What’s the lowdown of the changes to the private rented sector taking place on 1st October 2015?

• Posted by Ben James
• Date 28th September 2015
• Leave a comment

From 1st October 2015, landlords are required by law to install smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in their properties. Changes to the law now require landlords to install smoke alarms on every floor of their property and install carbon monoxide alarms in rooms where there are solid fuel burning appliances.

They also need to ensure that the alarms are in working order at the start of each new tenancy. Landlords who fail to install smoke and carbon monoxide alarms could face fines of up to £5,000.

New laws under the Deregulation Act are aimed at stopping retaliatory evictions, where tenants making legitimate complaints to the landlord about the property are served with an eviction notice, rather than the landlord making the repairs. 

As part of joint venturing with Estateducation, we make sure the health and safety requirements on every venture property is up to the highest standard especially when as landlords we have legal responsibilities to tenant that include:

• Keeping rented properties safe and free from health hazards
• Making sure all gas and electrical equipment supplied is safely installed and maintained with up to date certificates 
• Following fire safety regulations
• Providing an Energy Performance Certificate 
• Using government-approved tenant deposit scheme
• Health and safety inspections
• Allowing the council to evaluate our properties against the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)

If you've got any further questions about your responsibilities as a landlord to tenants please get in touch.