Landlord responsibilities are not the first thing most people think about when they consider investing in property. But it is important to realise that if you become a landlord, you are taking on legal obligations as well as an income stream.
Landlord responsibilities – what are they?
There are many legal obligations that you will have from the first moment your tenants go through the door of your property, clutching their new keys and freshly signed tenancy agreement. However here are three of the most important things you need to remember:
1. Its not your property any more. When you grant a tenancy to a tenant, you are effectively selling it to your tenants for a period of time. So you can’t go in and out as you want, in fact you can’t go in at all unless your tenant agrees. So one of your most important landlord responsibilities is to allow your tenant to live in the property without interference.
2. You are responsible for keeping it in good condition. There are repairing obligations set out in section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 which you cannot contract out of. So your landlord responsibilities will include keeping in proper repair the structure and exterior of the property, the installations for the supply of water, electricity, gas and sanitation, and space and water hearing. You also need to comply with numerous regulations, including the gas and furniture regs.
3. You can only evict your tenant through the courts. Yes, even though your tenant may only have signed up for six months, he has the legal right to stay on if he wants, and the law will continue his tenancy indefinitely. So he will not be a squatter, he will be a tenant.
Even if you previously agreed that he would move out on the due day, if your tenant wants to stay on, you will have to serve the proper form of notice on him and then go to court to get an order for possession. If you try to evict your tenants in any other way, this is harassment which is a criminal offence.
Landlord responsibilities are constantly changing
Housing is important politically, and governments often introduce new regulations in response to problems that may arise, manifesto commitments (particularly with a new government) or as a result of a report they may have commissioned. Sometimes also they are obliged to introduce legislation as a result of EEC directives.
For example in the last five years there have been new laws relating to houses in multiple occupation, tenancy deposits, and energy performance certificates. So you need to keep your landlords responsibilities under constant review.
How do you do this? Well here are a few suggestions:
- Sgin up to get posts from this blog sent to you by email
- Sign up to my free monthly newsletter
- Join my Landlord Law information site
- Join a landlords association
- Subscribe to one or more of the landlord periodicals – for example the Buy to Let Magazine is free
Or better still, do all of them! If you do not comply with your landlord responsibilities, you can be sometimes prosecuted or sued by your tenants for financial compensation. So take care.
Have you been caught out by failing to comply with your landlord responsibilities?
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Tenancy agreements usually contain 2 main sub headed clauses listed as “Tenant’s reponsibilities” and “Landlord’s responsibilities”. I think the text of this article should replace the latter in all written agreements in the UK. It’s the reality check that so many landlord’s need and would avoid a lot of expense and misery to both landlords and tenants
Cheers Ben! I think those are the three most important responsibilities. From your TRO experience, would you want to add anything else?
The only thing I would add to that is the requirement to protect the deposit Tessa, at the same time emphasising that the deposit belongs to the tenant not the landlord, so many landlords I see dont realise that and treat it as a bit of extra cash. They spend it and then often have to cough it up when they no longer have it, leading to all manner of problems.
I think there should be a badge that you get given when you are a landlord with a similar motto to “Caveat Emptor”…..buyer beware, but with the latin version of “Landlord beware” or maybe “here be monsters” haha (only joking all you tenants out there) but the fact is landlords need to clearly understand the basic rules of the game and to accept that things can blow up because human beings are involved
[...] What being a Landlord really means [...]
I think tenants are getting smarter and really learning the laws. they know about the eviction rules, and they know how to pull on the heart strings of a property owner. Its tough in todays environment to evict a bad tenant, so some up front screening is very important in our market
That is very true, and apparently reserach has shown that many landlords allow tenants in with in screening or credit referencing at all. But as you rightly say, checking out your tenant before you let him in is vital.