Landlords: New changes to Section 21
As a landlord you are obliged to follow a number of rules and regulations. Keeping on top of these and conforming to them is crucial to both you and your tenant. Failure to do so may result in substantial fines and in the case of the most recent legislation, your ability to serve a Section 21 notice (s21) to regain possession of your property.
What is happening?
The introduction of the Deregulation Act 2015 has made significant changes to the law. Since the 1st October it has become even more difficult for landlords to serve an s21.
Be aware of the following to ensure this doesn’t happen to you:
Process: Failure to provide tenants with their rights and responsibilities under the tenancy agreement or to obtain the required information (EPC, gas safety certificate) to tenants during a tenancy can invalidate an s21 Notice. An EPC should be provided to every prospective tenant at point of enquiry about a property and not only when a tenancy has begun.
Repairs: Your tenant can submit a complaint about the condition of the property or common parts in writing. As a landlord you will need to provide an adequate response within 14 days. The response includes the corrective action that will be taken and when repairs will be fixed. If you fail to do this in the time frame a s21 Notice may become invalid and can prevent one from being served for a further six months.
Other restrictions on the use of possession notices also includes:
New regulation: You will also need to comply to the new regulation relating to smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. An s21 Notice may become invalid if you fail to do so. For more information read our news story here.
Evidence: As well as providing your tenant with an EPC and Landlords Gas Safety Certificate you will need to provide evidence that you have done just that and given your tenant a copy of both documents.
Maintenance
Make sure you have processes in place to be able to handle written repair requests, this includes making sure your tenants have adequate means of contacting you. The legislation does not state that they need to be in English so bear this in mind if you have a foreign tenant. Make sure repairs are dealt with efficiently and they are never missed and keep a record of all the work you do as evidence.
If you would like further advice or would like someone to manage your property on your behalf we offer a number of letting and management services. View them here.
For further reading on the legislation visit here.