Landlords have to contend with a barrage of rules and regulations. Safety laws demand that you make absolutely certain that you anticipate all risks and take action to keep our tenants safe. Not only must you organise regular gas and electrical safety checks, you also have to provide reliable smoke and carbon monoxide alarms*. Houses of multiple occupancy require emergency lighting and additional firefighting equipment.

Safety regulations are just the start. You have to update your tenancy agreements 3 or 4 times a year to take account of any changes in legislation, or court rulings on existing legislation. Missing any detail can render a tenancy agreement invalid and halt an eviction, even if the tenant is not paying rent. For example, earlier this year a court ruled that landlords cannot evict a tenant, for any reason, if they have not given them a copy of the gas safety certificate before protecting their deposit! Although the judge said this law was absurd, it is enshrined in legislation and must be adhered to. The landlord in the case had to unprotect the deposit, issue a gas safety certificate, re-protect the deposit, and then restart the possession process. All this can take 10 weeks or more and, if the tenant is not paying rent, it becomes very costly indeed.

You can anticipate other possible problems by preparing a full inventory of each property on our books. This comprises a written statement of the condition of every surface, along with photographs, meter readings, location of fuse boards and stopcocks and more. When tenants move in you can get them to sign every page of the inventory, which becomes vital evidence if there is any dispute regarding their deposit.

Deposits can be complicated. When you take a deposit, you have to register it in a government-approved scheme. There are two types: a custodial one where the scheme administrator holds the money; and an insurance-based scheme where the money is kept in our client’s account (we are members of both types and give the tenant the choice as to which one they prefer to use). You have to register the deposit within 28 days and, until you do, you cannot issue an eviction notice even if the tenant doesn’t pay. If you don’t register the deposit then a court can award punitive damages to the tenant of 3 times the deposit plus the original sum. So, if your rent is £300 a week and you have taken five week's deposit then you would have to pay the tenant £6000 in damages.

The law makes no distinction between private landlords with one or two properties and registered letting agents like ourselves who are steeped in property-letting legislation with robust systems to keep on top of constant changes. What is a matter of routine for us could be a headache for you, so save your time and avoid potential trouble by letting us take care of everything for you.

*https://www.arla.co.uk/news/october-2019/electrical-safety-standards-on-the-way-for-england/