Lettings Regulations for Landlords
A Landlord has a legal duty of care to ensure a property is
safe for it's tenants. They are responsible for ensuring their
property complies with the latest regulations and legislation.
If you are using our Tenant Finder or Tenant Finder Plus Services
then you will need to make sure you are compliant with all the
latest regulations. We will of course be able to advise you. If you
employ our Full Management Service, although you remain responsible,
we will arrange these checks etc. for you on an annual basis and
advise you of any upcoming changes to existing regulations, or
proposed new ones.
Below is a list of some of the most common regulations and
legislation associated with letting a property. The dates and
details are believed to be correct as of 15/1/08 but may have
changed since. This summary is intended to assist landlords to
understand the effect of the Regulations. It is not an authoritative
interpretation - this is a matter for the courts. For more
detail, you should refer to the text of the Regulations themselves.
Please click on the links below:
Energy Performance Certificate -
applicable from 1st October 2008
Tenancy Deposit Scheme
Gas Safety
Electrical
Appliances & Equipment Safety
Furniture and
Furnishings Safety
Smoke Alarms
Repairs and Maintenance
Keeping a Record
From October 1st 2008 landlords will be required by
law to provide prospective tenants with an Energy Performance
Certificate for their property.
The EPC's will have to be provided free of charge when any written
information is provided about the property. The EPC's will be valid
for 10 years and therefore, a new one is not required for each let.
The
requirement is being introduced to comply with the EU’s Energy
Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) which applies to all
property, including rented property.
If landlords
wish to improve the energy performance of their properties they can
claim some allowances:
The NAEA
website states "At present any landlord carrying out certain
works to improve the Energy Efficiency of his property is able
to claim a Landlord's Energy Saving Allowance. This is up to
£1500 which for most landlords will equate to a saving of £600.
When originally introduced it was a personal allowance but has
now been extended to a per property allowance.Certain Grants may
also be available and for landlords whose tenants are in receipt
of certain benefits discounts on insulation may be available."
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From 6 April 2007, all landlords and letting
agents taking deposits for Assured Shorthold Tenancies (AST's) in
England and Wales will be required to join a Government-accredited
tenancy deposit protection scheme. This will safeguard all the
deposits landlords and agents take. There is a free scheme available
for Landlords and Letting Agents - The Deposit Protection Scheme
(DPS).
The DPS is completely free of charge and open to all
landlords and letting agents. The scheme also benefits from an
independent dispute resolution service.
Martin Property Management will be participating in this scheme.
Please click
here for a link to the DPS website.
You will see that all Landlords are eligible to join for free. If,
however, you would prefer not to have the hassle of sending each
deposit to the scheme then we can take care of that for you. All our
services include transferring the deposit to the scheme and giving
the prescribed information to the tenants.
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Under the Gas Safety
(Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 all gas fittings, appliances and
flues in rented accommodation must be checked for safety within 12 months of
being installed, and thereafter at least every 12 months by a competent
engineer (i.e. a CORGI registered gas installer). Note: The Gas
Safety Check must be completed prior to any tenancy. A copy of the
certificate must be given to the tenant
before they can move in, or to each existing tenant within 28
days of completion of the check.
A Landlord should
also ensure that all appliances are serviced in accordance with the
manufacturers instructions. If they are not available then it is recommended
that they are serviced annually. You should not
assume that an annual service inspection meets the safety check requirement,
or that a safety check will, on its own, be sufficient to provide effective
maintenance.Ask the advice of a CORGI-registered gas installer where
necessary.
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There are several
regulations relating to electrical installations, equipment and appliance
safety, and these affect landlords and their agents in that they are
'supplying in the course of business'. They include the Electrical Equipment
(Safety) Regulations 1994, the Plugs and Sockets Regulations 1994, the 2005
Building Regulation - 'Part P, and British Standard BS1363 relating to plugs
and sockets. Although with tenanted property there is currently no specific
legal requirement for a qualified electrician to carry out an inspection and
issue a safety certificate (as exists in the case of gas appliances), it is
now widely accepted in the letting industry that the only safe way to ensure
safety, and to avoid the risk of being accused of neglecting your 'duty of
care', or even of manslaughter is to arrange such an inspection and
certificate. It is also recommended that all portable appliances be tested
(PAT). We can recommend companies to carry out the above inspections.
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The Furniture and
Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 (amended 1989, 1993 and 1996),
and other regulations provide that specified items supplied in the course of
letting property must meet minimum fire resistance standards. The
regulations apply to all upholstered furniture, beds, headboards and
mattresses, sofa beds, futons and other convertibles, nursery furniture,
garden furniture suitable for use in a dwelling, scatter cushions, pillows
and non-original covers for furniture. They do not apply to antique
furniture or furniture made before 1950, bed covers including duvets, loose
covers for mattresses, pillowcases, curtains, carpets or sleeping bags.
Items which comply will have a suitable permanent label attached.
Non-compliant items or items without labels must be removed before a tenancy
commences.
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All properties built
since June 1992 must have been fitted with mains powered smoke detector
alarms from new. Although there is no legislation requiring smoke alarms to
be fitted in other ordinary tenanted properties, it is generally considered
that the common law 'duty of care' means that Landlords and their Agents
could be liable should a fire cause injury or damage in a tenanted property
where smoke alarms are not fitted. We therefore strongly recommend that the
Landlord fit at least one alarm on each floor (in the hall and landing
areas) and that they are tested and if necessary batteries replaced before a
tenancy begins. The tenant is responsible for checking operation and battery
condition during the tenancy.
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It is the landlord’s
obligation to maintain and repair the property in line with current
legislation particularly in relation to section 11 of the Landlords and
Tenant Act 1985 as well as in line with current safety regulations regarding
furniture, electrical items and gas.
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Full records must be
kept for at least 2 years of the inspections of each appliance and flue, of
any defects found and of any remedial action taken.
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