Renting out your property isn’t just a case of handing over the keys to your tenants and collecting the rent every month, there are certain responsibilities you take on when you become a landlord.

There are a lot of legal and safety regulations you need to be aware of to keep your tenants safe and stay on the right side of the law.

Electrical checks

Government regulations introduced in 2020 mean that all electrical installations at your property must be checked by a competent and qualified person every five years.

You must be able to provide a copy of the electrical safety report to your tenants or the local authority if they ask for it.

Gas safety

As a landlord, you’re legally responsible for your tenants when it comes to gas safety.

Every 12 months, you need to get a gas safety check done by a registered gas safety engineer.

They check things like pipework, cookers, boilers, and fires are safe and working correctly.

If you don’t make this a priority, you could face a hefty fine and put your tenants at risk.

Fire safety

According to the National Residential Landlords Association, the risk of experiencing a fire is seven times more likely for people who live in rented or shared accommodation.

With that in mind, keeping your tenants safe from fire risks is really important and also a legal requirement.

To ensure your property has all the correct fire safety measures in place, you must:

• Provide a smoke alarm on each floor and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a solid fuel-burning appliance, like a wood-burning stove or a coal fire.
• Check that your tenants have access to fire escape routes.
• Provide fire alarms and extinguishers in large multi-occupation houses.
• Ensure that all the furnishings and fittings you provide are fire safe.

Get the right insurance

If you’re renting out your property to tenants, home insurance won’t cover you against things like accidental damage or loss of rent.

You need to get specialist Landlord Insurance that can cover your buildings and contents.

Churchill’s residential landlord insurance offers cover for both. We can also protect your boilers, and floor coverings, and cover you for loss of rent and malicious damage.