New Welsh FAQ and articles on changing contract holders and ending contracts

I have been spending a lot of time on the new Welsh legislation so I thought I ought to update you on what we are doing.

I am beginning to get the hang of this legislation having travelled through it hundreds of times to follow up on references. 

The legislation is very detailed and fairly all-encompassing – although apparently, yet more new regulations are due to come out in June.

I started off initially working on the contracts, trying to create Landlord Law versions.  However in order to understand them, I have had to check out on the law, and when doing this, I have done FAQ – to help you and also to help me remember!

The Landlord Law Wales page

As I said in my last post, I have put up a new Wales page and members will be able to read all that I have done so far there.  Or rather here.

It starts with a list of the new terminology.

One of the most difficult things to do is to stop writing ‘tenant’, ‘tenancy’ and ‘tenancy agreement’ and say ‘contract holder’, ‘occupation contract’ and written statement’ instead.  I’m sure I have missed a few and will be going in and changing the wording for some time!

So what do we have on the new page?  Well  basically links out as follows:

• A documents and forms page – this is where the new Landlord Law contracts will go.  At the moment I have mostly the government’s  ‘word’ prescribed forms and a few letters.
• All the FAQ, and
• Two articles – (1) on changing contract holders and (2) on ending occupation contracts.

Doing the article on ending occupation contracts was particularly interesting and helped me pick up on all sorts of things. 

In particular that some landlords’ rights under the new legislation (e.g. to recover abandoned property, use a break clause) will only kick in if you have the right clauses in your contract.

And the model contracts don’t seem to have those clauses!

So DON’T use the model contracts published by the Welsh Government as they stand.  Make sure you use a contract that has been properly adapted by a lawyer.  Which probably means Landlord Law or the NRLA.

The Landlord Law Contracts

I have had quite a few people contact me and ask me when the new Landlord Law Wales contracts will be available.  

The answer is ‘I don’t really know but before 15 July’.  

I understand that some landlords are thinking of using the new contracts for new tenants/contract holders signing up before 15 July (which is when all these new rules come into force).

I can see the logic of this – you won’t have to serve a conversion document – but I’m not convinced, on reflection, that will be a good idea. 

The new occupation contracts will be chock full of references to the new legislation – which will not come into force until 15 July.  

I’m also not sure that fixed-term agreements will be the best way to go.  It may be more beneficial for landlords to use periodic contracts from the start. From my initial research, they appear to be more flexible. 

But at the moment the Jury is out on that one until I have done more work on them.  Once I have made my mind up I will do an article or FAQ explaining my reasoning and looking at the difference between the two.

And finally

If you manage property in Wales, do go and take a look at the new content. 

Let me know what you think and ask any questions in the Wales section of the forum which I have set up for you.