Before a tenant can move into a property in England you need, at minimum: a gas safety record, an EICR, an EPC, working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, a right to rent check, a protected deposit, and a written statement of terms given before the agreement is signed. Miss any of them and you are exposed to civil penalties — and in several cases you also lose the ability to recover possession later.
If you have become a landlord by accident — an inherited house, a property you could not sell, moving in with a partner — that list is probably longer than you expected. Here it is in the order you should actually do it.
Before you market the property
Check you are allowed to let it. A residential mortgage needs consent to let from your lender. A leasehold flat may prohibit subletting outright, and may also restrict pets — which matters now, because you can only refuse a pet request for a reason that is actually reasonable, and a lease prohibition is one. Your insurer needs to know too: standard home insurance does not cover a let property, and a claim will be refused. What landlord cover includes that home cover does not.
Get the three certificates. A gas safety record, renewed annually. An EICR, valid five years. An EPC, valid ten years and currently needing to be E or above — with C targeted for 2030, so worth knowing your number now.
Fit the alarms. A smoke alarm on every storey and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance other than a gas cooker. Test them on the first day of the tenancy and record that you did. The full requirement.
Check whether it is an HMO. If you are letting to three or more people forming more than one household, licensing may apply. Getting this wrong is expensive. HMO rules in Guildford.
Register with the ICO if you handle tenant data yourself. Most self-managing landlords do and most have never heard of it. Whether it applies to you.
Pricing and advertising
Set the rent before you advertise, and advertise that figure. Rental bidding is banned — you cannot invite or accept offers above the advertised rent, and failing to state a rent at all carries its own penalty. Since you can now only increase the rent once a year, the opening figure matters more than it used to. What Guildford property actually achieves.
Decide furnished or unfurnished based on your target tenant, not on what you happen to own. The Guildford picture.
Prepare the property properly for viewings. The first ten seconds decide the letting. What actually makes a difference.
Choosing a tenant — and the rules you cannot break
You cannot refuse someone because they receive benefits or because they have children. That includes affordability rules set so high that benefit income is effectively excluded, and it includes instructions you give an agent. The penalty reaches £7,000.
You can ask for a maximum of one month’s rent in advance, and you cannot take any rent before the agreement is signed. The old six-months-upfront workaround for weak referencing is gone — what to do instead.
Reference properly. Employment, income, previous landlord, and affordability against total household income from all sources. How to do it thoroughly. If you need a guarantor, the rules around them changed too.
Carry out a right to rent check on every adult occupier before they move in, and keep dated copies.
Setting up the tenancy
Give the written statement of terms before the agreement is entered into. Not on move-in day. This is the single most-missed obligation of the whole Renters’ Rights Act and it carries a £7,000 penalty. What it must contain.
There is no fixed term. Every private tenancy is now periodic and rolls month to month. Attempting to grant a 6 or 12-month term is itself a breach. Your tenant can leave on two months’ notice at any point.
Protect the deposit within 30 days and serve the prescribed information. Fail and you cannot rely on several possession grounds later, and you can be ordered to repay up to three times the deposit. Getting it right.
Do a proper inventory with photographs and meter readings. Almost every deposit dispute is decided on the check-in evidence. Ten minutes with a camera now saves an argument in two years.
What it costs
Budget for more than the mortgage. Certificates run to a few hundred pounds in year one. Landlord insurance. Income tax on the rent, with mortgage interest relief restricted to a basic-rate credit rather than a deduction — which catches out higher-rate taxpayers badly. Repairs, which you cannot predict but will happen. And voids, which most first-time landlords forget entirely.
If you use an agent, fully managed in Guildford runs around 10–15% plus VAT — what should and should not be in that. Ours is published in full.
What comes next
Two things are coming that you should diarise now. The PRS Database opens for registration from late 2026, and you will need your certificates to hand. A landlord Ombudsman with mandatory membership follows, expected 2028.
And if you ever need the property back, understand the timeline before you need it: four months’ notice to sell or move in, and not available at all in the first 12 months. The full grounds and notice periods.
Being a landlord is more administrative than it was two years ago. It is not difficult — but it is unforgiving of gaps, and most of the penalties attach to paperwork rather than to buildings.
Letting your home while you work abroad? You’ll also be caught by the Non-resident Landlord Scheme, which changes how your rent is paid to you.
General information, not legal advice. Property Lounge, Guildford.
Need a second opinion?
We’re Property Lounge, an ARLA Propertymark accredited lettings agency in Guildford. If anything above raised a question about your own property, we’re happy to talk it through — whether or not you’re a client, and whether or not you ever become one. No charge, no obligation, and we won’t chase you afterwards.
You can see how our fully managed lettings service works, what it costs, or book a free rental valuation.
Call 01483 369209 or email lettings@propertylounge.co.uk.
