As landlords we all know that the landscape in which we work has become increasingly challenging as we try to navigate the new legislation that has been introduced in the last few years - from the Immigration Act 2014 to the Deregulation Act 2015. A Press release on 2 May 2018 sets out the introduction of the Government Bill to Ban Letting Fees. The Bill will bring forward proposals to ban landlords and agents from requiring tenants to make any payments as a condition of their tenancy with the exception of the rent, a capped refundable security deposit, a capped refundable holding deposit and tenant default fees. There is also likely to be a cap on holding deposits at no more than one week’s rent and security deposits at no more than one month’s rent.
When a new tenancy is signed it is really important that as landlords we provide our tenants with certain documents as failing to do this could mean that subsequent notices we serve, such as the Section 21, could be invalid.
Please find a number of links below which we hope you will find useful. If you would like to see anything else here please let us know.
PRS Minimum Standard Guidance- March 2019
Extension to the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (from Oct 2018)
Changes to EPC Regulations (March 2018)
Deregulation Act 2015: Want to read the whole Act?
Retaliatory Eviction and the Deregulation Act 2015: guidance note
The easy to follow flow chart below is a really helpful way to make sure you are following all the rules when serving a section 21. Read the guidance in the article and then check out the flow chart. Source: Giles Peaker.
Validity of section 21 notices - a flow chart