Before the start of a new tenancy, it's now a legal requirement for all landlords to check whether any tenants who'll be residing at the property, aged 18 and over, are legally allowed to rent. There may be some exemptions to this legal requirement in certain types of accommodation. You can check your tenant's right to rent on the GOV.UK website.
Once the necessary ‘Right to Rent’ checks have been completed and assuming it's legal to do so, you must provide new tenants with a copy of the ‘How to Rent’ checklist.
You must protect any deposit paid by the tenants in a Government approved tenancy deposit scheme). Only 3 of these schemes are available. A copy of the certificate establishing where the deposit is being held must be provided to the tenants.
You are legally required to make sure an annual gas safety check is carried out on gas appliances within 12 months of the installation of a new appliance or flue, and then annually by a Gas Safe Registered engineer.
You must keep a record of the safety check for 2 years and issue a copy to the existing tenant within 28 days of the check being completed. A copy must be issued to any new tenants before they move in. You must also provide any new tenants with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for the property to be rented out.
It's now a legal requirement for all privately rented properties to have smoke detection installed on each level of the property. If there are solid fuel burning appliances, for example; a log burning fire within the property, carbon monoxide alarms must also be installed.
You should make sure that any smoke or carbon monoxide alarms are working at the start of the tenancy. Tenants are then advised to test any alarms on a monthly basis.
Failure to install smoke detection and/or carbon monoxide alarms, where required, may result in us serving a remedial notice to you requiring that the relevant alarm(s) be installed within 28 days.
If you fail to comply with the notice, we may take further remedial action. We'll issue a fixed penalty notice which would need to be paid within 28 days:
Last updated 13 January 2020