Professionalise Your Portfolio and Stay Compliant

We are constantly listening to expert advice from lawyers and industry experts and a common theme we hear, which is going to be really important for landlords following the implementation of the Renters’ Rights Bill, is the need to tighten up on the admin aspect of managing your portfolio.

Landlords must ensure compliance with guidelines, practices, and regulations to maintain proper tenancy arrangements.

The Renters’ Rights Bill won’t really change the fundamentals of being a landlord, but we know there is going to be a bit more admin and red tape involved in running your tenancies as a result.

There is the sense of a ‘stay calm’ mentality being shared, simply remain compliant and don’t be tempted to look for loopholes.  Which of course is why being part of a Landlord Association or something similar is going to feel so vital for landlords over the forthcoming months.

With the local authorities having the powers and duty to enforce, they will no doubt be looking to increase their workforce to be able to support these new duties.  With heavy fines possible on landlords for any breaches, the local authorities will also be retaining the gains of those fines, and with the Bill authorising powers for councils to inspect, without a warrant, they will of course be looking to catch bad landlords. 

However, there is no need to feel unduly concerned, it just means that the already good landlords will just need to continue on their already compliant path, albeit a little more involved, and the landlords who may need to improve in certain areas will just be encouraged to do so through better guidance and legislation.

We thought this week we would assist in this process by reminding landlords to continue to be vigilant in their housekeeping and ensure their tenants are provided with all the correct documentation when starting their tenancies. 

The members area of the website has a Landlords Checklist which you can refer to and print off to help keep your portfolio in order and keep on track of the correct documentation you are handing over.  We receive several queries from members questioning if they had provided their tenants with the correct ‘How to Rent Guide’ for example.   

The documentation handed over at the tenancy outset, aside from the compliance aspect, will be particularly important of course if there is a need to evict your tenants and with the changes in the RRB, the Section 8 will rely on mandatory grounds and will require concrete evidence.  Getting your tenants to sign off on the documentation you provided will be even more important to ensure you have a successful case through any court proceedings.