Responsibilities Of Being A Landlord

3 min read
16th November 2022

Responsibilities Of Being A Landlord

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Landlord Responsibilities

You’re a landlord if you rent out your property. As a landlord you must:

Keep your rented properties safe and free from health hazards.
Make sure all gas equipment and electrical equipment is safely installed and maintained.
Provide an Energy Performance Certificate for the property.
Protect your tenant’s deposit in a government-approved scheme.
Check your tenant has the right to rent your property if it’s in England.
Give your tenant a copy of the How to rent checklist when they start renting from you (you can email it to them).

Making Repairs

You must keep your property in good condition, and any gas or electrical systems must meet specified safety standards.

You’re normally responsible for repairs to:

The structure of your property.
Basins, sinks, baths and other sanitary fittings.
Heating and hot water systems.
Anything you damage through attempting repairs.

If your property is seriously damaged by a fire, flood or other similar incident, you do not have to rebuild or renovate it. However, if you do, you cannot charge your tenants for any repairs made.

Please Note: there are different rules for making repairs in Scotland and making repairs in Northern Ireland .

Rent Increases

The tenancy agreement should include how and when you’ll review the rent.

There are special rules for increasing regulated tenancy rents .

When You Can Increase Rent?

For a periodic tenancy (rolling on a week-by-week or month-by-month basis) you can usually only increase the rent once a year.

For a fixed-term tenancy (running for a set period) you can only increase the rent if your tenancy agreement permits this. Otherwise, you can only raise the rent when the fixed term ends.

Please Note: there are different rules for increasing rent in Scotland and increasing rent in Northern Ireland .

Settling Disputes

You can often sort out disputes with your tenants without going to court:

Speak to your tenants about your concerns.
If this does not work, write a formal letter setting out the problem.
Use a mediation service , which is usually cheaper and quicker than going to court.
As a last resort, you can take your tenants to court.

Please note: there are different rules for settling disputes in Scotland and settling disputes in Northern Ireland .

Going To Court

If you take legal action, the case may go to a small claims court . Small claims cases are those worth less than £10,000 (or £1,000 if the case is about repairs to a property).

The courts provide a free mediation service for small claims cases, which can take place over the phone.

If you want to get your property back because your tenants owe you rent money, you can make a possession claim online .

You must follow specific rules if you want to evict tenants .

Free Advice For Disputes

You can get free advice from Shelter and free advice from Citizens Advice about disputes and housing problems.

In Wales, you can contact Shelter Cymru .

You might be able to get free and confidential legal advice from Civil Legal Advice (CLA) as part of legal aid , if you’re in England and Wales.

Houses In Multiple Occupation (HMO)

If you let your property to several tenants who are not members of the same family, it may be a ‘House in Multiple Occupation’ (HMO).

Please note: there are different rules for HMOs in Scotland and HMOs in Northern Ireland .

Your property is an HMO if both of the following apply:

At least 3 tenants live there, forming more than one household.
Toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities are shared.

A household consists of either a single person or members of the same family who live together. It includes people who are married or living together and people in same-sex relationships.

Licences

An HMO must have a licence if it is occupied by 5 or more people. A council can also include other types of HMOs for licensing.

Find out if you need an HMO licence from your council.

Risk Assessment

The council has to carry out a Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) risk assessment on your HMO within 5 years of receiving a licence application. If the inspector finds any unacceptable risks during the assessment, you must carry out work to eliminate them.

Reporting Changes

You must tell the council if:

You plan to make changes to an HMO.
Your tenants make changes.
Your tenants’ circumstances change (for example they have a child).

Source: Gov.UK ; visit this page for more information on landlord's responsibilities.