What Safety Certificates Do Landlords Need?
There’s no escaping it. We live in a world of health and safety, red tape, and paperwork.
Most of the time that’s a pretty good thing, especially when renting a property, as it leaves both landlord and tenant protected. But that doesn’t mean the process of ticking boxes or gathering documents is easy or enjoyable, especially when you’re the one pulling it all together.
For landlords there’s a mountain of certificates to obtain before a tenancy can commence – and unfortunately, it’s not always clear exactly which ones you’re legally obliged to handle yourself. With that in mind, here’s a list of every certificate that a landlord needs in order to rent out a property.
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
Cold, draughty homes are a blight on tenants and a drain on the UK’s energy consumption. It should be no surprise, then, that the EPC – which reviews and grades your property’s energy performance – is now one of the most enforced certificates in the rental market. Indeed, fines for not obtaining a valid EPC before your property is put on the market can run up to £5,000.
As of April 2018 the minimum EPC ‘pass’ grade was raised to an E, and any property falling short of that standard should be considered legally unrentable. So best start double glazing those windows and filling those cracks now!
Electrical Certificates
Exposed wires, faulty connections, malfunctioning appliances: the last thing you want is for a tenant to be hurt in your home or for an electrical fire to damage your property. Consequently it is a landlord’s obligation to ensure that all provided electrical equipment is tested annually and, in the case of HMOs, that a full electrical safety inspection is performed every five years as minimum.
Gas Safety Certificate
Don’t wait until a tenant calls you smelling gas at 2am on a Sunday night. By law all landlords must arrange a yearly gas safety inspection that has to be carried out by a registered Gas Safe engineer. As part of the inspection all appliances, vents and pipes must be surveyed – and a copy of the certificate must be given to tenants. Read more in our full guide to gas safety certificates for landlords.
Fire safety checks
This isn’t a specific certificate, but general fire safety is an extremely important set of obligations by which all landlords must abide.
For instance a smoke alarm must be fitted on every storey of the building, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a solid fuel burning appliance. All furniture must be fire safe – meaning it carries the ‘match’ and ‘cigarette’ test labels – and fire extinguishers must be provided in houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs).
See the Government’s Fire Safety Order (FSO) for details of all regulations that landlords must follow while assessing their property for fire safety. Alternatively, there are a number of private organisations who will be licensed to undertake the assessment on your behalf.
Legionella risk assessment
Legionella is a particularly nasty bacteria that breeds in air conditioning systems, central heating and water pipes. Despite being deadly, it is all but undetectable unless tested for by a trained professional. As such landlords are obliged to perform a risk assessment under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (2002).
Deposit Protection Paperwork
Not strictly a certificate, but well worth a mention all the same. If tenants have paid a security deposit to you directly as the landlord, you are legally obliged to place that sum in a Government-recognised tenancy deposit scheme (TDP).
Upon safe deposit a landlord also has the responsibility of providing tenants with contact details for the TDP, as well any information on how their deposit is being held, the terms under which a landlord might apply to claim against the deposit, plus information on how a tenant might apply to retrieve the deposit back. Having a dispute with a tenant over a deposit? Read more about when landlords can keep a deposit.