freeholder or leasehold covenants, insurance,
fire regulations and gas and electrical safety).
You have obtained and will retain for the period
during which you are advertising with Portico Direct all licences, consents and
permissions from the relevant local authority to enable you to let the property
including planning permissions, building regulations consents and/or licences
for houses in multiple occupation under The Housing Act 2004 or selective licensing schemes.
You have obtained any necessary written consents if you are required
from any third party (i.e. your mortgagee, building manager or freeholder) to
market or let the property.
A valid Landlord Registration Number will
be included in any advertisement where this is legally required.
You own the intellectual property and rights (moral or otherwise)
to any content or photographs which you post on a listing and that such content
is accurate and not misleading.
The property complies with requirements for Energy Performance
Certificates (EPCs) for rental properties and you will provide a copy of the
EPC to the tenant prior to their occupation of the property.
The property and any of the landlord's contents in the property is
adequately insured and you have advised your insurer of your intention to rent
the property.
The property will have a valid Gas Safety Certificate for the
duration of any tenancy arranged or facilitated using Portico Direct's
services, in accordance with the relevant legal requirements for landlords and
you will provide a copy of this to the tenant prior to their occupation of the
property.
Regulation 3 of the
Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements
(England) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/1646)
which is current as at the date of these Terms provides
that, for the purposes of section 21B of the Housing Act 1988, that the
landlord must supply the tenant with a copy of the current version of
MHCLG: How to rent: The checklist for renting in England
on or before the start date of the tenancy, and
you agree to do that
The property will meet all other legally required safety
obligations (such as electrical safety, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and
legionnaires disease risk assessment).
All of the property's windows and doors lock securely.
Anything located within the property is safe, in working order and
legally compliant.
You are fully responsible for ensuring the property meets the
legal requirements for landlords and properties under any relevant legislation,
including but not limited to the requirements outlined in this section. You
fully indemnify Portico Direct for any failure by you to meet these
requirements and in relation to any resulting inability of you to serve and
enforce a notice under Section 8 or Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 to evict
any tenant you have found through our platform.
Regional and National Requirements for Landlords
As landlords offering property to tenants you must familiarise
yourselves with legislation relevant to letting property including but not
limited to the Housing Act 1988 and 2004, the Tenant Fees Act 2019,
Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 (as
amended in 1989, 1993 and 2010), Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations
1998 and Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016, the
Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015
and the Plugs and Sockets, etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994.
Landlords must ensure that they know
their legal obligations. Property laws vary depending on where the property is
located in the UK and the type of tenancy. While we are not able to list every
law or regulation in these Terms, failure to meet your local requirements may
result in a landlord's advertisement being removed from our platform.
Areas such as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland may have
additional requirements for landlords beyond those stipulated for other regions
including a requirement to use a model tenancy agreement or a tenancy
agreement which is compliant with the legislation that is in force for each of
those regions.
Where applicable, landlords in Scotland are responsible to ensure
that they are compliant with registration requirements including under The
Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 and the Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland)
Regulations 2011, The Housing (Scotland) Act 1988 and The Repairing Standard as
contained in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006.
To Let Boards
We may select properties
(at our sole discretion) to erect a To Let Board at the property to advertise
its availability, we will only do so after we have received your consent.
Landlords should notify Portico Direct through their online
account if they have previously agreed not to erect a To Let board with the
properties, freeholder or other interested parties.
Admin Fees - Tenant Fees Act 2019
Landlords who advertise on our website agree not to charge any
fees to tenants (or a person acting on
behalf of, or who has guaranteed the payment of rent by, a tenant)
that would be illegal in the region in which the property being
advertised is located including fees relating to administration or other
compulsory one-off charges, fees for viewing or applying to rent the property,
referencing, inventory or tenancy set-up.
Any landlord who takes a deposit from a tenant to hold a property
found using Portico Direct's services (Holding Deposit) agrees to treat all
such holding deposits in accordance with the Tenant Fees Act 2019. Including
not taking a Holding Deposit which is greater than a maximum of one week's rent
and not taking another Holding Deposit for the same property from any other
party until all previous Holding Deposits taken have been returned.
Landlords who advertise on our website agree not to charge any
default fees to tenants except for those that would be classed as "Permitted
Payments" under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 (Tenants Fees Act). You agree that you
will familiarise yourself on the requirements of the Tenants Fees Act in this
regard.
Landlords who advertise a property in England or Wales on our
website agree not to charge a tenancy deposit (Deposit) in excess of the limits
set out under the Tenant Fees Act from time to time.
