A person letting out a house or flat in the UK is subject to various landlord legal obligations. Increasing regulations of the private rental sector dictate landlord requirements to protect tenants and keep them safe from health hazards.
Landlords must ensure that the property is fit for human habitation, both at the start of the tenancy and throughout its duration. They can only charge fair fees in connection with the tenancy and must protect any tenancy deposit in a government-authorised scheme. They must carry out regular safety checks and keep the property in a good state of repair. They must provide their contact details and those of their agents to their tenants, and comply with data protection legislation when handling tenants’ personal information.
It is important that residential landlords fully understand and fulfil their legal obligations to avoid disputes, fines, and legal action.
Property Safety and Maintenance
Landlords are responsible for ensuring their properties are safe for tenants and their visitors.
Gas and Carbon Monoxide Safety
If there are gas appliances in the dwelling like gas fires, boilers, cookers, water heaters, and lighting appliances, or accessories like gas fittings, service pipes, valves, and flues, landlords must comply with the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 and the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015. To prevent fire, explosions, and carbon monoxide poisoning risks, landlords must ensure that a carbon monoxide alarm is installed in any room with a solid fuel-burning appliance such as a coal fire or wood-burning stove and that all gas appliances in the dwelling are installed, maintained, and regularly checked by Gas Safety registered engineers. These landlord legal obligations cannot be delegated to tenants. Noncompliance with these landlord requirements is a criminal offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
In addition, landlords must keep a record of when each gas appliance and accessory was checked, any faults detected, and any remedial action taken. They must provide a copy of the gas safety certificate to the tenants at the start of the tenancy before they move into the property, and then every year within 28 days of the checks.
If the property is a house in multiple occupation (HMO) or a student hall of residence occupied by several tenants, and the gas appliance is not in an individual room but in a common part as in the case of a single boiler serving all rooms in the premises, the landlord can display the gas certificate somewhere prominently in the property, rather than giving it to each resident.
For more information, including details of regulations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, see Gas Safety Publications - Free Leaflets - HSE and Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 – legislation explained (hse.gov.uk).
Electrical Safety
Landlords must ensure their properties are free from electrical hazards at the start of the tenancy and throughout its duration and must comply with the requirements of the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020. They must prevent the risk of exposure to electric shock, flames, fire, and explosions triggered by malfunctioning electrical installations (defined as fixed electrical cables or fixed electrical equipment located on the consumer’s side of the electricity supply metre).
The specific landlord legal obligations include arranging for a qualified registered electrician to carry out an electrical safety check before the start of the tenancy, maintaining all electrical installations in a good state of repair throughout the tenancy, arranging for electrical safety checks to be carried out at regular intervals and at least every five years, providing a copy of the Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) to the person carrying out the next check and to tenants/prospective tenants. Landlords are also required to keep EICRs until the next test is due.
For more information, see Electrical safety standards in the private rented sector: guidance for landlords, tenants and local authorities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Fire Safety
Different types of hazards, on top of those caused by gas and electrical appliances, can cause a fire in the rented property. Landlords and property owners have specific fire safety responsibilities and duty of care to their tenants under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and Building Safety Act 2022. They must take several fire safety precautions, including:
- Provide a smoke alarm on every storey of the premises
- Check escape routes and ensure tenants can access them at all times
- Ensure the furniture and furnishings supplied as part of the rental agreement are fire-safety compliant
- If the property is a house in multiple occupation (HMO) or in an area subject to selective licensing, provide fire alarms, blankets, and extinguishers
Landlords should carry out regular fire risk assessments to identify and rectify possible causes of fire. Most fire and rescue services can advise on how to carry out an assessment and offer free home visits as part of their ‘Safe and Well’ initiative to identify potential fire risks within the home.
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 impose additional and more stringent requirements on landlords, property owners and managers of high-rise residential buildings, defined as multi-occupied residential buildings of at least 18 metres or seven or more storeys.
For more information, see Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Check your fire safety responsibilities under Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 (accessible) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Energy Performance Certificate
A landlord cannot legally rent out a property that has an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating below the current minimum standard band E unless the property is exempt.
Under the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015, it is one of the landlord's requirements to ensure that an EPC is commissioned before a property is sold or put on the market for rent. The EPC energy rating must be specified in any advertisement and can range from band A (very energy efficient) to band G (energy inefficient).
The EPC is issued by an approved energy assessor, is valid for 10 years from the date of the certification, and includes a recommendation report with cost-effective measures that the landlord could carry out to improve the energy efficiency of the property.
