Managing your tenancy effectively

Bills included tenancy agreements are increasingly popular with tenants, particularly given the ongoing cost of living crisis. However, landlords have understandable concerns about offering bills included packages while energy prices rise. 

This guidance discusses potential options for landlords who are considering bills included options in their HMOs.

The Government has now legislated to require landlords who pay the energy bills to pass on a reasonable and fair proportion of the energy support to their tenants.

Read the guidance and download the factsheet on this here.

The average tenancy last four years in England so at some point during that time you may want to increase the rent to reflect the current market value. There are a number of ways to go about this which this guide covers.

If you are letting out the property to three or more people where at least two of them are unrelated to each other, then you will usually have a house in multiple occupation (HMO).

Generally, these types of properties provide higher yields making them an attractive financial proposition. However, in exchange the landlord has to ensure they are complying with far more stringent management duties. 

There are a number of situations where you may be legally required to provide your tenants with your name and an address. Whether this address needs to be your own home address will depend on the reason why you are providing these details and the legislation that covers it. For example, if you have purchased a new property with tenants in situ you will be required to provide your home address under Section 3 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.

Recently purchased a property? Download our Section 3 form

Need to serve a Section 48 notice? Download our template

As a general rule, landlords are allowed to inspect the property for repairs provided they give at least 24 hours notice to their tenants. However, there are a number of additional reasons why you or your representatives may want to access the property during a tenancy. For example, you may want to arrange access for viewings. This guide covers your rights to access the properties and your tenants rights of refusal.

Need to access the property? Use our access letter templates.

A mid-tenancy inspection allows landlord, or their agent to inspect for maintenance issues, identify any damage caused and makes a record of this. The main purpose of this is to identify maintenance issues and address them before they become costly to fix or hazardous to the tenant. It is also an opportunity to perform certain legal requirements, like checking the smoke alarms are in working order. 

This page contains guidance and resources on performing an inspection, including a downlaodable template for use by members.

If you have been using the services of a letting or managing agent, and wish to take over management yourself, there are many factors you will need to consider before making a decision.

This guide will give you an overview of the key considerations, and how to proceed ensuring continued compliance with the relevant legislation. Follow the steps detailed to allow a smooth transition of responsibility and documentation from the agent to you. 

Coming into force from May 4 2021, the Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space) allows people in England and Wales with unsustainable debts to arrange to enter a ‘breathing space’. While the tenant is in a breathing space this means landlords cannot request payment of a debt or take enforcement action around the debt.

This page provides guidance on preparing for breathing space, including best practice tips on mitigating the risk to you.

Tenants in Wales may be able to apply for a grant to pay off their arrears. If successful the money is paid directly to the landlord to pay off arrears built up due to covid-19.

For many landlords and tenants in the private rented sector (PRS), the coronavirus pandemic has been their first experience of rent arrears. The majority of tenants have always paid their rent on time; less than 1 in 10 private sector tenants go into arrears over a 12-month period.

As the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic bites this is changing rapidly.

This guide is designed to help both landlords and tenants find a way to work through this, giving both peace of mind and the confidence to continue the tenancy for long after the pandemic is over.

If your tenant does fall into arrears withoutmaking contact, you will need to contact them to let them know the rent has not been paid. Often this will be a simple oversight on the tenants part so the sooner you can start communicating, the faster the situation will be rectified.

To assist with this the NRLA has produced a number of template letters that you can send to your tenant. This covers everything from a friendly reminder letter to a letter informing the tenant that you be forced to take legal action if they don't pay off the arrears.

The purpose of this guide is to provide an overview of the small claims process for landlords. In it, we will discuss the various stages that a landlord is expected to follow, the information they are expected to provide, as well as best practice tips for avoiding ever having to use the small claims process in the first place.

Even when a landlord is successful in getting a county court judgement (CCJ) against a tenant or guarantor, they do not always comply with the court's instructions. The purpose of this guide is to inform you what options are available should you wish to enforce a judgement, and give you some idea which option is best in which circumstance.

Anti-social behaviour can come in many different forms including noise, threatening neighbours, damaging the property itself or neighbouring property or using the property as a brothel. It is one of the most common reasons that landlords serve notices seeking possession and one of the biggest causes of stress to landlords and the neighbours who have to live next to an anti-social tenant.

Nuisance in common law is something that can be defined as a matter which is an unreasonable and substantial interference on the use and enjoyment of a person's property. Common issues that would be considered a nuisance are excess noise, leaks escaping into a neighbouring property and overhanging branches.

Typically landlords are not liable for nuisance, particularly if their tenant is the root cause of it. However, in some cases they may be and this guidance is designed to give you an idea of when this may be the case.

If you are letting a property to joint tenants, particularly young professionals, then at some point one of those tenants may want to leave during the fixed term. If the other tenants are happy to stay in the property and can find a suitable replacement tenant then you can use a deed of assignment to transfer the outgoing tenants interest in the property to their replacement.

From 1 April 2019, all letting agents in England have been required to belong to a client money protection scheme when they are holding client money. This requirement is also in place in Wales as part of the Rent Smart Wales licensing conditions.

Many landlords will be asked by their tenants if they can have a pet in the property. This guide sets out what to consider if you are asked for a pet.