Letting a property compliantly is a landlord’s responsibility

Letting a property compliantly is no longer just a few safety certificates. There’s now over 170 pieces of legislation! It is a landlord’s responsibility to keep up with all current rules and regulations.

Although you may have successfully navigated the private rented sector for years, the landscape has significantly changed (particularly over the last 5 years). It’s one thing knowing about what to put in place to be safe as a landlord, but it’s another thing implementing it all and proving it, should you have an inspection. This is the full extent of a landlord’s responsibility.

Protect yourself as a landlord

Here at Peter Clarke we protect our Fully Managed landlords. It’s our full time job to keep up-to-date of all the ever-changing legislation which is getting more complicated as time goes on. We have a duty of care to: protect you (our landlord), keep tenants safe, and protect ourselves from liability issues that could arise; and we take our duties seriously.

Major changes underway

Government legislation over recent years has changed the Private Rented Sector dramatically and more major changes are underway with the Renters Rights Bill currently being debated in parliament.

• the removal of Section 21 notices
• increased powers for local authorities to take enforced action against negligent landlords
• the current Assured Shorthold Tenancy contract to be replaced with a contract that has no fixed term, and much more.

Local councils have the ability to prosecute landlords who break the law and legislation has changed so they can now keep the fines imposed. Many councils are scaling up their teams to search for non-compliant landlords. Fines can be £5,000 for ignoring the Tenancy Fees Act, or not complying with the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) rules. Fines can be up to £30,000 and if the breach is serious enough (such as endangering the lives of tenants), they can take court action which could result in prosecution and an unlimited level of fine. The crackdown has started with non-compliant Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO’s), but single let will surely soon follow.

Landlords must prove they are compliant

Only a small amount of self-managing landlords are totally proficient at managing their properties. They responsibly comply with all the legislation AND have systems in place to implement it and prove it. In this case, Peter Clarke are happy to provide a Let Only or Rent Collection service as we know they’re safely complying and protecting themselves and their tenants.

The easiest way to ensure your property is always legally let is to work with a letting and managing agent that’s professionally qualified to look after your investment and is able to respond quickly to changes in legislation to keep you fully compliant.

Talk to us: discuss becoming ‘fully managed’

If you currently self-manage or are a new landlord and you’d like to discuss our fully managed ‘Protecting Landlord’s Responsibly Service’, please do get in touch with your local Peter Clarke branch and start a discussion with one of the team.