For more information, see Domestic private rented property: minimum energy efficiency standard - landlord guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Landlord Legal Obligations for Repairs and Maintenance
Residential landlords and their agents are usually responsible for repairs and addressing safety issues in the rental property. Tenants can only be responsible for problems they cause by not acting in a tenant-like manner. On top of repair responsibilities concerning gas, fire, and electrical safety, the other most common disrepair issues that the property owner is responsible for fixing concern the heating, water and sanitation system, dampness and mould in the property, and pest infestations.
All the installations that supply heating and hot water to the property, such as boilers and radiators, must be in a good state of repair and work properly. If the property is excessively cold it can cause a health and safety hazard and render the property unfit for human habitation. In such cases, the local authority can take enforcement action against the landlord.
Damp and mould can be caused by condensation due to poor ventilation by the tenant, or they can be caused by structural defects of the property, in which case it will be the landlord’s responsibility to remedy. In either case, damp and mould can constitute a health hazard and render the property unfit for human habitation.
A landlord is responsible for carrying out repairs needed to prevent pests from entering the property and causing an infestation. Again, a pest infestation can make a property unfit for habitation.
The landlord’s repair and maintenance legal obligations can be implied in the tenancy agreement by section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, be expressly included as a term of the agreement, or derive from common law (that is case law made by the courts by way of legal precedents).
For more information, see Private renting: Repairs - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Tenancy Agreements and Deposits
The contract between a landlord and a tenant and the terms of a tenancy can be agreed upon orally, result from an exchange of correspondence, emails or texts, or set out in writing in a more formal document. The tenancy agreement is a legally binding contract. Even if verbal agreements are equally valid in law, it is advisable for landlords to issue written tenancy agreements that clearly detail the rights and responsibilities of both parties and outline the terms and conditions of the tenancy, including rent, deposit, and how the tenancy can end. Putting these terms in writing means that both landlords and tenants are clear about their rights and responsibilities and are more able to provide evidence of the agreed terms in case of disputes.
There is no prescribed form for a tenancy agreement but an attentive drafting of the clauses by a professional will prevent uncertainties and costly litigation. The most common type of tenancy in the private rented sector is the assured shorthold tenancy (AST). To offer best practice guidance on ASTs, the government has issued the model tenancy agreement and guidance. Adoption and use of this model by private landlords is not compulsory but it is highly recommended. The model contains all the clauses that should be included in an ideal AST agreement.
Law and regulations will supplement the tenancy provisions, and sometimes take priority over them because tenancy agreements cannot remove the rights granted by legislation to the tenants, even if the tenant agrees to less favourable terms by signing a written contract.
One important protection for renters concerns the treatment of any tenancy deposit paid by the tenant or by a third party on behalf of the tenant. Agents and landlords receiving a deposit in connection with an AST must protect the deposit by complying with the requirements of a government-approved scheme and give a set of prescribed information to the tenant and any person who paid the deposit for the tenant within 30 days of receiving the deposit. Failure to comply with the tenancy deposit rules set out in section 213 of the Housing Act 2004 renders the landlord liable to fines and restrictions on the use of a section 21 notice.
The Section 21 notice procedure allows a landlord to end an assured shorthold tenancy and evict a tenant without giving a specific reason for possession. For other types of tenancy and when there is a breach of contract, the landlord can use the Section 8 eviction procedure. In any case, to avoid criminal prosecution for illegal eviction, it is imperative that the landlord serve a valid notice and follow the correct eviction process. For example, landlords can be prosecuted for illegal eviction if they change the locks while the tenants are out, force them to leave the rental property with threats or harassment, use force against the tenants, or prevent them in other ways from accessing parts of the dwelling.
For more information, see Evicting tenants in England: Harassment and illegal evictions - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Health and Safety
Landlords have other important duties and responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. They must safeguard the health and safety of tenants and occupiers of their rental properties, in particular against the risk of asbestosis, mesothelioma, and legionnaires’ disease.
Legionella and Legionnaires’ Disease
Legionella is a dangerous bacteria that can develop in the water system of any property. When the water system is not maintained in a good state of repair, water is stored stagnant and not sufficiently recirculated, or its temperature offers an ideal growth environment, the bacteria can multiply and disperse in the air.
Legionnaires' disease is a serious form of pneumonia caused by the inhalation of small droplets of contaminated water containing Legionella. Legionella can also cause less serious conditions such as Pontiac fever and Lochgoilhead fever.
The law requires landlords of residential premises to assess and control the risk of legionella contamination in their properties as part of their duties of care towards tenants and their implied repair responsibilities.
For more information, see Legionnaires' disease - Legionella and landlords' responsibilities (hse.gov.uk).
