New Procedures for landlords and tenants to follow

When the Renters’ Rights Bill comes into force, it will inevitably make things more difficult for landlords.

You will no longer have recourse to the simpler and straightforward section 21 eviction process if things go wrong. 

It will be easy for tenants to end the tenancy, but considerably more difficult for landlords.

So tenancies will need to be managed differently.

The benefit of procedures

It will be enormously helpful for landlords, and also for their tenants, if there are standard procedures to follow in specific situations, along with forms for tenants to use.

This will give both parties a set process to follow, which will hopefully enable them to resolve the issue without undue conflict.

If the procedures are incorporated into the tenancy agreement, along with the requirement to use them and their forms, then tenants will be at fault if they fail to do so. 

This will assist landlords if legal proceedings follow or if tenants refer the matter to a redress scheme.

The Landlord Law Procedures

I have been thinking about introducing a procedures section on Landlord Law for some time.  I finally got around to this and have now set up an initial Procedures section, which contains:

• An introduction section which explains how they work
• A procedure for tenants to follow if they apply to keep a pet
• A procedure where repairs are requested or needed
• A Rent Arrears procedure

I hope to introduce further procedures later, but in the meantime, I am looking for member feedback on the procedures provided so far.

Your feedback required

For example:

• Do you think the procedures would work in practice?
• How can they be improved?
• Do you already use procedures which you would be prepared to share with us
• Do the forms cover all necessary items
• Etc

You will all collectively have far more practical experience than me on dealing with these situations.  

To make it easy for you to give feedback, I have set up a Survey Monkey form and have put links to it at the end of all the Procedures pages, along with a separate feedback page which has the survey form embedded (which some of you may prefer).

If you want to give feedback can you please use this form. 

All the feedback will then be in one place when I come to review the procedures section.  Whereas if you, for example, send your feedback in an email, it may well have been lost or buried in my inbox by then!

Members providing feedback will be redirected once they have completed the form, to a page with a £15 discount coupon for Landlord Law courses and kits.

I hope this new section will help you with the management of your properties and will allow you to retain some control once the Renters Rights Act is in force!