The Landlord Law Checklists

It’s not easy being a landlord and it is becoming increasingly harder with more legislation and regulation on the way.

Its also becoming more expensive.  More fees and charges, higher expenses and increased taxation.

There is also the prospect of higher agency fees as agents are likely to lose on average 20% of their income with the loss of tenant fees in June.

So many landlords will be looking to save money by self-managing.  But is this realistic without expensive training which most don’t have the time or inclination for?

Enter the Landlord Law Checklists

Many landlords have been Landlord Law members for years using the site’s extensive information and forms to help them self manage their rented properties.  However one of the complaints we have had in the past is that people sometimes find it hard to locate the information they need.

Although this new Landlord Law website has a considerably better navigation system, I decided that there was room for more help – and so I have created the Landlord Law checklists.

What are the checklists?

The Landlord Law Checklists are basically a list of all the things that landlords need to do at specific stages in the life of a tenancy. 

Click on the title of one of these items and a drop down area appears with

• Descriptive text about the topic
• Links to further information on Landlord Law (eg to our  FAQ and articles)
• Links to external information (for example government help sites), and
• Some of our training or other information videos

When complete the checklists will cover all stages of renting a property.   Only one checklist is live at the moment though – the Property checklist, which looks at all the things you need to do or consider when preparing your property to rent. 

For example:

• Whether the property is in England or Wales
• The type of property – ie whether it is freehold, leasehold or a boat (and the implications of this)
• The various permissions you need before you can rent it out
• Your legal obligations, for example, as regards gas safety, fire safety and the like
• And so on

It’s quite a comprehensive list although if I have left anything out, no doubt sometime will tell me so I can add it!

Other checklists in development include:

• A new tenant checklist – looking at the things you should do and check when choosing a new tenant (now available)
• A new tenancy checklist – looking at all the things you need to do when setting up a new tenancy (now available), and
• A tenancy management checklist – looking at the things you need to do during the tenancy
• A renewals checklist, and
• Eviction checklists – although this is all covered pretty thoroughly by our Eviction Guide

I’m quite enjoying drafting them up and I hope that they will be useful for you.

Note however that they are only available for Business Level members