What to Include in a Tenant Welcome Pack

Your residents are your customers, and so fostering a good relationship with them is critical. 

Welcome packs are a great way to do this and can set the tone for the rest of the tenancy. 

This article explains what a welcome pack is, what benefits they provide and what you could include in yours. We’ll also provide some general tips on how to be a good landlord. 

What Is a Welcome Pack?

A welcome pack is a convenient way to provide your residents with all of the information they need to live at one of your rental properties.

It might include:

• A copy of the tenancy agreement

• Safety certificates

• Administrative information

• Information about the property

• Tips on how to look after the property

• Information on the local area

• A card and/or gift
  
  

Why Provide a Welcome Pack? 

The biggest reason to provide a welcome pack is that it gets the landlord-resident relationship off to a great start.

Making a good first impression helps your new residents feel welcome, encourages them to communicate with you and makes them longer-lasting tenants.

Other reasons to provide welcome packs include:

✔️ Makes you look professional

✔️ Helps ensure that the resident has all documents they require by law

✔️ It’s convenient for them to have all tenancy information in one place

✔️ Helps tenants look after the property 

✔️ Residents are more likely to report problems

✔️ It’s an opportunity to clarify grey areas, like who maintains the garden

Ultimately, welcome packs mean happier residents, which saves you time, stress and money.

What Should Your Welcome Pack Include?

Your tenancy pack can include whatever you think is relevant to your new residents. However, there are a few documents that you must give your residents by law, which you can include in the welcome pack.

Here’s an overview of what it should include. We discuss each in detail below:

✅ A copy of the tenancy agreement

✅ Your contact details

✅ Gas safety certificate

✅ Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)

✅ Deposit protection certificate

✅ How to Rent guide

✅ Inventory

✅ Utilities information

✅ Appliance information

✅ Property upkeep tips

✅ Security systems guidance

✅ Fire safety tips

✅ What to do if they want to end their tenancy 

✅ How to give feedback

✅ Information about the area

✅ Gifts and a card

A copy of the tenancy agreement

Your resident should have already signed a tenancy agreement and you are required to provide them with a copy. 

This guide to tenancy agreements from the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) provides detailed information on tenancy agreements and what they should include.

Your contact details

By law, you need to provide your tenant with your full name and address. But if you want to have a transparent relationship then it’s also a good idea to provide your full contact details. If you don’t intend to deal with maintenance issues or collect rent yourself then make sure that’s clear and give them details of who to contact instead.

Gas safety certificate

Otherwise known as a gas safety record. You need to get a registered gas engineer to check all appliances and fittings in the property once per year.

The engineer will give you a gas safety certificate and you need to provide a copy of this to your resident.

Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)

You must provide a copy of your property’s EPC certificate at the beginning of each new tenancy. If you don’t have one then you need to contact a domestic energy assessor. They will perform an energy assessment survey and provide a certificate that grades your property’s energy efficiency from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient). This certificate lasts 10 years. To be able to rent out a property the EPC score must be an E, until 2025 when it must be a C.

Deposit protection certificate

If your resident has paid a deposit then you should be signed up to one of the government’s approved deposit protection schemes. The scheme will provide you with a certificate which you need to sign and give to the tenant. It’s also helpful to tell them where they can find more information about the scheme.

How to Rent guide

The How to Rent guide is an online government document providing advice to current and prospective tenants on the rental process in England and Wales. You have to provide each new resident with a copy of the guide. If you don’t, then they can successfully challenge any future eviction attempt.

What Other Information Should You Include?

The items in this section aren’t required by law, but they’re still either important for you or useful for your new tenants. 

Inventory

An inventory is a detailed list of the property including its contents and fixtures. It also details the condition of each item and provides dated photographic evidence. 

Both you and the resident should sign the inventory before the tenancy begins. 

The point of an inventory is to record the condition of the property and confirm that everything is still in good condition when the tenancy ends. If it isn’t, and funds need to be deducted from the resident's deposit, then the photographic evidence helps avoid disputes.

Utilities information

Provide new tenants with the following information:

• Who supplies their gas, electricity and water, which plans they are on and how they can get in touch with the suppliers.

• The location of things like gas and electricity meters, as well as stop cocks and fuse boxes.