Portico Direct reserves the right to make any amendments to any
listing on our platform which we believe in our sole discretion are required to
ensure compliance to the terms of this clause 10.
If a landlord breaches any of the terms in this clause, we reserve
the right to suspend their account with us.
Third-party Services
Some Portico Direct services (for example, the tenant referencing
service, organisation of utilities for a property, professional inventories or
safety certificates) are provided by suitable third parties. These third
parties are not controlled by us, but are independent subcontractors. Landlords
and tenants acknowledge and agree that Portico Direct is therefore not
responsible for, has no control over and does not accept liability for the
actions, accuracy or advice of these third parties. Landlords and tenants also
acknowledge and agree that Portico Direct will be required to provide such
third parties with their personal data to enable those parties to provide
services to landlords and tenants and both landlords and tenants indemnify
Portico Direct in relation to the way in which these third parties deal with
their personal data.
We accept no liability for any losses that may arise as a result
of a service not being delivered by a third party on a particular date or in
relation to the standard of the services provided by a third party including
any claims made against a landlord by a tenant or vice versa.
Referencing and Tenant Checks
We can organise a tenant referencing service for Landlords if they
request it. This will be provided by our referencing partners who are a third
party.
We cannot provide any guarantee regarding the accuracy or
reliability of the information supplied by the third party or the users being
referenced. You will be solely responsible for deciding whether or not a tenant
is suitable for your property and will conduct your own ID, visa, immigration
or other checks legally required to ensure that each of the tenants have the
right to live and rent in the UK and agree that Portico Direct will have no
liability in relation to the suitability of the tenant, the actions of the
tenant during the tenancy or as a result of the tenant providing false
information to you or the tenant refencing service.
Offer and Acceptance of Holding Deposits
If a tenant wants to proceed with renting your property, they may
do so by making an offer to you by using our website (Offer).
We will let you know when the tenant has made the Offer, giving
you the opportunity to decide at your sole discretion whether or not you wish
to proceed or reject the Offer or to request that the tenant provide further
information.
Once the Offer has been made, you have the option to order tenant
referencing through Portico Direct by its referencing third party. If this
third party advises that the tenant is suitable this advice is for information
purposes only, you must still satisfy yourself of the suitability of the
tenant.
If you proceed with the application following the Offer, you
acknowledge that a tenancy agreement has not at that point been entered into
and will not be until both you and the tenant sign an Assured Shorthold Tenancy
(AST) or other tenancy agreement.
If you accept the Offer, we will request that the Tenant pay a
Holding Deposit equivalent to not more than one week's rent.
After the Holding Deposit has been paid, we will suspend the
advertisement of the property on Portico Direct while the tenant's Offer is
active in accordance with the requirements of the Tenants Fees Act and you
agree that you will not take a Holding Deposit from another party in relation
to the same property whilst the tenant's Offer is active.
By paying the Holding Deposit, the tenant agrees that:
except where the landlord and the tenant have agreed in writing,
the general terms of the tenancy which the tenant agrees to, have been
specified in the Offer including but not limited to the start date, the term,
the rent, the rental period and who will be the tenants;
except where the landlord and the tenant have agreed in writing,
the tenancy will begin on the date the tenant states in their Offer;
the amount of the Holding Deposit will be put towards the first
payment of rent under the tenancy if and at the time that the tenant and the
landlord sign an AST or other tenancy agreement for the property;
the tenant will be taking the property "as seen";
except where the landlord and the tenant have agreed in writing to
changes or additional clauses, or to use another form of tenancy agreement, the
tenant will sign our standard AST, a sample copy of which is available on our
website;
the government's How to Rent Guide and other relevant documents
will be provided by email to the tenant's registered email address; and
the timeline for agreeing the terms of this tenancy will be
determined by the landlord and the prospective tenant. Portico Direct will not
retain the Holding Deposit any longer than is necessary for the tenancy to be
satisfactorily agreed between the parties involved and for not longer than 14
days from the date that the Holding Deposit was received (Deadline) unless they
are notified in writing that the landlord and the tenant have agreed in writing
to an extension of the Deadline (Extended Deadline).
