One in three landlords don't know their legal obligations

Tuesday 15th May 2012

Tenants have criticised landlords for failing to communicate with them and fix problems – and one in ten are renting without a proper tenancy agreement. Meanwhile, one third of landlords admitted to not knowing their legal obligations.

A study carried out by Total Landlord Insurance involving landlords and tenants across the country found that 21% of tenants say they’ve had a bad level of communication with their landlord.

One in four (25%) also say it takes their landlord over five days to respond to problems they’ve reported, with the same number saying their landlord hasn’t fixed urgent problems at all.
 
However, many landlords feel they are being exploited by irresponsible tenants, with two in five reporting having had troublesome renters. On average, two thirds of landlords said they have had tenants default on rent or not pay on time, while four out of five have lost money due to unpaid rent over the years.
 
The survey also revealed that almost one in ten tenants say they do not have a formal tenancy agreement or contract in place for the property they are renting. Almost one third of landlords say they are unaware of their legal requirements as a landlord.
 
Eddie Hooker, CEO of Total Landlord Insurance, said: “Landlords need to put in place standard operating procedures so that each party know where they stand when issues arise. It was also staggering to learn that more than half of landlords do not even have rent guarantee insurance on their properties.”