Welcome to Part 1 of this e-course.  We start off with an article which sets the scene for the rest of the series.

The responsibilities of being a landlord

Many people when considering investing in property think just of the return. They think about the finance and tax aspects.

But what they don’t always properly appreciate is that the property they are buying as an investment is going to be someone’s HOME.

A home is important. It is where you return to after a day’s work, where you keep all your things, where you (should) feel safe – your retreat from the world. People’s homes are important.

So, if you are in the business of providing homes for people (which is what being a landlord really is), then there are a lot of legal requirements you have to comply with. Quite rightly. So, for example:

• There are legal obligations to keep the property in proper repair
• There are health and safety standards you need to keep, for example under the gas regulations,
• The contents need to comply with legal standards for example under the furniture regulations, and
• Increasingly, there is ‘consumer’ legislation to protect tenants / consumers against ‘unfairness’

It’s no longer your property

Another point which landlords often totally fail to appreciate is that, technically, once it is let to a tenant it’s not your property anymore! A tenancy is an ‘estate in land’. So as long as the tenancy is in existence, your rights over the property are just

• the right to receive rent and
• to get it back at the end of the tenancy (what lawyers call the reversion).

So, this is why you can’t just go in when you want.

The Covenant for Quiet Enjoyment

Not only is that a gross invasion of your tenants’ privacy, it is a breach of what is called the ‘covenant of quiet enjoyment’.

This is the fundamental right of tenants to be able to live in the property in peace, without interference from their landlord.

True, landlords do have a limited right to access the property for inspections and in case of emergency, but apart from that, they have no rights of access at all.

Indeed, entering without the tenant’s permission will usually be considered harassment, which is a criminal offence.

Leading on from this, there are also strict rules about how a tenancy can end.

Unless a tenant leaves voluntarily, a landlord MUST get an order for possession and tenants can only be physically evicted by the court bailiffs or sheriffs.

Again, if you go in and change the locks, this is unlawful, and you can be sued by your tenants for compensation.

There have been cases where tenants have been awarded very substantial sums.

Don’t let this all put you off!

Very many tenancies (probably the majority) are entirely trouble-free. However, this is usually because the property is in tip-top condition and also because the landlord (or his agent) has taken the time and trouble to choose a suitable tenant.

Managing property can be time-consuming, some types more than others.

For example, renting out rooms in shared houses can take up a lot of time, although it can also be very lucrative. Many landlords, however, enjoy managing their properties and the contact with different people and personalities.

The best landlords will take a pride in providing quality accommodation with good service. They are usually rewarded for this by prompt rent payments and few voids.

If you take care to choose good tenants with a reasonable attitude, even if problems do arise, you will normally be able to sort them by agreement.

The ‘nightmare tenants’ of legend are very much in the minority. Although they do exist. When I was working as a solicitor doing eviction work, I saw a lot of them!

But the fact that your tenant is not behaving properly is not an excuse for you to do likewise. You need to make sure that you are complying with the law at all times. However,

Landlord responsibilities are constantly changing

Housing is important politically, and governments often introduce new regulations in response to problems that may arise, manifesto commitments (particularly with a new government) or as a result of a report they may have commissioned.

For example, over the past 20 years there have been new laws relating to

• houses in multiple occupation,
• tenancy deposits, and
• right to rent’ checks.

At the time of writing this, there is new legislation planned in the Renters Reform Bill.

So, you need to keep your landlord’s responsibilities under constant review.

This e-course will help. It contains basic background information about the main areas of landlord and tenant law and practice that you need to know about.

Here are some more suggestions for keeping yourself informed and up to date:

• Read my Landlord Law Blog regularly. Posts go online at least once a week and I try to cover all the issues that arise (or better still – why not sign up to get posts delivered to you by email?
• Sign up to the Landlord Law weekly news bulletin, which goes out via email every Tuesday morning
• Join my Landlord Law information service – this has a huge database of information on all aspects of being a residential landlord, which is regularly updated, plus it has tenancy agreements and forms
• Join a landlord’s association – they can be very helpful, and you can also learn a lot from talking to other landlords
• Subscribe to one or more of the landlord periodicals – they will also keep you up to date with new developments
• Do some training. Landlord Law Services runs regular workshops, and online courses. You can read about them on the Landlord Law Shop here.

Or better still, do all of them!

If you do not comply with your landlord’s responsibilities, you can be prosecuted or sued by your tenants for financial compensation. In some circumstances, tenants may even be able to get a Rent Repayment Order for up to 12 months of rent. So take care.

Landlords in Wales

As you will be aware, if you rent out property in Wales, Wales now has substantially different legislation, particularly since the coming into force of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 in December 2022.

Welsh landlords also need to register (and if they self-manage) be licensed with Rent Smart Wales.

This e-course is predominantly about the law in England.  However, this e-course will still be useful for Welsh landlords as there are many similarities, plus some of the older legislation still applies.

I will be pointing out as we go through the course, where the differences lie.  Note that Landlord Law members will find all our Welsh content here.

In the next part of this course we will look at the legal background.