Landlords, leaseholders and tenants will be armed with vital
information on their rights and responsibilities thanks to new
online rental guides published by the Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government today (26 June 2018).
These guides form a key part of government’s continuing crackdown
on poor practice by a minority of landlords and agents in the
private rented and leasehold sectors. Evidence shows that
Citizens Advice helped 65,000 private renters with more than
100,000 problems about their tenancy in 2017.
As part of government’s commitment to ensure everyone has a
decent, safe place to live, the ‘how to’ guides include
checklists for new and existing tenants, landlords and letting
agents to ensure they are complying with their legal
responsibilities.
Published on GOV.UK today the
guides have been produced in partnership with landlord, tenant
and letting and managing agent groups, professional bodies and
local housing authorities and aim to drive up living standards in
the sector.
The ‘how to’ series comprises:
This new guide will help private landlords learn more about their
key legal responsibilities and best practice when letting a
property, including how to protect tenancy deposits, carry out
gas safety checks and install smoke and carbon dioxide alarms.
By reading this new document, leaseholders can learn about their
unique set of rights and responsibilities. For example, a
managing agent or landlord could be responsible for running a
leaseholder’s block or estate – but the leaseholder does have a
say in how they do it.
This document will help current and prospective tenants identify
potential unsafe conditions in rented properties. It gives
tenants an overview of the most common hazards to look out for in
rented properties, including gas and electrical safety, damp and
mould and trips and falls hazards, and how they should report
dangerous conditions.
This updated guide provides a step-by-step process to renting
privately. Tenants can learn how to challenge poor practice and
understand private landlords’ legal obligations. It is a legal
requirement for all landlords to provide their tenants with this
document.
Housing Minister MP said:
Every day across the country thousands of people move house –
from young people leaving home for the first time, to those
relocating after years in the same property.
Whatever the circumstance, we want to ensure renters, landlords
and leaseholders are armed with information so they know their
rights, responsibilities and can challenge poor behaviour.
The guides will be reviewed in light of any new legislation to
ensure tenants, landlords and leaseholders are supplied with
up-to-date information.
Government is committed to protecting the rights of tenants and
giving them more security. We will shortly be launching a
consultation seeking views on the benefits and barriers to
landlords offering longer and more secure tenancies in the
private rented sector.
We have already announced our intention to require private
landlords to belong to a redress scheme, and that we will
require all letting agents to be
regulated and belong to a client money protection scheme
in order to practice.
Our consultation on
ways to make redress more accessible and effective across housing
closed on 16 April and we will issue a response in due course.