Asbestosis and Mesothelioma
Asbestos is a strong, durable, and fire-resistant mineral that has been widely used in construction in the past. Due to its dangers to health, its use in new buildings was ultimately banned in 1999. However, its presence in old premises is still widespread and asbestos can particularly be found in certain roof tiles, wall panels, ceilings, and old boilers.
When asbestos is disturbed, it releases fibres in the air that, if inhaled, can cause deadly diseases such as asbestosis and mesothelioma.
Landlords and property owners, as well as organisations with responsibility for the building's maintenance or repair, have a duty to protect people from the risks of exposure to asbestos. They must check whether their building contains asbestos, assess the condition of the asbestos and the related risk, and make a plan on how to manage that risk. According to the circumstances, landlords must take the appropriate course of action which may consist of labelling the asbestos, sealing it, or removing it together.
For more information, see The Duty to Manage Asbestos in Buildings: Overview - HSE.
Other Legal Responsibilities
A residential landlord has other important responsibilities in connection with letting out accommodation, including the right to rent checks, data protection, and licensing of houses in multiple occupation (HMO) and dwelling in areas designated by the local authority as subject to selective licensing.
Right to Rent Checks
Most private landlords cannot let out residential accommodation to people disqualified from renting in the UK because of their immigration status.
The Immigration Act 2014 and related regulations require landlords to carry out document checks on every adult occupying their rental property and keep a record. Failure to comply makes landlords liable to civil and criminal sanctions.
The duty applies to anyone letting out residential accommodation, including private landlords and property owners, their agents responsible for carrying out checks, people taking in a lodger or subletting accommodation such as owner-occupiers, private tenants and tenants of social landlords.
For more information, see Landlord's Guide to Right to Rent Checks - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Data Protection
Certain landlords and agents must register with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This requirement applies if they process tenants’ personal information when preparing tenancy agreements, checking credit and tenancy references, holding financial details regarding rent payments, and handling neighbours’ disputes and maintenance requests. They must also register if they use CCTV equipment for crime prevention.
Landlords and agents who process personal data but are not registered with the ICO are liable to fines and civil sanctions. The ICO maintains a database of individuals and organisations who are registered.
For more information on data protection and the landlords’ registration requirements with the ICO, see Paying a data protection fee – real estate sector | ICO.
Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) and Selective Licensing in the Private Rented Sector
The Housing Act 2004 requires obligatory licensing of certain HMO and privately rented dwellings situated in areas of selective licensing due, for example, to substantial and persistent problems of antisocial behaviour or a significant number of privately rented properties in poor condition of repair.
To obtain a licence from the local authority, landlords must provide a gas safety certificate (if there is a gas supply to the property), keep any electrical appliances in a safe condition, and install smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. They must provide tenants with written tenancy agreements, obtain tenancy references for prospective tenants, and fulfil any additional conditions imposed by regulations, for example, provide an Energy Performance Certificate and comply with the Domestic Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) regulations.
For more information, see Houses in Multiple Occupation and Residential Property Licensing Reform: guidance for Local Housing Authorities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Selective licensing in the private rented sector: a guide for local authorities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Further Guidance
More details and further guidance on all landlord legal obligations can be found in the following government resources:
- Renting out your property: Landlord responsibilities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
- How to let - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
- How to rent - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
- Private renting: Your rights and responsibilities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
- Guide for landlords: Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Further advice and resources on landlord requirements are available from professional organisations such as the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), like The Complete Guide to a Landlord’s Essential Responsibilities | NRLA
For specific legal questions and problematic issues concerning landlords’ relationship with their tenants, letting agents, local authority licensing and enforcement departments, it is important to consult a solicitor and obtain professional legal advice.
How We Can Help
It is important that landlords and letting agents fully understand and discharge all their legal responsibilities when renting and managing residential accommodation. Staying up-to-date with continuously changing laws and regulations, and seeking professional advice when needed is imperative to a successful engagement with the residential rented sector. The benefits of being a responsible landlord include long-term tenancies and positive landlord-and-tenant relationships.
Instructing an experienced Landlord and Tenant Law Practitioner will guarantee compliance with relevant legislation and prevent breach of the duty of care that landlords owe to any of their tenants and licences. It will provide clarity about tenants’ rights and responsibilities and help resolve any dispute that may arise before, during, and after a tenancy. It will guide landlords as to what type of tenancy it is better to grant to tenants, the pros and cons of fixed-term tenancy versus periodic agreement, and what steps to take when things go wrong.
As experts in residential property law, we can provide expert legal advice and representation on any matter concerning the letting out of residential accommodation in the private and social rented sectors. It can help in drafting tenancy agreements and advise on all landlords' requirements and legal obligations. Contact us on 0330 173 6983 or send us an email for more information.
