October 1st is a very common day for new legislation to come into force in the UK, and this year is no exception.
Both right to rent and smoke and carbon monoxide alarm requirements change on Saturday and landlords will have to ensure they are compliant from this date.
Smoke and CO alarms
As of 1 October PRS properties must have a working carbon monoxide alarm in almost every room with a fuel burning appliance. The only fuel burning appliance that will not trigger this requirement is a gas cooker.
This requirement applies to all tenancies, so even those with sitting tenants will need to fit the CO alarms.
For new tenancies, landlords must ensure that the smoke and CO alarms are both working at the outset of the tenancy.
After this point, tenants should inspect smoke or CO alarms regularly. Where a tenant has inspected the alarm and finds it to be faulty, Government guidance recommends they replace the batteries before reporting the fault to the landlord.
Once reported landlords must investigate and repair or replace the faulty alarms as soon as possible.
Right to rent
During the pandemic the Government introduced temporary Covid-adjusted checks for right to rent to reduce the need for face to face ID checks.
These checks have proven popular due to their relative ease, leading to a series of extensions while the Government put in place new digital options for landlords.
However, from 1 October, landlords will no longer be able to perform these checks. This means that landlords will not be able to verify a tenant over video call by looking at scanned copies of their identification.
Instead from 1 October, landlords will have to perform right to rent checks by either:
- Meeting the prospective tenant in person and checking an original version of their document(s) from List A or List B in the permitted documents
- Inputting the prospective tenants share code and date of birth into the online right to rent check. This is only available to foreign nationals.
- Using a certified provider of Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT) to perform a digital check
If the prospective tenant cannot provide evidence for any of the above you can also ask the Home Office to perform a check. Typically this will be where the Home Office has possession of their documents.
Further information
For full details of Smoke and Carbon Monoxide alarm requirements click here.
For more detailed information on right to rent click here.