Residential: How to Rent Guide

Tue 15 December 2020

As members of ARLA (the lettings industries professional body) we receive up to date information surrounding legislation and regulations across the sector. We believe that it is our duty to keep you up to date with any industry changes to ensure that you are legally compliant and are getting the best from your investment. 

The Government has issued a new ‘How to Rent Guide’, a critical piece of documentation that landlords must issue to tenants. The previous version was dated August 7th 2019 and is now out of date. Failure to serve the most up to date guide invalidates any future Section 21 action.

A landlord must provide the tenant with a copy of the following:

•    How to rent: the checklist for renting in England
•    A gas safety certificate
•    Deposit paperwork
•    Copy of EPC

Without these a landlord will have problems evicting a tenant.

Under new legislation a landlord should now provide a ECIR electrical report for new tenancies (and existing from April 2021) – this lasts five years.

Landlords must have at least one smoke alarm on every storey and carbon monoxide detectors if there are solid fuel appliances like wood burning stoves and open fires.

At present there are over 160 pieces of legislation affecting the residential lettings industry. Landlords that are not compliant risk heaving fines and, in some cases, imprisonment. This is not an empty threat as the government continues to improve standards across the industry. 

Whilst we understand that some landlords prefer to manage their properties personally, we would always recommend the fully managed option for complete peace of mind. If you are interested in finding out more about our fully managed letting service, please get in touch.

Alnwick Lettings
Hexham Lettings
Sedgefield Lettings
Northallerton Lettings