Independent lettings and property comment · East Sussex
Hart ColemanThe Lettings & Property Journal

Lettings, plainly explained

Hart Coleman is a small journal about renting and letting property in the United Kingdom. No listings, no valuations and nothing to sell - just the parts of the process that cost people money when they get them wrong.

Deposits, inventories, repairs, EPCs, break clauses and the rest of it, written for whichever side of the tenancy you are on.

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Latest

Serviced Apartments: What You Are Actually RentingPropertyServiced Apartments: What You Are Actually RentingSomewhere between a hotel room and a tenancy, and priced like neither. What the format includes, who it suits, and where the model works best.2026-07-28Renting Your First Flat: The Checklist Nobody Gives YouRentingRenting Your First Flat: The Checklist Nobody Gives YouThe paperwork, the money and the three things to photograph before you unpack a single box.2026-07-14Deposit Protection, and How People Lose TheirsRentingDeposit Protection, and How People Lose TheirsThe scheme rules are simple. Most disputes are lost on evidence rather than on the merits.2026-06-30The Inventory: A Landlord's Cheapest InsuranceLettingThe Inventory: A Landlord's Cheapest InsuranceThirty pounds and ninety minutes at the start of a tenancy decides who wins a deposit dispute two years later.2026-06-16Repairs: Who Is Responsible for WhatLettingRepairs: Who Is Responsible for WhatThe split is largely set by statute rather than by the tenancy agreement, which surprises landlords more often than tenants.2026-05-29Furnished or Unfurnished: Which Actually Lets FasterLettingFurnished or Unfurnished: Which Actually Lets FasterIt depends almost entirely on the property and the local tenant pool, and the honest answer is not the one furniture retailers give.2026-05-12

More

EPCs: What the Rating Means for a LetPropertyEPCs: What the Rating Means for a LetA legal minimum, a running-cost estimate, and a document most people glance at once and never read.2026-04-25Short Lets: The Rules Are TighteningPropertyShort Lets: The Rules Are TighteningDifferent licensing, different tax treatment, and in several cities a planning question that did not exist five years ago.2026-04-08Twelve Questions Worth Asking at a ViewingRentingTwelve Questions Worth Asking at a ViewingMost viewings last ten minutes and most people ask about the rent and the bins. These are the ones that change the decision.2026-03-22Break Clauses: The Detail That Undoes ThemRentingBreak Clauses: The Detail That Undoes ThemA break clause you cannot actually operate is worse than no break clause, because you planned around it.2026-03-05

Why a journal and not an agency

Most writing about renting is produced by somebody with a property to let or a service to sell, which shapes what gets said and what quietly does not. There is no shortage of articles explaining why now is a marvellous time to sign something.

This is the other kind. It is written for the person about to hand over five weeks' rent as a deposit, and for the landlord who has just discovered that the tenancy agreement cannot contract out of the repairing obligations. Both need the same thing, which is a straight answer about how the arrangement actually works.