A new How To Rent guide has been released today by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Trade bodies were originally told earlier this month that the new guide would be released a week ago but the DLUHC made it known on that day that there was a shift to March 24.
The National Residential Landlords Association says that private landlords MUST serve the latest version of the guide at the start of any new tenancy and on renewal if there has been an update to the contents of the guide.
It forms part of the prescribed information landlords must issue, and if they do not, they lose the right to repossess using Section 21.
The NRLA says the update released today includes the requirement for carbon monoxide alarms to be fitted in every room with a fixed fuel-burning appliance, and the requirement for EICRs must be provided to the tenants.
In addition, it also contains information on fitting smart meters and there is a section in the guide on ensuring the property is suitable if you have a disability.
The new release, out today, can be found here.
An archive of all previous editions of the How to Rent guides is available via the NRLA website and the new guide is available on Gov.UK.
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Do tenants read them ? they don't normally bother reading tenancy agreements either before or after signing them, most don't even bother to keep it
Oh can’t wait 🙄. We can see what new attacks the government have advised tenants on
Very strange yet another “How 2 Rent” booklet but now they are gone back to calling it a Guide again which they had dropped for a while. How many is this is it 10 or more I have given up counting wasting printing and throwing away because stock obsolete.
I say very strange do they not know how to Rent and they doing it for decades before this nonsense was dreamt up.
Its a very simple process really they have got eyes look and inspect the property, if they like it and the price, next question can I have it please.
Hang on a minute not so fast I must read the guide to see how to Rent it. Sorry it’s gone try down the road there’s high rise Flats for 30/40% more than the price of a House.
The wording of the legislation stipulate a document titled ‘How to Rent: the checklist for renting in England’ must be served. The civil servant tinkerers, when giving it a makeover in June 2018 also messed with that precise wording and thus made the document useless. I see they’ve tinkered with the colour among other things this time.
A very useful gide to be given to the tenant just too late to be useful. The guide is needed several weeks before the contract is signed not just after signing.
Totally agree, they need to read it before they decide to rent a property not after.
They need to issue it in schools to be of any use!
I don't usually have several weeks between viewing and moving in. It's only really students that do anything in advance.
I really don't want leftie teachers adding their own vitriol to a guide that no tenants will ever read if left to their own devices.
In any case the new version will be totally out of date before current school kids will become acceptable tenants.
I was looking for the carbon monoxide detector in one of my houses on Tuesday when the gas boiler was being serviced. It's always been on the wall above the picture rail in a location described as suitable in the instruction leaflet. This time there was no sign of it. We eventually found it on the floor behind a waste bin. Apparently her boyfriend had told her they should be on the floor??????
This is the same tenant that keeps the heating thermostat in her bedside drawer.
If the government really want to produce endless guides couldn't they do one instructing tenants on appropriate behaviour?
Things like heating, ventilation, cleaning, refuse disposal, the positioning of thermostats and detectors, the use of extractors, what not to put down drains and toilets, appropriate reporting of maintenance issues complete with relevant photos, etc. Something useful and consistent for landlords, Environmental Health officers and tenants.
Coming soon
How to scam your voters , how to poison your population and how to get brown paper envelopes from your bosses in Davos
Like it! It helps you make sure the property is suitable if you have a disability, but not relevant cause you have already signed the contract only then discovering the property isn’t suitable.
I don't understand why the landlord has to be responsible for giving this document to the tenant. The document is available for the tenant to read online at any time.
Seems like another technicality to trip the landlord up.
John - I fully agree. Almost all of this stuff is online.
Why are we expected to spoon feed fully grown adults?
Deposit protection paperwork is the one that really bugs me. Mydeposits email everything to the tenant so why are we expected to track them down and get them to sign the paper certificate? The ones that physically pay the deposit before they turn up to actually move in are easy but the ones that wait until you're poised to hand over the keys means another journey.
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