Rent Smart Wales - When a Landlord Licence is Required.

A landlord will need a licence in addition to registration if the landlord is to carry out any one or more lettings activities which are:

• arranging or conducting viewings with prospective tenants;
• gathering evidence for the purpose of establishing the suitability of prospective tenants (for example, by confirming character references, undertaking credit checks or interviewing a prospective tenant);
• preparing, or arranging the preparation, of a tenancy agreement;
• preparing, or arranging the preparation, of an inventory for the dwelling or schedule of condition for the dwelling.

Further, a landlord will need a licence if the landlord is to carry out any one or more property management activities. Those activities are:

• collecting rent;
• being the principal point of contact for the tenant in relation to matters arising under the tenancy;
• making arrangements with a person to carry out repairs or maintenance;
• making arrangements with a tenant or occupier of the dwelling to secure access to the dwelling for any purpose;
• checking the contents or condition of the dwelling, or arranging for them to be checked;
• serving notice to terminate a tenancy.

As a starting point, all named landlord’s on a tenancy agreement will require a licence because they will be a named contact for the tenancy and may need to serve a notice to terminate the tenancy in the future.

Lettings or property management activities does not include anything done by the landlord which is arranging for an authorised agent to do something on the landlord’s behalf.

Where a landlord never does any one or more of these activities and instead uses a licensed letting agent, the landlord will not require a licence. A licence is only therefore required by ‘self letting or managing landlords’.

It cannot be stressed enough that where a landlord uses a licensed agent, that landlord must not undertake any of those activities themselves without first obtaining a licence. For example, if a landlord wishes to make arrangements with a person to carry out repairs or maintenance at a time whilst the dwelling is subject to a domestic tenancy, a licence will first be required. Otherwise it will be an offence. It’s acceptable for the landlord to arrange with a licensed agent to get the repair or maintenance done though.

It seems the landlord should be able to carry out the physical repair or maintenance themselves (subject to any law governing the repair or maintenance) because the restriction defined in property management activities is for making arrangements with a person to carry out the repair or maintenance. In this case the agent must arrange access with the tenant though.

It’s okay for an unlicensed landlord to make arrangements for repairs and maintenance when the tenancy has come to an end without a licence because the dwelling will not at that time be subject to a domestic tenancy. However, despite the tenancy being at an end, the landlord must not check the contents or condition of the dwelling, or arrange for them to be checked, for any purpose connected with the previous tenancy without a licence. A similar provision applies for agents, the effect being that only a licensed landlord or agent will ever be able to determine the return of a deposit after the end of a tenancy.

If a property has been recently purchased with an intention to rent it out, a licence must be applied for within 28 days from when the property has been assigned to the landlord.

Exemption

If a property has been purchased with an existing tenant in place and the owner does not intend to continue renting to the tenant and intends to occupy the property as their home, the owner does not need a licence if they take steps to recover possession within 28 days from when it was assigned to them and as long as they “continue to diligently pursue the recovery of possession”. As with registration, advice should be sought in this situation because failure to have a licence could seriously affect possession. It might be a better solution to pass management of the property (including serving possession notices) to a licensed agent.

Don't fall foul of the law. Protect your income. YOUR AGENT lettings were amongst the first ten agents to be awarded an Agents Licence across the whole of Wales. So why not let YOUR AGENT be your agent? Call us on 03452 606 440 or email us at info@your-agent.co.uk

Call to extend Rent Smart deadline for Wales' landlords Rejected.

Calls have been made for an extension to the registration deadline for all residential landlords in Wales.

The new Rent Smart scheme requires anyone who rents out property in Wales to register or become licensed by 23 November 2016.

But the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) said many were still unaware they need to do so.

Rent Smart Wales said landlords were given a year to register and it would not extend the deadline.

A Freedom of Information request by the RLA showed just 32,230 out of 130,000 landlords had registered by 18 October - those who do not comply will be prosecuted and fined.

The figures were released by Cardiff council, which is administering the scheme for the whole of Wales.

Douglas Haig, RLA director for Wales, said he was writing to Community Secretary Carl Sargeant to request a new deadline to allow time for landlords to be properly educated about what they need to do.

But Rent Smart Wales said there had been a large increase in numbers registering as the deadline approached and 46,300 out of 130,000 landlords had now registered and a further 11,400 had begun the registration process.

