If you are a landlord and are thinking of managing your properties yourself rather than using an agent.- Or if you are already managing your property yourself –
You may want to think about my Landlord Law service.
It’s a membership site with various resources for, mainly, self-managing landlords (although we have quite a few agents and advisers too).
So if you decide to join (which would cost you £300 pa or £30 pcm for the top level membership) how do you get your moneys worth?
1. Do an audit
One of the more recent features of Landlord Law (it was introduced in March 2024), the audit kit is a guide to help you check that you are complying with all your legal obligations. It will also help you review the services you use.
We recommend that all new members follow the audit kit first just to check that there are no issues with their properties. Its also quite a good way to get to know the site.
It is available to all Landlord Law members but can also be bought as a stand alone product.
2. Follow the checklists
The checklists were introduced over a period of about a year between early 2019 and 2020 with Welsh versions being added in January 2023 (after the legal changes the previous December).
There are five checklists which cover the five main stages of managing a property:
- Getting it ready
- Sourcing the tenants
- Signing up the tenants
- Managing the tenancy, and
- Dealing with either the renewal or end of the tenancy
I call them checklists, but they are pretty detailed, with each item having a narrative and links out to further content.
If you follow the checklists, you won’t go far wrong with the legal side of renting out your property.
3. Use the documents
We have a LOT of documents on Landlord Law.
Some are obvious, like tenancy agreements and possession notices. However there are lots of other documents to help make your life easier. For example:
- Forms to amend your tenancy agreement, for example if you agree to let your tenant keep a pet
- Receipt forms for tenants to sign to confirm receipt of important documents
- Forms where you can record meter readings
- Data information forms
- Schedules for recording rent arrears (in the format preferred by Judges in possession claims)
- Forms and draft letters for landlords taking holding deposits
There are also quite a lot of draft letters, and they get added to whenever members ask for help with a letter, and I think it will help others.
Many of the forms now have versions suitable for property in Wales.
4. Use the kits and trails
Kits and trails are two different ways to help landlords deal with problem areas.
The kits address specific issues and provide guidance. I have already mentioned the Audit Kit. Two others available to members (and also available for sale as stand alone products) are
The Dealing with Changing Tenants kit
The Property Inspection Kit
There are other kits but these are not part of Landlord Law (although Landlord Law members get discounts off the purchase price).
The trails are slightly different – they guide landlords by question and answer to the correct answer for them. It’s rather like having me sitting next to you, asking you the questions and advising (in fact they were developed from advice given over the years).
Some of the trails are free – for example the Tenancy Trail’ (which will help you work out your tenant type) and the Which Tenancy Agreement trail.
Others are members only, such as the Section 21 Guide and the Trail on tenancy deposits.
5. Use the training
Every month since August 2017 we have had a training webinar for members.
The topics vary from month to month.
- One month it may be a barrister talking about fire safety or the gas regulations.
- Another month we could have someone from My Deposits or a solicitor talking about rent or dealing with death.
- We have also had some fascinating talks from EHOs, most recently on dealing with damp issues.
If there is a legal change, I usually try to find someone to talk about it.
All the webinars are recorded and most can be found on the site (apart from a few which were taken down when they became out of date).
Every month, we also have a CPD questionnaire based on the last month’s talk, which can give you 1 hour’s CPD (Business Level members only).
There are other training courses available to members. Some are recordings of training events that I have made available to members. There is also a Legal Basics series which is there to teach a bit of background law.
Law and the law relating to rented property are constantly changing, and our training is there to help members keep up with it.
6. Use the forum.
There is a huge amount of information and guidance on Landlord Law but we can’t cover everything. So, if you are awake at night worrying about something and can’t find an answer on the site, you can post a question on the forum.
Its intended for ‘quick questions’ rather than long complex questions (which are more suitable for the paid telephone advice service), but most problems can be resolved into a quick question.
I generally answer questions within 24 hours – there are not many services where you can get solicitor advice at no extra cost within 24 hours! Most specialist landlord and tenant solicitors have an hourly charging rate in the region of £300 + VAT.
Other members also post comments and suggestions on the forum too. These can sometimes be more helpful than mine!
7. If you must evict, use our eviction guide
Eviction should only ever be a very last resort (its better to help tenants to pay if they are in arrears).
It is stressful for both sides and often results in massive losses for landlords when tenants stop paying rent while the process is ongoing. Which can take up to a year (or more).
However, if you must evict, then we have all the guidance and forms you need for a standard eviction, including:
- Our (free) Which Possession Proceedings trail
- Possession notices and guidance
- Our step-by-step eviction guide
Find out more on our eviction page.
And finally
The last price update was when we launched our new (current) website in 2018.
Since then, we have added masses of new content – new kits, new training and new FAQ and articles. So the site is far more valuable than it was.
If you are a self-managing landlord (or are considering self managing) or are a letting agent or housing adviser – why not take a look?