Legislation and compliance news and guides for letting agents and estate agents

The topic of rent control crops up time and again when low housing stock paired with strong tenant demand pushes up rent prices, so it's no surprise that rumblings about it being reintroduced in London are getting louder.

The Fire Safety Act 2021 became law in April 2021 and clarifies which "parts of multi-occupied residential buildings" apply under the the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO) - and therefore who's responsible for maintaining fire safety for these parts. The legislation is expected to come into force by the end of 2021.

Who really makes laws? Politicians or judges? A perennial question and not one we ponder much in our daily lives. I remember when the Superstrike v Rodrigues case, established that statutory periodic tenancies were new tenancies and, as such, new deposit protection was required when a tenancy lapsed into one.

The rights and responsibilities of letting and estate agents, landlords, and tenants in the private rented sector across England, Scotland, and Wales vary as they can be decided at the level of each devolved government - and therefore the legislation and regulations differ too across Great Britain. So what should your agency consider when renting out your landlords' properties?

The government wants to raise the minimum energy efficiency standards to EPC Band C by 2025 for new tenancies in private rented homes and by 2028 for all tenancies to improve the overall energy performance of the private rented sector in England and Wales, through the Minimum Energy Performance of Buildings bill which will be introduced in the Houses of Parliament in the week commencing 19 June 2021. The consultation on the proposals ran until 8 January 2021.

In England, there's a new right to rent checking process for EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens, which has been mandatory since 1 July 2021. After months of waiting to hear what the new process would be, it's good to now have a definitive answer. It makes the checks less subjective for agents and will hopefully give agents more confidence with the simple yes or no response.

The fall out from the Grenfell tragedy is proving to have many unforeseen consequences and whilst everybody accepts that everything humanly possible to prevent this happening again should be undertaken, the impact of what needs to be done will have wide ranging effects, not least on letting agents. External wall safety inspections (EWS1) will be required for certain buildings, but a raft of other measures will need to be put in place, putting greater responsibility on property managers as well as the checks an agent will need to carry out before marketing a property. It will go beyond just looking up to see if the property has cladding or not.

Demand in lettings has been gradually building in recent months - and shows no sign of abating as we head into the summer, with rents currently high and voids low across England according to Goodlord's Rental Index. This means it's important to make sure you’re not wasting your agency’s time or money on applicants your referencing provider would advise against. 

The government has confirmed how landlords and letting agents will check the right to rent status of EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens after 30 June 2021, many of whom will no longer be able to physically document their right to rent in England after this date. Citizens from the EU, EEA, and Switzerland who have successfully applied to the EU Settlement Scheme or for a UK visa will need to use the government's new "View and Prove" online service to share their right to rent status with landlords and letting agents.