Mr Haig said communication had been "poor" with "very few" landlords aware of the scheme.

He said others were leaving it until the last minute because registration and licences run for five years from the date they are approved, not from 23 November.

The number of staff employed to carry out the scheme had also been "grossly underestimated", he added. "I don't think it's asking a lot for the Welsh Government or Cardiff council to come forth with an education plan to get this information out there. That would be a sensible approach," he said.

A Rent Smart Wales spokesman said: "We have no intention of extending the deadline. However, we do recognise that, due the very high numbers of landlords visiting the website to register and apply for licenses, some are experiencing difficulties.

"The Rent Smart Wales team consists of 79 posts and the team are working hard to reduce waiting times for customers.

"Once the November 23 deadline for complying has passed, enforcement powers will be used in a sensible and proportionate manner."

Don't fall foul of the law. Protect your income. YOUR AGENT lettings were amongst the first ten agents to be awarded an Agents Licence across the whole of Wales. So why not let YOUR AGENT be your agent? Call us on 03452 606 440 or email us at info@your-agent.co.uk

Landlords ONE WEEK left to register for Rent Smart

Landlords are reminded that the time to register with Rent Smart Wales is running out.

The law in Wales now requires private landlords to register themselves and their properties with Rent Smart Wales. The Housing Act (Wales) 2014 requires landlords to register and self-managing landlords who let and manage properties and agents to also undertake training and apply for a licence. Rent Smart Wales aims to drive up standards in the private rented sector. A specialist team deals with queries and helps landlords and agents register and apply for a licence.

Rent Smart Wales is a landmark scheme that will drive up standards in the private rented sector by requiring managing landlords and agents to undertake training to ensure they understand their responsibilities.

It will help prevent the involvement of rogue, and even criminal, landlords and agents in the management and letting of properties. The scheme will help to protect tenants and will support good landlords and agents by helping them keep abreast of their responsibilities and legal obligations, raising the reputation of the sector.

The deadline for registration is now less than 1 week away and those who have not yet complied with the law are encouraged to discharge their legal responsibilities to register as soon as possible because registration when completed online, is a simple 15 minute process, but a licensing application can take up to 8 weeks to process. 

Landlords and Agents who fail to meet the deadline will be commiting a criminal offense and will be prosecuted under the new legislation and subject to hefty fines and potentially banning orders.

Your Agent Comment.

In my experience Rent Smart's time scales are grossly under estimated. It took over five months to get my licence and I submitted the application back in November 2015. If you've not submitted your landlord/agent licence application then chances are that you won't get it before the November 23rd Deadline.

Don't fall foul of the law. Protect your income. YOUR AGENT lettings were amongst the first ten agents to be awarded an Agents Licence across the whole of Wales. So why not let YOUR AGENT be your agent? Call us on 03452 606 440 or email us at info@your-agent.co.uk

Rent Smart Wales - Penalties for not complying

Enforcement, Penalties And Restrictions

Breaching any of the several requirements under the Act is in the main a criminal offence and a licensing authority or local housing authority have powers of prosecution. Further, there are severe penalties and restrictions that also apply for breaches.

A tenancy will remain valid and enforceable even if any one of the several requirements under the Act are not complied with (except for rent which has been ordered to be stopped or repaid or the inability to serve a section 21 notice).

Fixed Penalty Notices

For the majority (but not all) of the offences, Rent Smart Wales or a local authority may offer the person who has allegedly committed one of the offences the opportunity of discharging any liability to conviction by payment of a fixed penalty.

If the person pays the fixed penalty within the period of 21 days, the person will not be convicted of the offence.

The amount of the fixed penalty will be either £150.00 or £250.00 depending on the offence.

Rent Repayment Or Rent Stopping Orders

Where a landlord carries out property management activities or a landlord appoints an unlicensed agent, Rent Smart Wales (or local housing authority) may make an application to the Residential Property Tribunal for a rent stopping order.

The person who is alleged to have committed the offence does not have to have been charged or convicted of an offence for a rent stopping order to be made.

The effect of a rent stopping order is to stop, for a period, any rent payable by a tenant. Legally the tenant will be considered to have paid this rent and no rent arrears claim could be made.

