Common issues for landlords (and how to avoid them)

Over recent years, more and more people have invested in residential property with a view to renting it out. Whether you become a landlord to gain a return on your investment, as a source of income, or due to a change in circumstances, it’s vital that you meet your obligations as a landlord and ensure your tenancy is correctly set up.

Common initial mistakes for residential landlords

Some of the most common issues experienced by large and small-scale residential landlords are created at the beginning of the tenancy agreement. These include:

• Issues over the protection of the deposit;
• Unclear tenancy agreement terms;
• Incorrectly executed guarantor agreement;
• Failure to provide legally required information to tenants.

While these issues may not sound substantial, failure to correctly deal with tenancy agreements when they are first set up is one of the most common barriers to recovering possession of your property when things go wrong. For example, if a landlord fails to correctly provide certain information to a tenant at, or before, the start of the tenancy, the landlord may be permanently prevented from recovering possession by serving a section 21 notice on no fault grounds.

To avoid these common issues, landlords should ensure that they seek legal advice, start the tenancy with a correctly drafted tenancy agreement, take advice on what other requirements they must comply with and ensure compliance from the outset.

What happens if things go wrong?

If, for example, a tenant fails to pay the rent, cause damage to a property or refuse to leave it, what can you, as a landlord, do?

• Make sure your tenancy was set up correctly, and that you complied with all landlord requirements from the outset. If you did not do so, or are unsure, you must seek legal advice before proceeding to try and resolve any dispute with your tenant. This is because certain breaches of your obligations may give rise to a counterclaim from the tenant.
• Make sure you have good records of when rental payments have been received. Many landlords have issues bringing claims due to their rental records being poor. All landlords should keep a full list of what payments were due, when were they paid and a clear running total of any arrears.
• Make sure your property is well-maintained and that any safety or performance certificates are up-to-date and valid. Counterclaims by tenants on the basis of disrepair are more and more common, can be costly to resolve, and can delay the recovery of possession.
• If you decide to give your tenant notice to give up possession, take legal advice on the form and contents of that notice. Whilst the form of notice may seem straightforward, basic errors or typos can bring into question the validity of the notice and result in the failure of your claim for possession.
• Be ready to issue the claim and make sure you have the relevant dates recorded. I have seen claims fail where they have been issued either too soon or too late, or where a landlord has made errors in preparing the claim form or other documents in the course of the claim. Possession proceedings are very prescribed and it is vital any claim is correctly drafted to avoid issues.
• Be aware of the new coronavirus restrictions and rules. The process for seeking possession of a residential property has been substantially altered to deal with the impacts of coronavirus. These changes continue to be updated, and if you fail to comply with them it may prevent your claim from proceeding.

As specialists in landlord and tenant matters, we keep up to date on all changes to the law, ensuring that we give the best advice and can help to resolve any issues landlords have.

If you have any questions about your residential letting or seeking possession, please get in touch with our team.