When letting a property, there’s a lot of information that’s either useful, or a legal requirement, to provide to your tenants before the start of the tenancy.
To help you on your way, we’ve provided an overview of what’s required of you as a landlord.
General information
It’s useful to provide your tenants with the following details regarding yourself, and the property, before the start of the tenancy. It might even save you some hassle down the road:
- Details of who to contact if there are repairs required at the property.
- If you have a home emergency policy in place, you may be able to add your tenant as an interested party, or note them on the policy so they can arrange repairs on your behalf. If so, you should provide your tenant with details of who to contact in the event of a home emergency.
- A copy of the signed and finalised tenancy agreement.
- An inventory of any items in the property, and the condition they’re in at the start of the tenancy.
- A copy of the gas safety certificate for the property. It is a legal requirement to provide this to the tenant on an annual basis.
Details regarding their deposit
Once you’ve received your tenant’s deposit, it is a legal requirement to provide them with the ‘prescribed information’ about the tenancy deposit scheme it’s protected under within 30 days of receipt of the funds. For an exhaustive list of what information needs to be provided, please visit the government website.
- General information about the property they’re renting – for example, the address of the rented property and your (or the managing agents) name and contact details.
- Details of how their deposit is protected, the name and contact details of the tenancy deposit scheme, and its dispute resolution service.
- Confirmation of how much deposit they’ve paid, or the contact details of any third party that has paid the deposit on the tenants’ behalf.
- Details for why their deposit might be withheld, as well as how they can apply to get their deposit back.
The How to Rent guide
As of October 2015, it is now a legal requirement to provide your tenant with a copy of the ‘How to Rent Guide’ (more specifically, ‘How to rent: the checklist for renting in England’). It’s worth re-downloading the PDF from the government website at the start of each tenancy, as they update this guide frequently.
It’s extremely important to provide this guide to your tenant before the start of the tenancy, as failure to do so could mean that you are unable to serve a section 21 notice against them should you wish to take back possession of the property.
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