Are you Compliant?
As an ARLA Propertymark agent, Hose Rhodes Dickson is required to operate with transparency and within a robust Code of Practice, which covers the key stages of letting property and managing tenancies.
There are comprehensive membership Byelaws and benefits which include compliance with such issues as;
- handling and accounting Clients’ money
- ARLA Propertymark Client Money Protection Bonding Scheme
- mandatory requirement to hold Professional Indemnity Insurance
- prescribed Complaints and Disciplinary Procedures.
For piece of mind, look out for the logo:
At Hose Rhodes Dickson, we manage many hundreds of tenancies and co-ordinate property repairs and maintenance across the Isle of Wight, working with a wide variety of landlords, ranging from single investors and accidental landlords to large portfolio holders.
Our local lettings experts are not only highly trained, fully conversant with the ever-changing legislation, but are also in touch with the latest market trends, affording our clients with accurate rental values both for marketing and rent reviews allowing the maximising value of your investment to be achieved at all times.
A range of letting and tenancy management services, that can be tailored to meet your individual needs are available, from tenant introduction only to full management and enhancements include rent and legal expense protection, and all delivered with unrivalled expertise, professionalism, value and satisfaction.
Isle of Wight-based accounts, property maintenance and tenancy management departments, makes contacting us really easy and with 8 offices across the Isle of Wight in key town locations, Hose Rhodes Dickson has the Island covered.
Our Letting and Management services
Hose Rhodes Dickson strives to exceed client expectations in terms of quality and value in the delivery of our letting and tenancy management services, whilst providing confidence and assurance that our client’s interests are protected at all times.
Our lettings division provides 100% commitment to the letting of property, the management of tenancies and the co-ordination of property repairs and maintenance through dedicated departments staffed by teams highly experienced in the specialist fields.
Hose Rhodes Dickson is Isle of Wight based and easily contactable by telephone, email or in person to provide you with advice and to guide you through all aspects of letting and tenancy management.
To find out how hundreds of landlords enjoy peace of mind from the top quality, best value service from Hose Rhodes Dickson call us or call in to any one of our 7 Isle of Wight based offices.
Or simply complete the registration form below to book a call with one of our letting experts for a free consultation to secure advice and guidance on optimising your rental property and to find out how Hose Rhodes Dickson can help you…
PROTECTING YOUR INTERESTS BY BEING COMPLIANT
Legislation governing and impacting on the letting of residential property is ever-changing and ever-increasing. The abundance of laws and regulations are not only complex in their own right, but many are subject to causation on others and all carry punitive consequences in terms of financial penalties and loss of rights and provisions.
Detailed below is a small selection of what are considered key pieces of legislation that if not complied with, carry some of the highest and most impacting punitive consequences.
Download your free comprehensive compliance guide
The Tenant Fees Act 2019 – for all Assured Shorthold Tenancies that begin on or after the 1st June 2019, neither a landlord nor agent can require a tenant (or anyone acting on their behalf or guaranteeing their rent) to make certain payments in connection with a tenancy. Nor can a landlord or agent require them to enter into a contract with a third party in connection with a tenancy.
The Act sets out specifically what a tenant may be charged in connection with an Assured Shorthold Tenancy and deems all other charges that a landlord or agent may make against a tenant, as ‘prohibited payments’.
What fees can a tenant be required to pay?
- the rent.
- a refundable tenancy deposit capped at no more than five weeks’ rent where the annual rent is less than £50,000, or six weeks’ rent where the total annual rent is £50,000 or above. This applies to existing tenancies that are renewed on or after 1 June 2019 – meaning that there is a requirement to refund any sum of an existing tenancy deposit held that exceeds the cap.
- a refundable holding deposit (to reserve a property) capped at no more than one week’s rent.
- payments to vary the terms of a tenancy when requested by the tenant capped at £50, or reasonable costs incurred if higher.
- payments associated with early termination of the tenancy, when requested by the tenant.
- payments in respect of utilities, communication services, TV licence and council tax; and
- A default fee for late payment of rent and replacement of a lost key/security device, where required under a tenancy agreement
If a tenant has been charged a ‘prohibited payment’ or the tenant’s holding deposit has been unlawfully retained, the landlord cannot use the Section 21 eviction procedure until the prohibited payment and or any unlawfully retained holding deposit has been repaid.
You can download the full guide here Hose Rhodes Dickson’s free guide to the Tenant Fees Act 2019
The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 – known as the Homes Act, replaces Section 8 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (LTA 1985) in England, with the purpose of improving living standards in the private and social rented sectors.
PREVIOUS RULES
Under the Housing Act 2004, landlords and agents were not required to ensure their rental properties were free of potentially harmful hazards. Consequently, an offence was only committed where the landlord or agent had failed to comply with an Improvement Notice issued by the local authority.
The tenant could not take their landlord or agent directly to Court and had to rely on the action of the local authority. Consequently, landlords and agents could legally rent out defective properties, and unless this was addressed by the local authority, they had no requirement to rectify any hazards.
THE CHANGES
Under the Homes Act 2018, landlords and letting agents acting on their behalf must ensure properties, including common parts where they have an estate or interest, are fit for human habitation at the beginning and throughout the duration of a tenancy. Tenants will now be able to take direct legal action if their agent or landlord does not comply with the Act.
