There is no central register (as yet) where you have to get permission before you can be a landlord – but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to get permission to rent.
Here is a checklist of the permissions you may need to get for your property (note – this will not always apply but you need to check).
1 Your own landlord.
If you are renting under a long lease – your property will be subject to the terms in your lease.
It is very common indeed for this to include a provision requiring you to get permission before you can sublet your property. Usually you will also need to pay a fee.
This is not as unreasonable as it sounds. In some cases, if more than ⅓ of the individual flats in a block are sublet the freeholder will need to get an HMO License. You can read about this here.
If you are in breach of your lease by letting witout asking for permission first, you may, technically, be vulnerable to having your lease forfited (ended) by the courts …
If you are subletting under a short let, again you need to check the terms of your tenancy agreement – ASTs will invariably probihit this.
Note also that if you sublet the whole of a property let under an AST (with or without permission), it will no longer be an AST.
2 Your mortgage company
Your mortgage company has a legal interest in your property and they have a right, via the terms of the mortgage deed, to say what you do with it.
Unless you have a special ‘buy to let’ mortgage, it is highly likley that your mortgage deed will prohibit subletting.
So before you do this, you need to notify then and get their premission. After all, you don’t want them to call in the loan …
3. Your insurance company
If you are renting out a property you need to have appropriate insurance. Normal household insurance won’t do.
This is important because Insurance Companies will refuse to pay out on a claim if you have breached the terms of your insurance policy.
There are a lot of excellent specialist landlord insurance policies out there from organisations such as NW Brown, Alan Boswell, and Direct Line.
So make sure you have proper insurance cover.
4. Your Local Authority
There are three circumstances where this may happen:
- You may need planning permission – particularly if your property is an HMO
- If your property is an HMO you may also need to get an HMO License
- Even if your property is not an HMO, you may still need to be licensed in some areas, if your Local Authority has applied for selective licensing.
If you are planning on renting out a property therefore, it is a good idea to check with your local authority to see whether you will need planning permission or a license.
Finally
Rented property in Wales
The Housing (Wales) Act 2014 will bring in mandatory registration and accreditation in Wales, probably later this year.
To find out more about this, if you are based in Wales, you may want to consider attending our Conference in May.