7^th Dec 2018

According to an online rental platform there are many landlords who are not up to date or fully conversant with their legal obligations when renting out their properties.

The online platform has recently 'tested' landlords throughout the UK with its Legal Landlord Survey, and worryingly found that many are behind the times in their knowledge of the legislation and rules that must be complied with.

Surprisingly, according to the results, 91% of landlords do not follow the correct processes for tenants' deposits. 90% of landlords that took part in the survey were not aware of the new GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) rules and how to sign up and supply the correct information and documents included with their submissions.

Shockingly 51% of landlords gave wrong answers to the question about how often a Gas Certificate should be renewed for their property, and just under a third (31%) did not know the number of smoke alarms that should be installed to meet the legal requirement.

The survey also discovered that 82% of landlords are unsure of the minimum room size requirement for a single person to live in (6.51 square metres). Only 18% of respondents were aware that they had to give tenants at least 24 hours notice when asking to visit the property.

The survey's questions also included, section 21 notices, selective licensing, energy efficiency and deeds of surrender.

Director of lettings, Adam Male, said: “With more and more legislation coming into effect and those already in place being amended, it isn’t easy to stay in the loop. However, our survey looks to educate and inform UK landlords, so they stay aware of the obligations they have to their tenants in order to protect both parties and make for a more harmonious letting sector overall.”


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