A rent repayment order works in a similar way but applies to periodic payments of rent that have already been paid to a person during a period when some breach of the legislation had occurred. In addition to Rent Smart Wales or a local authority applying for a rent repayment order, a tenant may also apply.

Section 21 Notice

No section 21 notice may be given if:

• the landlord is not registered, or
• the landlord is not licensed and the landlord has not appointed a person who is licensed to carry out all property management work in respect of the dwelling on the landlord’s behalf.

Don't fall foul of the law. Protect your income. YOUR AGENT lettings were amongst the first ten agents to be awarded an Agents Licence across the whole of Wales. So why not let YOUR AGENT be your agent? Call us on 03452 606 440 or email us at info@your-agent.co.uk

Just Two weeks left to register with Rent Smart.

Landlords are reminded that the time to register with Rent Smart Wales is running out.

The law in Wales now requires private landlords to register themselves and their properties with Rent Smart Wales. The Housing Act (Wales) 2014 requires landlords to register and self-managing landlords who let and manage properties and agents to also undertake training and apply for a licence. Rent Smart Wales aims to drive up standards in the private rented sector. A specialist team deals with queries and helps landlords and agents register and apply for a licence.

Rent Smart Wales is a landmark scheme that will drive up standards in the private rented sector by requiring managing landlords and agents to undertake training to ensure they understand their responsibilities.

It will help prevent the involvement of rogue, and even criminal, landlords and agents in the management and letting of properties. The scheme will help to protect tenants and will support good landlords and agents by helping them keep abreast of their responsibilities and legal obligations, raising the reputation of the sector.

The deadline for registration is now less than 2 weeks away and those who have not yet complied with the law are encouraged to discharge their legal responsibilities to register as soon as possible because registration when completed online, is a simple 15 minute process, but a licensing application can take up to 8 weeks to process. 

Landlords and Agents who fail to meet the deadline will be prosecuted under the new legislation and subject to hefty fines and potentially banning orders.

Your Agent Comment.

In my experience Rent Smart's time scales are grossly under estimated. It took over five months to get my licence and I submitted the application back in November 2015. If you've not submitted your landlord/agent licence application then chances are that you won't get it before the November 23rd Deadline.

Don't fall foul of the law and protect your income. YOUR AGENT lettings were amongst the first ten agents to be awarded an Agents Licence across the whole of Wales. So why not let YOUR AGENT be your agent? Call us on 03452 606 440 or email us at info@your-agent.co.uk

Two weeks to go - landlords and agents MUST register for Rent Smart Wales

Only just over two weeks remain for letting agents and landlords operating in Wales to register with the Rent Smart Wales initiative - and ARLA is reminding members that they have to be licensed or else face a hefty fine.

Rent Smart Wales is the scheme operated by the Welsh Government in its bid to improve the quality of the principality's private rental sector. 

However, even with the deadline of November 23 fast-approaching, and registration for agents being compulsory, only one-third of agents have yet acted.

The law means landlords in Wales – and those in the rest of the UK who own properties in Wales – need to register themselves and their properties with Rent Smart Wales, as well as being suitably trained and licensed to carry out letting or property management activities. If landlords do not wish to get trained, they need to arrange for a trained and licensed agent to manage their properties on their behalf.

In addition, all lettings agents in Wales need to be licensed. This means everyone involved in letting agency work needs to undertake Rent Smart Wales-approved training, and companies need to have Client Money Protection, Professional Indemnity Insurance, belong to a redress scheme and must provide all of their landlord and property details to Rent Smart Wales.

If landlords and agents find themselves unlicensed when the deadline arrives they will be unable to practise, so it’s important to act soon to ensure the necessary qualifications and other regulatory requirements have been undertaken before then, in order to comply with the legislation.

Don't fall foul of the law and protect your income. YOUR AGENT lettings were amongst the first ten agents to be awarded an Agents Licence across the whole of Wales. So why not let YOUR AGENT be your agent? Call us on 03452 606 440 or email us at info@your-agent.co.uk

Only 3 weeks left to register for RENT SMART

Landlords are reminded that the time to register with Rent Smart Wales is running out.

