Useful Guidelines For Landlords
Building and contents insurance are the landlord’s responsibility and it is essential to ensure that you have adequate building and contents cover in force.
Mortgages on the property will require written permission from your lender before the tenancy commences.
Tax implications must be checked with the inland revenue. If you are planning to move overseas you must contact your local revenue office, and they will provide you with useful advice regarding any tax implications. If you move overseas and do not register with the inland revenue, you will find that your tax is instead deducted from your rental income at the usual rate, plus any agency administration fees that this will incure.
From 6 April 2007, landlords entering into new tenancy agreements will be required to place any deposit with a Government authorized scheme, of which there are 2 types:
Insurance–based scheme
Custodial scheme
Insurance–based scheme
The tenant pays the deposit to the landlord/agent who retains it and pays a fee, on behalf of the tenant, to the scheme they are registered with.
Khalil properties are registered with Tenancy Deposit Solutions, which is an insurance–based tenancy deposit protection scheme.
Within 14 days the landlord/agent must register the tenant’s deposit with their insurance-based scheme, and inform the tenant about the scheme being used. A certificate will then be sent by the scheme, to both the tenant and the landlord/agent.
At the end of the tenancy, once the tenant and the landlord have agreed on the amount of deposit to be paid back, the landlord/agent will return the agreed amount, in full, to the tenant.
The landlord/agent should advise their scheme that the protected deposit should be unprotected as soon as the tenancy is terminated and any deposit amount should be refunded to the tenant no later than ten days after the tenancy has been terminated.
If there is a dispute about the amount of deposit to be refunded, the landlord/agent must hand over the disputed amount to the scheme for safekeeping until the dispute is resolved. Disputes of this nature can be adjudicated through the Alternative Resolution Dispute service (ADR), which is a free, non profit-making service.
In the case of such a dispute, there are strict procedures with which the landlord/agent must comply. The landlord/agent must first provide notification of the dispute to the ADR, and then lodge the disputed deposit amount (along with any counter-evidence regarding that dispute) with their scheme within ten days of the date of notification. failure to comply with these procedures will result in disciplinary action by the scheme.
Custodial scheme:
The tenant pays the deposit to the landlord or agent who pays it into the scheme.
Within 14 days the landlord/agent must tell the tenant about the scheme being used.
At the end of the tenancy the scheme returns the amount of the deposit as agreed between landlord and tenant. If there is a dispute there will be recourse to the ADR.
If a deposit is not protected, the landlord will be breaking the law. The landlord will be unable to use Notice-Only grounds for possession (under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988) to regain possession of the property. The tenant can apply for a Court Order requiring the deposit to be protected, or for the prescribed information to be given to them. If the Court is satisfied that the landlord has failed to comply with these requirements, or is not satisfied that the deposit is being held in accordance with an authorized scheme, the Court must either:
Order the landlord to repay the deposit within 14 days of the Court Order being issued, or
Order the landlord to pay the deposit into the designated account held by the custodial scheme administrator.
The court must also order the landlord to pay to the tenant (or person who paid the deposit on his/her behalf) an amount equivalent to three times the deposit amount, within 14 days of the Court Order being issued.