As a landlord, you must comply with a wide range of regulations. You must provide your tenant with a safe and secure environment, and there is a lot of work involved with this.
Most landlords agree that alarms are a good thing, and these should be in good working order. When you have smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms (if applicable), you feel more confident about the rental property, and the well-being of the tenants.
There is clear guidance for landlords that these alarms must be tested on the first day of the tenancy.
When should the check be carried out?
However, there are proposals to remove the timing of this check, and there are calls for agents and landlords to be able to check their alarms before the tenancy begins, but not necessarily on the day the tenancy begins.
Propertymark have carried out consultation on extending the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide regulations in England.
The consultation process ran for eight weeks. The consultation focused on “amendments to the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 to require private and social landlords to install a carbon monoxide alarm in any room used as living accommodation where a fixed combustion appliance is used, excluding gas cookers.”
A written response to the consultation has been submitted while Propertymark has met with officials of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. During this meeting, member concerns were outlined.
The four major demands made by Propertymark to the Government are as follows:
- Allowing agents to test alarms before the start of a new tenancy would provide some leeway for those landlords that have multiple properties and agents who can be managing multiple check-ins on the same day.
- In relation to appliances and fuel type, it is important that rules are aligned with the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 where landlords must arrange an annual gas safety check on every gas appliance and flue by a registered Gas Safe engineer.
- A proper lead-in time is needed for any changes to regulations because greater flexibility on the time frame for implementing legislation ensures that the sector is less likely to fall foul of the regulations as landlords and letting agents will have a realistic period of time to both be informed of regulations and also to ensure they are able to comply.
- The government must not underestimate the ongoing impact of the Coronavirus pandemic and continued difficulty for the private rented sector to comply with new and existing legislation. This includes tenants who are self-isolating and access to property to carry out checks, maintenance work, or renovation. Collectively, these are adding additional obstacles for compliance.
If you are a landlord in or around Peterborough, and you need assistance in managing your rental property, we can help. We know these are challenging times for landlords, but there is a demand for rental property. When you need guidance in the local market, contact Just Lets Peterborough today, and we will be happy to help you.
You can find Just Lets Peterborough at 142 Oundle Road, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE2 9PJ. Feel free to email us at peterborough@justlets.com or call us today on 01733 346255.
