Updated How to Rent Guide published today
The new version is expected to include small revisions on Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Regulations and changes to the Right to Rent Civil Penalty Scheme for landlords and agents.
Today sees the launch of a new updated How to Rent Guide – the checklist for renting in England which must be issued by both letting agents and landlords to new tenants or those renewing.
The updated publication comes after trade body Propertymark piled pressure on the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities over recent months to get a move on to update the tenant checklist and is now calling for it to be updated and published annually.
REVISIONS
The new version of the guide is expected to include small revisions such as updated information on Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (Amendment) Regulations 2022 and changes to the Code of Practice on Right to Rent Civil Penalty Scheme for landlords and their agents.
Propertymark says: “Agents throughout England must ensure that they issue the correct How to Rent Guide as a failure to do so before the tenants move in can invalidate a Section 21 notice used to regain possession.”
EMAILED
While most agents don’t send hard copies of the How to Rent Guide they will have it loaded into their IT systems and databases ensuring it is emailed out to tenants.
Nathan Emerson, Chief Executive of Propertymark, says: “The How to Rent Guide is an important document, and we are pleased to have worked with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the revisions and release date.
“It is vital that agents operating in England are aware of the updated version and the implications on the tenancies they manage.
“The latest version must be provided to tenants for new tenancies and renewals although it is advisable to provide the updated version to tenants in ongoing tenancies.”
Get the new version of the How to Rent Guide HERE.
According to this latest guide published today dated December 2020 we are still in an outbreak of the COVID Pandemic! Better get our masks and sterile gloves back on before handing out a copy to todays tenants that are moving in. Which if according to Natham when the correct version is finally issued all those tenants whose tenancies have started from today will have a defence to s21 notice being valid. In fact it is impossible to give the correct version before todays tenancies start because it would have had to have been given out yesterday – a day before it was published. Usual shambles, nothing changes.
In my opinion, the version number/date should be clearly displayed on the front of the document, so that we can ensure we’re using the latest version. The current document which is accessed through The Government website, still shows ‘December 2020’ on page 2, even following other minor revisions which were introduced after December 2020. And why print the date on page 2? Without a clear/visible date, you can guarantee that there will be hundreds if not thousands of the wrong leaflets handed out to tenants.
You can bet your bottom dollar that solicitors/courts will be looking for loopholes to throw out a Section 21 if the wrong version has been issued. Like Mick Roberts says, there never seems to be a benefit for the Landlord, who is actually helping The Government by housing members of the public, trying to solve the housing crisis problem that this country faces, which is snowballing out of control.
The link in your article takes us to the old How To Rent Guide _Dec 2020. Might have been an idea to wait until the new version has been updated
Id there anything in this guide that can actually help a Landlord out?
The very important Landlord that houses people & reduces homeless?
Every new addition has more items in that makes more Landlords sell making it worse for tenants. How is that helping ongoing future tenants?