Do you Value Your Time?

Did you know that there are 170 regulations to comply with within the rented sector? How many do you know?

One in twelve landlords are unaware of legislative changes according to a Private Landlord Survey conducted by Dataloft in 2018. Those who decide on a ‘Introduction Only’ or ‘Let Only’ service put themselves at risk of the various implications for non-compliance, ranging from fines to prison sentences. Local authorities have begun carrying out inspections on rented properties and issuing fines where necessary, costing as high as £30,000 in some instances. We know that our Landlords do not want nor mean to be bad Landlords, and certainly would not want to incur a fine or other retribution for non-compliance.

At Mackay Property, we guide our landlords through the process, ensuring that these regulations are complied with. We have dedicated Lettings team, with over 20 years of Lettings experience behind them. We know that they can take the worry out of the equation in many circumstances. If you were to manage a property yourself you will encounter and need to be able to deal with a range of different circumstances and legislation, including:

• Ensuring that the property is compliant with the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms Regulations 2015, and that a smoke alarm is on each habitable level of the property and a carbon monoxide alarm is placed by every solid fuel appliance
• Aware of changes to Electrical Check Regulations
• Ensuring that Legionella Checks have been carried out when necessary
• Making sure that the property complies with MEES (Minimum Energy Efficiency Systems). This law has changed in the last couple of years, meaning all Lettings properties must achieve a minimum of an E rating
• Dealing with maintenance issues and logging all events on a Client Relationship Management system – we use Jupix for this
• Ensuring that a Gas Safety Certificate has been completed and has passed
• Ensuring Deposits are correctly registered with an approved Government Scheme before a tenancy commences
• Aware of all pending government changes and how it impacts you as a landlord and the requirement to pass all necessary information onto the tenant
• Aware of the procedure to request a rent increase including serving a Section 13 notice correctly and allowing sufficient notice to be given to the tenants
• Ensuring renewal agreements are created and contain the correct information in light of the Deregulation Act
• Aware of Rent collection procedures and managing rent arrears so as not to jeopardise serving of a Section 6a notice
• Arranging and conducting property inspections whilst complying with the Equality Act 2010 (harassment)
• Carrying out due diligence on all contractors, including obtaining their liability insurance
• Compliant with the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 Section 11 Landlords Repairing Obligations and the timelines to adhere to
• Dealing with eviction in the event of non-payment and aware of the Freedom from Eviction Act 1977
• GDPR compliance - are you registered with the ICO (Information Commissioners Office) and have you issued your tenant with a Privacy Policy?
• Tenant Fee Ban – are you aware of the charges that you are no longer permitted to charge a tenant? This includes inventory and check in fee, renewal fee, referencing fees and many more.

As a Landlord managing your own property you may encounter issues dealing with more personal and contractual issues such as rent arrears, uncleanliness, complaints from neighbours and the eviction process. Your personal connection to the property could escalate issues in the wrong way.

By asking us to manage your property, not only will you be saving yourself time, but you would also remove yourself from the awkward tenant / landlord relationship. We always address each situation as if the property were our own, and we pride ourselves in our promptness in dealing with day to day issues effectively and positively.

If you would like a schedule of the legislation you need to be aware of, we are offering a free document that sets out the current regulations which you as a landlord need to adhere to. Please fill in the form below and we will email the document to you.