The Deregulation Act 2015 – requires the preparation of and service on the tenant of prescribed valid documents that entitle the landlord to use the Section 21 provision of the Housing Act 1988 to regain possession of their property.
Hose Rhodes Dickson will prepare and serve on the tenant the requisite documentation that entitles you to the provision of Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, allowing you to regain possession of your property.
The Energy Efficiency Regulations 2015 & Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) – it is unlawful for a landlord to grant a new tenancy or renew an existing tenancy on a property that has an energy efficiency rating of F and G.
From the 1st October 2015, legislation requires that all tenants must be issued with a copy of the property’s EPC together with other prescribed documents. Compliance validates the landlord’s provision to recover possession of a property under Section 21 eviction procedure.
The EPC is valid for 10 years and from 1 April 2018 the rating of an EPC for all property to be let, including the renewing of existing tenancies, must be at least an E.
If the EPC rating of your property is F or G, Hose Rhodes Dickson offers an EPC ‘remodelling’ service under which the improvements required to increase the rating to the minimum E rating can be determined.
Hose Rhodes Dickson will check the national register to establish if your property has an EPC and if so will check its rating.
The Immigration Act 2014, amended 2016 & Right to Rent – Right to Rent checks must be carried out on all prospective adult occupiers with follow up checks carried out where tenants satisfied initial checks using time-limited ID. Where Right to Rent is time-limited, the responsible landlord or agent needs to carry out follow up checks in accordance with the Immigration Act 2014, and where appropriate, notify the Home Office that the time-limited Right to Rent has expired.
The Gas Safety Regulations 1998 – landlords must arrange for a Gas Safe accredited engineer to carry out an annual gas safety check on every gas appliance and flue in a property that is let and issue the tenant with a valid report within the prescribed time limits.
The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Regulations 2015, as amended 2022 – landlords are required to ensure that a smoke alarm is fitted on every floor of their property where there is a room used wholly or partly as living accommodation. They are also required to ensure that a carbon monoxide alarm is fitted in any room where either a gas appliance or solid fuel is burnt, such as wood, coal or biomass, in either an appliance or an open fire.
Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 – apply to ‘new tenancies’ from 1 July 2020 and existing tenancies from 1 April 2021.
Please note, an existing tenancy renewed for a further fixed term or as a contractual periodic tenancy is considered a ‘new tenancy’.
The Regulations do not cover electrical appliances, only the fixed electrical installations.
- The regulations will require mains testing every 5 years by a ‘qualified and competent’ inspector.
- The wiring will need to meet the standards as set out in the 18th Edition of the ‘Wiring Regulations’ (which was updated in 2019).
- If the landlord has a past test carried out in the last 5 years but it was produced according to previous editions of these Wiring Regulations, it does not automatically mean that the test is no longer valid. The guidance addresses this issue and sets out ‘It is good practice for landlords with existing reports to check these reports and decide whether the electrical installation complies with electrical safety standards. Landlords might also wish to contact the inspector who provided a report to ensure the installation complies with electrical safety standards.’ Ultimately, the best advice would be if you are not sure that the previous test would have met the current standards, it is best to have a further test carried out.
- A copy of the report needs to be provided to a new tenant before move-in.
- If a tenant is already in occupation when an updated check is carried out, a copy of the report needs to be given the tenant within 28 days of the test.
- If remedial works are required, they need to be carried out with 28 days.
- The regulations will apply to new tenancies, renewed tenancies and tenancies that become a statutory periodic tenancy from 1 July 2020. All further qualifying tenancies that were started pre-July 2020, will need to comply by April 2021.
- HMOs that were already subject to previous regulations regarding electrical safety (Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006) are now subject to the new regulations.
- The regulations apply to all private tenancies with the exception of include social housing, lodgers, those on a long lease of 7 years or more, student halls of residence, hostels and refuges, care homes, hospitals and hospices, and other accommodation relating to healthcare provisions.
- There can be penalties of up the £30,000 for non-compliance.
The Housing Act 2004 (tenancy deposit protection) – requires the protection of a tenant’s deposit with one of the three government-approved schemes and for documentation to be served on the tenant within a prescribed time limit.
Under our ‘FULL MANAGEMENT’ and ‘RENTAL COLLECTION’ tenancy management services, Hose Rhodes Dickson will arrange and manage the protection of the tenant’s deposit under its membership to Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS).
For clients who opt for the ‘TENANT INTRODUCTION ONLY’ service, the responsibility for protecting and administering any tenancy deposit that they may require a tenant to pay, is theirs.
Are YOU a landlord concerned with whether YOUR property and or tenancy is compliant, that YOUR tenant is safe and that YOU enjoy the provision to validly serve notice to recover possession should you wish?
If so, to get details of our 12 point property and tenancy compliance health check, register your interest here;
We make it our business to be up to date legislation on the ever-changing landscape of the private rented sector.
Read our recent publications here;
The Housing Act 2004 (tenancy deposit protection)
The Immigration Act 2014, amended 2016 & Right to Rent
The Energy Efficiency Regulations 2015 & Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES)
The Gas Safety Regulations 1998
The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Regulations 2015
Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020
