Letting red tape

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Landlords often ask us: "What regulations do I have to comply with?"  So here is a summary of the most important.

As a landlord it is your responsibility to ensure your rental properties are safe and that your tenants are properly protected. Regulations surrounding private rentals can change at any time and failure to observe these rules can lead to a criminal conviction. Below is an outline of current regulations (as of June 2009):

Gas Safety
You must ensure that all gas appliances and flues are safe so as to avoid the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning. All rental properties must have:

  • A valid Gas Safety Record.
  • Approved appliances and pipework - Gas Safe Register are responsible for the registration of gas engineers.
  • An annual Gas Safety check - tenants must be provided with an appropriate Gas Safety record & you must keep Gas Safety records for a minimum of 2 years.

Furniture and Furnishings

  • All furniture provided in a rental property must meet safety standards.
  • All furniture must have a permanent label clearly showing that they are fire resistant.

Furniture manufactured from March 1989 should comply with these regulations and will generally have a label showing compliance.

Electrical Equipment Safety
All electrical equipment supplied in a rental property must be safe to use.

  • Unlike gas appliances there is no legal requirement to have an annual safety check, however it is advisable to get appliances checked by a qualified electrician.
  • Operating and safety instructions for all electrical equipment should be given to tenants.

Smoke Detectors

  • Building Regulations stipulate that properties built after June 1992 must have mains operated smoke detectors fitted on each floor.
  • Although there is no legislation requiring smoke detectors to be fitted in ordinary tenanted properties, it is generally considered the common law "duty of care" meaning that the landlord could be held liable should a fire cause injury where no smoke detectors are fitted. We therefore strongly recommend that you fit one smoke alarm on each floor.

More detailed information on these regulations can be found in the Information pages of our website.