Residential Landlords and the Renters Rights Bill – time for Landlords to be proactive Part 4

New, and onerous duties on landlords.

With the Renters Rights Bill likely to come into effect sometime soon this year changing the law about rented homes, we have been discussing the most important changes. In this blog we will discuss the duties that are imposed on landlords and their agents. 

A whole new set of duties are imposed on landlords and their agents as a result of the Renters Rights Bill. Breach of those duties will be enforceable by the local authority – who can keep the money raised. Expect the local authorities to invest heavily in enforcement so that they can benefit.

Civil penalties of up to £7000 will be common, with repeat offences up to £40,000 and them becoming criminal matters with an unlimited fine.

These duties include:

Compulsory registration with the Landlord Ombudsman Scheme – no details have been provided yet. The Ombudsman will accept complaints from old, current and prospective tenants. Registration will be needed on letting and on rental of a property. 

The scheme will only allow tenants to get redress from their landlord – not the other way round…

Landlords will need to register with the Private Rented Sector Database – what information is required will be set by secondary legislation. Landlords will need to register each property with the Database when they market it, and again when they let it. Landlords will need an active registration account throughout the period of the tenancy.

If you don’t comply with all the Database registration requirements you can’t use Section 8 for possession and face those civil and criminal offences. Those requirements are likely to include the lodging of the energy performance certificate, gas safety certificate etc.  

Landlords will be required to pay to register on the Database – but no details of how much the cost will be, or how often it has to be paid – have been published.

It is not clear yet whether, if you let a property that is not registered with the Database, you will ever be able to regain possession – the mood music is that this will not be the case but be warned…

Landlords will still need to protect the deposit and provide the Prescribed Information within 30 days of receipt  – if you don’t you will not be able to use Section 8 possession until you protect the deposit and serve that information. You will still be liable for the return of the deposit and up to 3 times the deposit as a penalty.

If you need further advice or assistance please contact Stewart Bailey or Rowena Buckley here.