If the landlord decides not to proceed to signing the AST or other
tenancy agreement where a Holding Deposit is held, or acts in such a way that
it would be unreasonable to expect the tenant to enter into an AST or other
tenancy agreement or breaches sections 1 or 2 of the Tenants Fees Act, then
subject to the requirements of any relevant legislation, the Holding Deposit
will be returned to the tenant within 7 days or either the Deadline or the
Extended Deadline expiry unless:
the tenant notified the landlord or Portico Direct in writing,
after the landlord accepted the Offer, that the tenant had decided not to
continue their application to rent the property;
the tenant provided materially false or misleading information to
Portico Direct, the landlord or our third-party referencing partners including
in relation to the tenants' immigration status or right to rent under the
Immigration Act 2014; or
the landlord had taken all reasonable steps to enter into a
tenancy agreement, but the tenant failed to take all reasonable steps to enter
into a tenancy agreement within a reasonable time being on or before the
expiration of the Deadline or the Extended Deadline.
If the tenant decides not to or we reasonably believe that the
tenant is not proceeding with the Offer the tenant agrees that we may resume
marketing the property until it is clear that the tenant still wishes to
proceed.
If any of the circumstances set out in paragraph 13.8 apply or if
any other valid reason under the relevant legislation applies for not returning
the Holding Deposit to the tenant, Portico Direct will where appropriate pay
the Holding Deposit to the landlord as compensation for the tenant's abandoned
application and any associated costs and lost profits incurred by the
Landlord. The tenant agrees that the repayment is on the instruction of the
landlord and agrees to indemnity Portico Direct in relation to such payment of
the Holding Deposit to the Landlord for any loss including consequential loss,
claims, actions or proceedings that may be brought against Portico Direct.
The Landlords agree that the decision of whether or not to pay the
Holding Deposit (or any part of it) to the tenant will be at Portico Direct's
sole discretion and based, in the first instance, on feedback from the tenant.
The landlord agrees to indemnify Portico Direct for any loss including
consequential loss, claims, actions or proceedings that may be brought against
Portico Direct as a result of a landlord or a tenant successfully bringing a
claim for a return of the Holding Deposit against either the landlord or
Portico Direct and that the landlord will be liable for any legal or
enforcement costs incurred by Portico Direct in relation to such a claim.
If the tenant has already paid a Holding Deposit to a landlord in
respect of a property the Portico Direct website cannot be used to arrange the
tenancy. By making an Offer, tenants are declaring that they have not already
paid a Holding Deposit for the property, or if they have paid such a Holding
Deposit in respect of the relevant property, that it has been refunded in full.
In the event that the tenant has paid a holding deposit to Portico
Direct, but the landlord subsequently elects not to use Portico's property
deposit or rent collection services, the holding deposit will be returned to
the tenant and all financial transactions will take place outside the Portico
Direct website at both the tenant's and landlord's own risk.
Tenancy Agreements
Any acceptance by the landlord of a tenant's Offer is subject to
contract. To complete the tenancy using Portico Direct's AST for use in England,
the AST will need to be signed digitally on the Portico Direct website by both
the landlord and the tenant.
Tenancy Deposits
A tenant entering into an AST or other tenancy agreement will
usually be required by the landlord to pay a deposit to cover any damage or
rental arrears which are incurred during the term of the tenancy (Deposit). The
amount of this Deposit is limited by the Tenants Fees Act.
Tenants agree that by signing the AST or other tenancy agreement
that they are providing express consent to the application of the Holding
Deposit to either the first months' rent payable under the AST or other tenancy
agreement or to part payment of the Deposit, except as provided for in 13.13.
By signing these terms, the landlord agrees that it is aware of
the landlord's obligation under the Housing Act 1988 to register the Deposit
with a government approved scheme within 30 days of receipt of funds either by
Portico Direct or by the landlord directly. Failure to do so may mean that the
landlord is unable to evict the tenant if a problem arises in the tenancy or if
the landlord requires the tenancy to end for another reason that is allowable
under the Housing Act 1988. If the landlord does not elect to use the Portico
Direct deposit registration service, the landlord agrees to arrange for
registration of the Deposit within the requisite time and the landlord agrees
to indemnify Portico Direct for any failure by the Landlord to do so.
Where requested, Portico Direct will collect the Deposit and
register this with Portico Direct's third party partner deposit agency within
the prescribed 30 days provided it has been paid prior to the tenants taking
occupation of the relevant property, so that the Deposit can be protected under
the government-backed tenancy deposit scheme. The Deposit will be held under
the terms and conditions of the deposit agency in question, and these terms
will be provided to both the landlord and the tenants as part of the Deposit registration
process.
The landlord acknowledges that the landlord will be solely
responsible for the negotiation and deduction of any amounts from the Deposit
with the tenant at the end of the tenancy and for engaging in any adjudication
required by the Deposit agency prior to the release of any Deposit at the end
of the tenancy.
