Keeping up with legal changes and industry guidance
Stay informed and compliant in the ever-evolving rental industry
As a self-managing landlord, you need to make sure you have a reliable way of staying up to date with legal changes that may affect your rental.
If you fall foul of the law, even unintentionally, the penalties and consequences can be significant, so you must always make sure your property is legally let and you understand your responsibilities.
The challenge for landlords is that changes are not always widely or well publicised, particularly if they’re not ‘headline grabbing’.
For instance, in September 2023, the Government published new guidance on who is responsible for dealing with damp and mould, which wasn’t big news and went unnoticed by many landlords.
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To summarise: this has always been something of a ‘grey’ area, because while landlords have to maintain the property in good condition and keep it free from hazards, tenants are required to take care of their rented home – and that includes ventilating and heating it properly to prevent damage from condensation.
As a result, there have been many tenancy disputes over who should organise and pay for rectifying damp and mould issues.
Now the DHULC has put the ball firmly in the landlord’s court:
[Landlords] must treat cases of damp and mould with the utmost seriousness and act promptly to protect their tenants’ health….Damp and mould in the home are not the result of ‘lifestyle choices’, and it is the responsibility of landlords to identify and address the underlying causes of the problem.
Our guide to dealing with damp and mould, which is up to date with the new guidance, contains a damp and mould tenant’s checklist for you to share with your tenants.
To make sure you are always aware of even relatively small clarifications like this – which could make a huge difference to your tenant’s wellbeing and the smooth progression of their tenancy, there are several options:
Join the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), which provides members with free updates, advice and resources to help them stay compliant
Join a local landlord association to keep up to date with changes made by your local authority
Sign up to receive newsletters from leading industry commentators, such as LandlordZONE
Also see our guide, ‘Legislation for landlords: Everything you need to know’.
As a tenancy progresses, there may be changes that means the agreement needs updating, for instance if you agree to let the tenant redecorate, the tenant gets a pet or they move a partner into the property.
You can either amend the current agreement by attaching an addendum or issue a new one, but it’s important to know that the original contract is binding, so both you and the tenant will need to agree to the changes, which should always be in writing and signed.
If you have been using a letting agent, do not just adapt their tenancy agreement for your purposes. Rules around tenancy agreements can change regularly and you can’t just ‘add’ your own clauses as they may be against the law.
So, make sure you have an up to date tenancy agreement and whenever you are changing a rental agreement, seek specialist legal lettings advice to make sure the amendments are legally sound.
If the tenant moves a partner into the property, issue a new joint tenancy agreement that makes both parties jointly and severally liable for the rent, to protect you in case one of them subsequently moves out.
And remember that anyone over 18 living in the property must have a right to rent check carried out on them to make sure they can legally live in the UK.
For more on what to include in a tenancy agreement, see this guide from our deposit protection partner, mydeposits.