• Who to call if there is an emergency involving one of the utilities.

You should also ask your resident to take a meter reading on all relevant utilities.

Appliance information

Provide manuals for any white goods, such as washing machines so residents know how to use them.

Property upkeep tips

As a landlord, looking after your rental properties is second nature. But this may not be the case for your new tenants. This may be especially true if you have younger tenants and this is the first time that they have been responsible for a home. 

By providing guidance on how to look after different aspects of your property you:

• Help them maintain a pleasant home environment

• Set upkeep expectations

• Protect them from hazards

• Keep your property in good shape

There are certain things that you should cover, including:

Damp and condensation prevention

These issues can seriously damage your property. Remind tenants to leave heating on at a minimum level and provide advice on keeping the property ventilated. 

Tell them to report any leaking taps or pipes immediately. Explain how this can turn into damp or mould and the damage this could do to their home. 

Gardening

Explain your expectations regarding the garden’s upkeep and give your resident tips on how to fulfil them. Tell them where to find gardening tools and explain how to cut the grass, trim hedges and any other information they might need. 

Security systems guidance

Make sure your tenants understand how to use any locks, alarms or other security systems that you have installed. Provide them with some basic tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of crime.

It’s also worth reminding them that it is up to them to buy contents insurance to protect their possessions. 

Fire safety tips

Your rental property must follow certain fire safety regulations. Explain what these are and provide tenants with fire safety tips.

Explain that you have fitted smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors and ask them to test them once per month.

What to do if they want to end their tenancy 

Explain what your tenant’s rights are with regards to ending their tenancy. This ensures that there are no disputes or frustrations when your resident wishes to move out. 

Here is a useful guide from Citizens Advice explaining how tenants can end their tenancy.

How to give feedback

You don’t have to do this, but asking for feedback from residents ensures their voice is heard. It also gives you valuable information to help improve your business. 

Information about the area

If your residents are new to the area, it can improve their tenant experience if you point them towards some local amenities.

This could include information about their new neighbourhood, including local:

• Leisure facilities

• Places to eat

• Where to shop

• Doctors’ and dentists’ surgeries

• Hospitals and police stations

• Post offices

• Information about the council

• When are bins collected 

• Local recycling facilities 
  
  

Gifts and a card

This is another nice-to-have. Moving into a new home is a big moment for your resident, so it’s nice to wish them well in their new home. A card and perhaps a small gift like some chocolates is a simple but effective way to get the relationship off to a great start.

How to Create a Welcome Pack

Once you have gathered all of this information, it’s up to you how much effort you put into presenting it.

There are three main routes:

Basic Approach

You can simply use your business’s letterhead or a template in a Microsoft Word document and list all of the information. 

This can then either be printed out or emailed to the resident. This is a low-cost approach, but it doesn’t look very professional.

Hamilton Fraser provides a good tenant welcome pack template that you can use.

Design a Brochure

You can use a pre-existing template or design package to create a brochure. Better yet, you could employ a graphic designer to do it for you.

This will look much more professional but will cost you more time and money.

Here’s a good example of a tenant welcome pack brochure from letting agents Smart Property. It looks great and is very detailed. 

Something like this could be given to the resident in a ring binder, along with other documents like the tenancy agreement and gas safety certificate.

Use a Digital Platform

Digital platforms allow tenants to access all the documentation and information they need using their mobile phones. 

This looks professional and is convenient for tenants and landlords.

EVO is a great example of this. It’s an end-to-end platform that housing providers can outsource all of their repairs and maintenance to. 

It uses a combination of modern technology, data and automation to improve communication between landlords, tenants and tradespeople, and makes your repair and maintenance operations more efficient. 

Part of the platform is the EVO Living app. Residents can use it to access their tenancy agreement,  information on their home and request repairs. 

It saves costs as you don’t have to print new tenancy welcome packs, plus renewed certificates and updated documents can be automatically uploaded to the resident’s app. 

Improve Your Tenant Experience Today

In this article we explained how to improve the tenant experience by providing welcome packs. 

If you want to find out more, check out our article on the tenant experience and why it matters. 

Or you can contact EVO to find out how our digital platform can improve your resident experience.