Landlords in Wales who have not yet signed up to Rent Smart Wales, designed to drive up the quality of rented accommodation in Wales, have less than 24 hours remaining to do so before the scheme becomes a mandatory requirement.
Rent Smart Wales, the new registration and licensing system in Wales, which went live last year, represents a major change for the private rental sector in the principality.
The scheme requires all landlords and letting agents to register their properties and undergo training to obtain a licence if they wish to self-manage their rental investment.
Landlords and agents have been given until mignight tonight in which to comply with the new legislation, before it then becomes an offence to let or manage a property without the correct licence.
The scheme is designed to drive up the quality of rented accommodation in Wales through training courses for landlords and by giving local councils a better understanding of where properties are situated.
David Cox, Managing Director, Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), said: “The law means landlords in Wales – and those in the rest of the UK who own properties in Wales – need to register themselves and their properties with Rent Smart Wales, as well as being suitably trained and licensed to carry out letting or property management activities.
“If landlords do not wish to get trained, they need to arrange for a trained and licensed agent to manage their properties on their behalf.”
“If landlords and agents find themselves unlicensed when the deadline arrives on 23 November, they will be unable to practise,” he added.
For further information about RentSmart Wales – click here.
Want to comment on this story? Our focus is on providing a platform for you to share your insights and views and we welcome contributions.
If any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.
Please help us by reporting comments you consider to be unduly offensive so we can review and take action if necessary. Thank you.
.png)
Join the conversation
Jump to latest comment and add your reply
Completed the exam OK but told it would take up to 8 weeks before it is accepted.
So, at the end of this month I will be an "illegal" landlord unless they accept it very quickly.
My estate agent is also having problems
"We have just learnt that RSW website is refusing to recognise **** as letting Agents (they must be four times our size) . We are tied up trying to help our clients get linked and the RSW website keeps breaking down/not working. They are in breach of their statutory obligations, cannot answer the phone (they are overwhelmed with calls)( and it is taking them ten days to answer an email. I suspect that will be longer by now as people are ringing them up to ask why their emails are not being answered and then emailing again to ask why their phone calls are not being returned. They have a call centre which had a thirty minute waiting time this afternoon and when they do reply they say they will ask someone to ring us back - which they do not do because they are overwhelmed."
Please login to comment