Here are some really important updates for tenancies which start after 1st October 2015 – Make sure you know about this and if you are unsure or need more clarity always seek advice from your solicitor.
For ASTs starting on or after 1st October 2015
For ASTs that begin on or after this date, you now need to provide the following documents to tenants at the start of each fixed term tenancy:
- Gas appliance safety certificate
- An energy performance certificate (EPC)
- The government’s document called ‘How to rent: The checklist for renting in England’ – you can download a copy from the website
In relation to serving section 21 notices:
- Landlords can only serve a section 21 notice after 4 months of the first tenancy
- The form of the section 21 notice has to be in the new ‘prescribed form’ (available online before 1st October 2015)
- 6 month limit after which a section 21 notice expires, at the present time running from the date of service
- Any health and safety improvement notice served by the local authority means no section 21 notice can be served for 6 months
Complaints about the property
Any complaint in writing from the tenant about the condition of a property has to be responded to within 14 days. The landlord has to set out in his reply:
- What he intends to do
- The timeline for doing the repair work
If the landlord then either:
- Fails to reply to the written complaint,
- Gives an inadequate reply, or
- Serves a section 21 notice
The tenant can complain to the local authority who must inspect the property. If the local authority inspects the property it can:
- Serve a remedial notice
- Carry out emergency remedial action
At this point the landlord’s rights to evict under section 21 will be held in limbo, since:
- No section 21 notice previously served will be valid
- No further notice may be served for 6 months
- However, the landlord can still serve a section 8 notice, but given the repair issues, the tenant may take the opportunity to try and counterclaim to prevent possession and claim damages.
- Smoke alarms
Each floor of each property requires a functioning smoke alarm from 1st October under The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015.
Deposits
- If a landlord took a deposit after 6th April 2007 but missed the deadline to get it registered by 23rd July 2015, then this is how the law stands.
- If the landlord has not registered a deposit in a government-backed deposit scheme within 30 days of receiving the money, the landlord has to return the deposit money to the tenant immediately, as until the landlord does so they cannot serve a Section 21 Notice.
- If the prescribed information relating to the deposit has not been given to the tenants and any other relevant persons within 30 days of the deposit being received, then the landlord cannot serve a section 21 notice. (‘relevant person’ presumably means guarantors, or anyone who helped pay for the deposit).
- However, so long as the deposit money has been put into a scheme within 30 days, the ‘prescribed information’ relating to the deposit can be served at a later date, which then allows the landlord to serve a section 21 notice.
- Do not expect the deposit scheme to provide the ‘prescribed information’ to the tenants, whatever the scheme suggests it might do. It is the landlord’s explicit responsibility to make sure all relevant persons receive the prescribed information. If in any doubt whatsoever, serve the documents yourself, keeping good evidence of having done so.
- Also check with the scheme what documents constitute the prescribed information. The website of one deposit scheme is far from clear what documents to use. If you are not clear, ring the scheme.
- Notwithstanding these difficulties over section 21 notices, any deadlines for compliance with the rules that are missed mean that the landlord will be liable to the tenant for between one and three times the amount of the deposit, should the tenant bring a claim, or a counterclaim.
NC