Rent Payments
Portico Direct will process payment of the first month's rent
where the landlord has requested this. Once the first month's rent has been
received in full by Portico Direct it will be held by Portico Direct, for a
period which is up to a maximum of 14 days from the beginning of the Term,
until the tenant has satisfactorily moved into the premises, after which it will
be paid to the landlord, subject to the following:
the landlord providing Portico Direct with UK bank details, sort
code and account number (Landlords Nominated Account) and a valid account ID
for their account with the deposit agency used for the tenancy. Until these
items are received in full, the Rent Now process cannot be completed and we
reserve the right to take all reasonable decisions in relation to how such
funds should be treated, including but not limited to holding the first month's
rent payment until the details required have been provided in full; and
Portico Direct's outstanding fees being deducted from the first
month's rent that is transferred to the landlord where applicable (for example,
where the landlord has not pre-paid for use of Portico Direct's services).
Subsequent instalments of rent will be paid by the tenant when
they become due according to the tenancy agreement, subject to the following:
The tenant will make these payments to Portico Direct, unless the
landlord gives at least one weeks written notice to Portico Direct and the
tenant that they wish for rent to be paid to a different bank account.
Once received by Portico Direct, rent payments for each month's
rent will be paid to the Landlord's Nominated Account.
Portico Direct will endeavour to make this payment to the landlord
the same working day that it is received (excepting the first month's rent at
the start of the tenancy, as outlined in clause 16.1 above). However, Portico
Direct is unable to guarantee that a payment will be made on or by a particular
date in all circumstances.
Portico Direct will not charge the tenant for this rent collection
service.
If the landlord owes money to Portico Direct (for monthly
subscription services or otherwise), these payments will be deducted from the
rent before it is paid to the landlord.
If the landlord wishes for rent payments to be made to a different
bank account rather than being collected by Portico Direct, they can notify
Portico Direct and the tenant via their Portico Direct dashboard but only after
any payment which the landlord owes to Portico Direct have been paid.
Portico Direct can only make payment to a valid, UK-based bank
account that can be uniquely identified by its sort code and account number.
In operating this service Portico Direct will make reasonable
endeavours but we (including our affiliates, officers, directors, agents,
subcontractors and employees) will not be liable to you in contract, tort
(including negligence) or otherwise for any liabilities, damages or losses
(whether direct, indirect, consequential, special or otherwise) incurred or
suffered by you or any third party in connection with its use and any delayed
or non-payment of rent or return of the deposit to either you or the tenant.
Both the tenant and the landlord agree by using the Portico Direct services to
indemnify Portico Direct for any failure by the tenant to pay the rent or for
any delay in the transmission of the rent from the tenant to the landlord via
Portico Direct or one of its third party providers including where the landlord
and the tenant agree to a change in the tenants who are to occupy the property
during a tenancy or the tenants change in bank accounts.
If Portico Direct transfers any funds to either the Landlords
Nominated Account or to an account nominated by the tenants in error for any
reason, both the landlord and the tenant agree to repay Portico Direct in full
for any sum paid in error, such repayment to be made as soon as practically
possible. This includes any overpayment where the sum transferred to either the
landlord or the tenant by Portico Direct is in excess of the amount properly
due.
Treatment of Personal Data
Portico Direct is the controller of the personal data provided to
it by its users (The Personal Data). To provide the services, Portico Direct
may be required from time to time to transfer The Personal Data to you.
If we do transfer The Personal Data to you, you agree that you
will become the controller of The Personal Data and you hereby agree to observe
and perform your compliance obligations as a controller as defined in in
relevant data protection laws including but not limited to the Data Protection
Act 2018 (Data Act) including ensuring that you process The Personal Data only
where you have a lawful basis to do so; and that you accept your compliance
obligations in full as a controller under the Data Act.
Full details of our use and treatment of Personal Data are laid
out in our Privacy Policy.
Licensing and Redress Schemes
Portico Direct is a Member of The Property Ombudsman
scheme (TPOS), and subscribes to this scheme's Code of Practice for Letting
Agents. Further details of the scheme can be found at
www.tpos.co.uk.
Its membership number is T04820.
Portico Direct is a member of the Propertymark Client
Money Protection Scheme as part of our membership of ARLA. Our membership
number and scheme reference number is C0133173.
Portico Direct is a registered agent in Scotland with registration number LARN2005010.
Portico Direct is a member of RentSmart Wales.
A copy of the relevant codes of practice for any
schemes of which we are members can be provided electronically to users on
request.
Portico Direct holds Professional Indemnity Insurance.
Further details are available on request.