Most people have heard the horror stories of landlords finding their rental properties left in a terrible state by tenants who have moved out.

The cost and time spent redecorating, repairing or even reinstalling kitchens and bathrooms can be a nightmare, as buy-to-let homeowners battle to get their investment back on to the rental market.

One Shropshire landlord, Yvonne Deakin, had been lucky with her tenants, but had plenty of friends who had been less fortunate.

She decided the next time she took on a tenant she’d try and underline their responsibility by helping them understand how to keep the property in a good condition.

She set out to find a proper guide to give them and when she realised there wasn’t one out there, decided to write one herself.

She and her husband Graham set up WorkTop Publishing Ltd, based at Enterprise HQ in Coalport, and 10 months later, in September 2010, after working on it in her spare time, Yvonne began selling her “Guide For Tenants – Your essential guide for a successful tenancy” to private landlords and letting agents across the UK through her web sites www.worktopguide.co.uk and www.landlordtenantguide.co.uk

With renting becoming more and more popular over the last couple of years, due to the housing market, she had chosen the right time to set up her new business, and her 40-page guide has been featured in the glossy Landlord & Buy-to-Let Magazine.

It is aimed at helping both landlords and tenants work together to look after the property. It is a handy working notebook packed full of hints and tips and practical, everyday information as the tenant moves in.

It is particularly helpful to tenants, advising on what they need to do to ensure they get their deposit back when they want to move out.

Shropshire’s first agent to begin buying the guide is Foden Property. Duncan Scobie of Foden Property said: “There’s nothing like this on the market.

“That’s to say a simple, well written guide which agents can give to their tenants as a token gesture when they move in.

“We’ve had properties returned to us in a terrible mess before now and that costs money and time to clean and prepare for re-letting.

“Foden Property decided to invest in the WorkTop Guide for Tenants simply because by taking preventative measures, we hope to avoid any problems down the line.

“What WorkTop Publishing has to offer is exactly the thing we’re looking for to help us prove our duty of care, whilst supporting the tenants.”

Earlier this month Yvonne began selling the Polish translation. In the pipeline is another guide, this time specifically aimed at students leaving home to study at university.

She had become a landlord over two years ago. “There was nothing I could buy off the shelf that I could give to my tenant about what I wanted them to know about the property,” said Yvonne.

“It was fascinating to find a niche in the market which I knew something about.”

Before forming their own company Yvonne and her husband Graham first took expert advice at an open day at Enterprise HQ.

Her guide deals with everything from moving in to dealing with things in the house.

“With maintenance issues it says who to contact and there are electric/gas conversion tables for cookers and a budget planner,” said Yvonne. “It has a section on recycling.”

It also points out things to tenants that they may have missed. “If it’s a furnished property they may need to consider insurance,” said Yvonne.

“With neighbours it’s a two way thing. Don’t park on your neighbours parking spot.

“If you don’t know which bin it is next week, black or green, go and talk to your neighbour. Don’t mow the lawn at 10pm at night when they’ve got little children asleep next door.”

The guide explains the inspections, shared accommodation rules and gives tips on security, water and sewerage, how to clean different areas and what type of products you can use and how to look after the garden.

It even explains how to use a washing machine, tumble drier and dishwasher and explains what laundry washing symbols mean. It has sections on pets, smoke detectors and light bulbs and how to remove stubborn stains.

Tenants also needed to know what to do in order to get their deposit back on moving out. “It’s a two way thing at the end of the day,” said Yvonne.

“You want them to enjoy living there and to look after the house, so when they want to move out they leave it in a good condition so that they can get their deposit back.” The deposit is usually the equivalent to months rent.

At the beginning of the tenancy the property is inspected. At the end of the tenancy it is inspected again.

If the landlord or agent feels the property has not been maintained to an appropriate standard they may apply for some or all of the deposit to be retained .

Yvonne said that where it went to court, having handed over the guide would prove that the landlord had “met his duty of care of the tenant.

WorkTop Publishing Ltd has given Yvonne and her husband a brand that they can use in the future. “We’ve got ideas for quite a few other things coming along,” she said.