Has letting property become a legal minefield

Today is an important day for both landlords and tenants, new pieces of legislation come into force for the protection of both, getting the message out to them is a task in itself, especially if we are talking about private landlords who run their business part time or live abroad and have no management agency to advise them or deal with the changes.

We have already touched on the legislation in an earlier breaking news item, what is so important though is that unless rules, which are laid out in the Deregulation Bill 2015 are followed to the book, then any landlord action will be invalidated. In the rules there is a subsection that states ‘that failure to follow a prescribed repairs process can invalidate a ‘section 21 notice’ it also prevents notice for a six month period if the landlord is issued with an improvement notice by their local authority. Landlords will not be able to serve a section 21 form within the first four months of a tenancy.

Any landlord that does not comply with existing energy performance certificate (EPC) and gas safety certificate requirements will also find that any section 21 notice they issue will be invalid.

It is now more important than ever that Landlords keep to date with changes to regulations in their industry, the consequences to not keeping up todate can be very costly. Landlords who cannot for one reason or another put the time needed to managing their property or properties should look to employing a letting agency or management company who will takeover such responsibilities, thus avoiding the minefield of legislation that confronts them.