News

As part of government’s plans to ensure everyone has a decent, safe place to live, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has published new online rental guides.

MHCLG’s ‘How to’ guides include checklists for new and existing tenants, landlords and letting agents to ensure they are complying with their legal responsibilities.

The new ‘How to’ series includes updated versions of ‘How to Rent’ and ‘How to Rent a Safe Home’, plus two brand new guides ‘How to Let’ and ‘How to Lease’.

These guides form a key part of government’s crackdown on poor practice by a minority of landlords and agents in the private rented and leasehold sectors.

With the aim of driving up standards in the sector, the guides have been produced in partnership with landlord, tenant and letting and managing agent groups, professional bodies and local housing authorities. The ‘How to’ series comprises:

• How to rent This updated guide provides a step-by-step process to renting privately. Tenants can learn how to challenge poor practice and understand private landlords’ legal obligations. It is a legal requirement for all landlords to provide their tenants with this document.
• How to rent a safe home A guide to help current and prospective tenants ensure that a rented property is safe to live in. It gives tenants an overview of the most common hazards to look out for in rented properties, including gas and electrical safety, damp and mould and trips and falls hazards, and how they should report dangerous conditions.
• How to let This brand new guide covers landlords’ key legal responsibilities and best practice when letting a property, including how to protect tenancy deposits, carry out gas safety checks and install smoke and carbon dioxide alarms.
• How to lease In this new guide, leaseholders can learn about their unique set of rights and responsibilities. For example, a managing agent or landlord could be responsible for running a leaseholder’s block or estate – but the leaseholder does have a say in how they do it.

Isobel Thomson, CEO, NALS said:

“We’re committed to making the private rented sector a safer, fairer place for all, and these guides will help educate and inform those in the sector, whether they are a landlord, tenant or agent.

“If we’re going to stamp out rogue behaviour, it’s important that landlords and renters are supplied with up-to-date information and have the latest knowledge on their rights and responsibilities. We’ll be making sure all NALS members are aware of them and that they must now supply tenants with this new ‘How to rent’ guide.”