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5th February 2024
Landlords and the Law
- What You Must Know!
If you rent out one Buy to Let, three or four properties or a substantially bigger property portfolio, that makes you a landlord.
Some see it as managing a hobby investment, while for others it's their main business, but for all there are some harsh realities that need to be taken into account.
There are now more than a 150 pieces of legislation covering the Lettings sector that landlords need to be aware of. It's a big list right now and it's getting bigger all the time.
Sometimes it can seem that there's so much red tape covering different aspects of our lives. However, when it comes to the private rental sector rules and regulations really do matter.
So if you own one or more rental properties you need to be in compliance with a lot of different rules.
Habitat
The main body of law that covers the safety of tenants who live in your property is The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018.
This sets out laws about a landlord's obligations to ensure properties must be "free of serious hazards" and under what circumstances they have to fix things, or face the prospect of penalties.
Obviously there's quite a lot of repairs and maintenance issues that can crop up - any homeowner knows this, but a landlord has responsibilities that go beyond his or her own interests.
Safety issues
The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 requires landlords and/or their agents to carry out safety checks of gas appliances each year.
An engineer registered with Gas Safe must be used to install and maintain all gas equipment and carry out the annual safety check.
The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 is similar and requires all electrical installations in rental properties to be inspected and tested at least every five years by a "qualified and competent" engineer.
Other safety requirements include obligations to make sure there is a minimum of one smoke alarm on each floor of the property and a carbon monoxide detector where any solid fuel burning appliance such as a fireplace or wood burner might be.
If the property is let as furnished there are also laws that cover safety regulations for all furniture and furnishings.
EPCs
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are enforced by The Domestic Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) Regulations.
This legislation means a rental property must have a minimum EPC rating of E and all ratings have to be included in marketing details.
The EPC rating reflects the overall energy efficiency of a property and certificates can only be issued by an accredited assessor.
Lettings management
There are so many official responsibilities when it comes to being a landlord that it really is hard work to make sure you comply with them all.
Our fully managed lettings services give you peace of mind, knowing that you are fully up to date with laws that might apply to you at both national and local levels.
It's our job to know about all the new legislation that is introduced and any changes made to existing rules. Then we make sure you have all the information you need to keep on the right side of the law.
If you own rental property in Brighton and Hove we really can help make landlord life as stress free - and as profitable - as we can!
Talk to our Lettings specialists today – call Rob and Winnie on 01273 321 000 or email [email protected]