The law in Wales now requires private landlords to register themselves and their properties with Rent Smart Wales. The Housing Act (Wales) 2014 requires landlords to register and self-managing landlords who let and manage properties and agents to also undertake training and apply for a licence. Rent Smart Wales aims to drive up standards in the private rented sector. A specialist team deals with queries and helps landlords and agents register and apply for a licence.

Rent Smart Wales is a landmark scheme that will drive up standards in the private rented sector by requiring managing landlords and agents to undertake training to ensure they understand their responsibilities.

It will help prevent the involvement of rogue, and even criminal, landlords and agents in the management and letting of properties. The scheme will help to protect tenants and will support good landlords and agents by helping them keep abreast of their responsibilities and legal obligations, raising the reputation of the sector.

The deadline for registration is now less than 3 weeks away and those who have not yet complied with the law are encouraged to discharge their legal responsibilities to register as soon as possible because registration when completed online, is a simple 15 minute process, but a licensing application can take up to 8 weeks to process. 

Landlords and Agents who fail to meet the deadline will be prosecuted under the new legislation and subject to hefty fines and potentially banning orders.

Your Agent Comment.

In my experience Rent Smart's time scales are grossly under estimated. It took over five months to get my licence and I submitted the application back in November 2015. If you've not submitted your landlord/agent licence application then chances are that you won't get it before the November 23rd Deadline.

Don't fall foul of the law and protect your income. YOUR AGENT lettings were amongst the first ten agents to be awarded an Agents Licence across the whole of Wales. So why not let YOUR AGENT be your agent? Call us on 03452 606 440 or email us at info@your-agent.co.uk

Landlords want mandatory client money protection

New research has revealed over four out of five landlords believe that client money protection (CMP) should be made compulsory when using a letting agent to rent out property.

The investigation, conducted by Total Landlord Insurance, asked organisations to provide a response on whether they think CMP should be made mandatory in 2016. Of 85% of landlords who use a letting agent, 81% think it should be made compulsory.

Risk

Recent data released by YouGov revealed that hundreds of thousands of pounds of landlord and tenants’ cash are at risk, as they are not protected by CMP.

At present, letting agents in the UK currently hold more than £2.7bn of landlord and tenants’ money in the form of rent and tenancy deposits. However, it is believed that around one in five tenants will not be able to recover funds should their agent steal them, or uses it for fraudulent purposes.

YOUR AGENT director Rob Lock says we think ‘Client money protection, like redress scheme membership, should be compulsory for letting agents. This change would give the consumer added protection and ultimately raise standards throughout the industry.’

Group


The Government has moved to establish a working group with colleagues from the House of Lords to assess if CMP schemes should be made mandatory. This is being led by Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Palmer and Labour’s Baroness Hayter.

These schemes, which hold cash independently, are voluntary, with the Government estimating that only 60-80% of agents use them.

Sean Hooker, head of redress at the Property Redress Scheme, said: ‘With an increasingly growing rental sector and the money involved, the risk of serious economic damage that could easily occur without adequate safeguards, is something we cannot be complacent about.’


‘These figures clearly show that landlords see this protection as essential to ensure they deal with safe and professional agents that they and their tenants can trust,’ he added.

YOUR AGENT support mandatory Money Protection for letting agents in the wake of the launch of a government consultation on the subject.

"CMP is an entirely sensible measure that protects both the landlord and tenant in the unlikely event that an agent goes into administration or misappropriates a client’s funds" says YOUR AGENT director Rob Lock.

"Calls have been made for the launch of this review for some time so we are very pleased that it has now been announced. It provides an extra, but essential, degree of security for professionals in the industry as letting agents currently hold approximately £2.7 billion in client funds. It’s really important for members, and the wider industry, to come together as one clear, loud voice to call for full, mandatory CMP through this consultation."

The government launched a six week consultation period with an open letter from housing minister Gavin Barwell saying letting agents currently hold approximately £2.7 billion in client funds “but if a letting agent is not covered by client money protection, both the landlord and tenant could stand to lose their money.”

It goes on to say that currently between 60 and 80 per cent of letting agents voluntarily pay a membership fee of £300 to £500 to join a client money protection scheme and this forms part of a central pot of money that can then be used to pay successful claims by landlords and tenants.

YOUR AGENT are member of Client Money Protect (CMP) make sure your agent is protecting your money the way that we protect our clients money.