New property management laws, passed just before Parliament was dissolved in preparation for the General Election, will have an impact on residential landlords.
The Deregulation Act (The Act) 2015 is designed to ‘cut red tape’ when it comes to a number of rules governing landlords, letting agents and tenants, says senior solicitor Kerry Thompson from Peterborough-based Buckles Solicitors.
“The Deregulation Act 2015 will introduce a number of changes, some of which come into force over the coming months,” says Kerry.
“However, we would urge residential landlords and letting agents to familiarise themselves with the changes now – many of which centre around the repair management process for rental properties with stringent penalties for non-compliance.
“In essence the law is designed to prevent retaliatory evictions, where a tenant complains about the state of repair of a property and landlord evicts the tenant rather than properly maintaining the property.
“There are also charges to the laws surrounding section 21 and the Tenancy Deposit scheme which will also have an impact.”
Here, Kerry highlights some of the key points that landlords/letting agents can take from this new piece of legislation:
Retaliatory eviction measures
- From October 2015 the Act will prevent a landlord from serving a section 21 notice within six months of an improvement or remedial notice being served by a Local Authority and/or relying on a section 21 notice served after a tenant makes a legitimate request – made in writing – for repair works
- For the first three years, the retaliatory eviction provisions will only apply for new assured shorthold tenancies granted after the enactment of the changes. Tenancies granted by housing associations are not affected by the legislation
Changes to section 21
- From 1 July 2015 the Secretary of State may make Regulations setting out a prescribed form for section 21 notices to help landlords by confirming what information is required in the notes and guidance section of the notice
- From 1 October 2015, landlords of periodic assured shorthold tenancies will no longer need to end the tenancy at the end of a period of tenancy, but can simply give two months’ written notice to quit
- A new section will be inserted, also to come into force on 1 October 2015, which will provide a formula for calculating rent payment where a tenant is a head with the rent on expiry section 21
Tenancy deposit changes
- The Act moves the goalposts for the tenancy deposit legislation yet again by introducing a requirement to protect deposits taken before 6 April 2007. Where statutory tenancy started after 6 April 2007, the deposit must be protected before 23 June 2015 or before the Court decides on proceedings under section 21 or failure to protect deposit provisions apply.
For more information on the Act and details of how it will impact on landlords, Buckles Solicitors can offer more advice.
The changes explained here.
