What Landlords Must Know Ahead of ‘The Big Change’

After several months of delays, on December 1 the Renting Homes (Wales) Act - what the Welsh Government is calling the "biggest change to housing law in Wales for decades” - will come into force.

What is this legislation trying to do?

The main purpose of the act is to simplify how landlords rent properties and make being a tenant in Wales more "straightforward".

This means landlords in Wales will be facing changes to tenancy agreements and contracts, new legal obligations, and new safety requirements. As part of these changes, tenants will legally become known as "contract holders".

Changes to new tenancy agreements 

As part of this legislative overhaul, assured shorthold tenancies will be replaced with two types of "occupation contract" - either a secure contract, for "community" or social housing landlords, or a standard contract, for private landlords. 

The new contract will require different types of information to be included. That means, for new tenancies, landlords must startusing this new type of contract. Template contracts can be found on the government's website.

Make sure to update existing tenants

For existing tenancies, tenancy agreements will convert to the new “occupation contract” on 1 December. This will need to be communicated at least verbally with tenants by then.

However, agents and landlords will have six months to provide current tenants with a copy of the new written statement of their contract. You can find a full guide on how to convert the contracts on the government's website.

Section 21 is being replaced 

For all new tenancies, Section 21 possession notices will be replaced with Section 173 notices under the new act. This extends the minimum notice period that landlords can give tenants on a periodic contract to six months for a "no fault" eviction.

However, for tenancies starting before December 1 2022, you'll only be required to give two months’ notice under Section 173.

If your contract holder stops paying rent or breaches their contract in another way, landlords will still be able to serve one month's notice. And if rent arrears are for over two months, a 14-day notice period may apply.

New safety requirements are coming in

The new laws in Wales mean that landlords are now obligated to make sure a private rented property is “fit for human habitation.”

The Renting Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) (Wales) Regulations 2022 highlight that landlords should ensure that each floor of the property has a working smoke alarm, rooms with relevant appliances (such as gas cookers) have a working carbon monoxide alarm, and that a valid Gas Safety Certificate, Electrical Inspection Condition Report, and Energy Performance Certificate are provided to the contract holder.

If a contract holder believes a property doesn't meet the new “fitness for human habitation” requirements, they may be entitled to withhold rent, something that landlords and agents will need to bear in mind when preparing a property to let out.

This is a big shift for landlords and they should be working with their agents to make sure their houses are literally in order. With only a few weeks to go, landlords in Wales must make sure they don’t fall foul of this new legislation. 

* Kerry Barber is Head of Compliance at Goodlord *

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