Real Estate

Key Landlord Responsibilities – For First Time Landlords

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Are you a first time landlord and are you renting out domestic or commercial properties? If yes, before you take another step further, make sure that you understand the major landlord responsibilities. Those who fail to pay attention to their landlord responsibilities and those who totally ignore their responsibilities end up facing series of issues with the authorities. Do not be surprised if you are fined thousands of pounds for your lack of awareness about the UK landlord responsibilities. It is high time that you invested some time trying to understand at least the key responsibilities. 

Regardless of whether it is a residential rental property or a commercial rental property, it is the responsibility of the landlord to make sure that the property rented out is safe and that it does not pose any health risk to the occupants and to those who would be using the property. 

One of the safety measures that you are required to take by law is gas safety. You need to get your property inspected for gas safety and get gas safety certificate. This has to be performed by approved or licensed companies. Qualified engineers will be sent by your service provider to check all the gas appliances, the ventilation system in the property and the functioning of the appliances to ensure that all of them comply with the requirements. You need to educate yourself of this important landlord responsibility. Remember, this is not just a onetime process, you need to get your property inspected every year and all the appliances too need to be checked every year. The certification issued by your gas safety certification company will be valid only for one year. You need to renew the certificate every year before its expiry. Make sure you adhere to these rules if you do not want to face huge penalties. 

The next area that you may need to focus upon as a part of landlord responsibilities is water safety. You need to get your water system inspected regularly and ensure that the water tanks are cleaned and safe for use. You could consider getting legionella risk assessment done. Some wrong notions spread regarding legionella risk assessment. This is not a legal requirement to get this risk assessment. The legal requirement however is that you should provide safe living environment in your property. Without inspection, you will not know whether your water system is vulnerable to legionella infestation. When you are getting it inspected, you might as well get your risk assessment certificate. 

You should also ensure that your fire alarms are working and the smoke detectors are fully functional. By paying attention to all these details on a regular basis, you will be able to comply with all the legal requirements and fulfil landlord responsibilities. If this is your first time playing the role of a landlord, take time to understand all the requirements and do the needful to save yourself from getting into non-compliance issues and inviting huge penalties. 

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