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Legislation: What you need to know

Statutory Obligations under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985

The landlord has a statutory responsibility under Sections 11 to 16 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 which state that landlords must:

• Keep the structure (including the drains, gutters and down pipes) and the exterior of the Property in good order and repair
• Keep the appliances for supply of gas, electricity and water in good repair
• Keep the appliances for supply of space heating and water heating in good repair, and keep the sanitary appliances in good repair
• Carry out repairs within a reasonable time

If the landlord does not comply with the statutory obligations, the tenant may ask the local authority to issue the landlord with a Notice requiring the work to be done. The tenant also has the right to arrange for the work to be done and withhold rent equivalent to the amount spent.

Overseas Landlords

The Non-Resident Landlord (NRL) scheme is for taxing the UK rental income of persons whose “usual place of abode” is outside the UK. If you are treated as a non-resident landlord you still have to pay UK income tax on rental income from your UK property.

Unless the landlord can provide Estates East with a current Inland Revenue exemption certificate, the law obliges us to deduct basic rate tax from rents received and for us to account to Inland Revenue quarterly. Any landlord named on the tenancy agreement, when living overseas, requires a separate exemption certificate.

The Legislation is correct at the time of printing, Estates East keep a constant monitor on the above, updating you about any changes.

Tenancy Dispute Procedures

We rarely run into disputes and the culture of Estates East is to maintain a good spirit and sense of fairness between the landlord and the tenants, throughout the tenancy.

But we have a procedure in place as a backup through mydeposits.

A checkout takes place on the last day of the tenancy and is sent to the landlord for their comments and any proposed deductions. It's then sent to the tenants for their comments.

If there is disagreement, Estates East negotiates between the parties to secure a solution—and it's times like these you'll feel pleased to have a professional agent in your corner.

Once an agreement is made, we release the deposit through the mydeposit service and back to the tenants within 3-5 working days.

If an agreement can't be reached (very unusual), we would go through the mydeposits dispute procedure.

We can talk any of this through with you.