First time landlords need to consider legal obligations.

 

Landlords considering letting a property for the first time have been urged to consider legal obligations, such as tenancy agreements and landlord property insurance.
According to Ian Potter, operations manager at the Association of Residential Lettings Agents, many first-time landlords are unaware of the many different legal requirements and information involved in letting a property.

"The terms and conditions of a letting agent to let out your property can be 20 odd pages long. A tenancy agreement is probably going to be in excess of 15 pages long, so people are going in to legally binding contracts both with an agent or with a tenant," he said.

"That's the key thing that people need to realise, that they are actually entering a legally binding contract. It is not a case of changing your mind a fortnight later."
He added that those with a standard owner-occupier mortgage will also need to check with their mortgage lender that whatever insurance they currently have on their property would also cover them for lettings.

"If the property has a tenancy and there is a fire for example, the insurance company can say 'oh well it has a tenancy, we didn't know that, we won't pay out.' "
In many cases the property owner will need to take out specialist buy-to-let insurance.
Another frequent legal problem arises when young couples decide to move in together and rent out a property of which they have shared ownership, explained Mr Potter.

"They need to be really careful in the legal advice that they are getting in that situation because if their relationship then doesn't work out then they can find that the tenancy is not easily brought to an end," he said.

It follows recent comments from Dominic Preston, a barrister and housing law specialist with Doughty Street Chambers, who told the BBC Money Box podcast that it is a good idea for first-time landlords to use the services of a lettings agent to help them deal with the legal requirements of renting a property.