The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) issued yet another version of the How to Rent Guide on 9 July 2018, forming part of the new ‘How to’ series of guides.
We have summarised the changes made to the June guide and also the further changes to the July guide.
Changes in the June 2018 guide:
- Changed the name of the guide.
- Informs tenants of the requirement for an EPC to be rated band E or above, or for the property to have registered a valid exemption, in order to comply with the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES).
- Includes information on the online local housing allowance calculator.
- Advises on the impending tenant fee ban.
- Highlights the importance of checking their landlord has a licence to let the property if it is a type of HMO that requires a licence.
- Highlights the requirement to provide the tenant with a copy of the gas safety record within 28 days of each annual gas safety check.
- Informs the tenant of the requirement to have been served with the prescribed information within 30 days of having paid the deposit.
- Highlights that the landlord cannot evict the tenant following a section 21 notice, should they not have provided the tenant with the correct deposit prescribed information and complied with the prescribed legal requirements.
- Mentions the Guild of Residential Landlords who run the Private Rented Sector Accreditation Scheme (PRSAS) http://prsaccreditation.com/ for landlords.
Changes in the July 2018 guide:
- The title has changed back to ‘How to Rent – The checklist for renting in England’. The title is an important change to note. The Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) Regulations 2015 are specific when it refers to the How to Rent guide. The regulations refer to ‘a document entitled ‘How to rent: the checklist for renting in England’, as published by the Department for Communities and Local Government, which has effect for the time being’. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/1646/contents/made. The version issued in June 2018 has the title ‘How to Rent – A guide for current and prospective tenants in the private rented sector in England’.
The change in the title has caused some confusion around which guide to serve for tenancies commencing between 26 June 2018 and 9 July 2018. It is possible that the 26 June 2018 version is not considered valid due to the name of the document not matching the regulations. There is no clear answer until a court makes a decision. Potentially a tenancy commencing on 30 June 2018 would need to be served the January 2018 version as this was the version valid at the time according to the wording within the Deregulation Act 2015. We have contacted MHCLG who have advised that the July version is an update of the June version and that landlords are recommended to serve tenants who were given the June version, the July ‘update’ version. However the Government website now lists the July version as an entirely new version.
- Page 3 has been amended to read ‘The Landlord ‘should’ also provide you with a record of any electrical inspections and evidence that smoke alarms and any carbon monoxide alarms’. The June version wrongly stated the landlord ‘must’.
- Reference to ‘Rental Raters’ as a help and advice service has been removed from page 10.
Which version of the How to Rent guide do I serve, June 2018 or July 2018?
As we simply do not know the answer until a court decides, it is important to act in a way in which will work whatever a future court decision is. Therefore it may be advisable to serve all three versions of the how to rent guide to those tenants that moved in to a property between 26 June 2018 and 9 July 2108 to be on the safe side.
The June 2018 version is no longer available to download from the Government website.
Download the July version of the guide here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-rent
How to let guide
We noted an error on page 3 of the guide, incorrectly referring to carbon dioxide as opposed to carbon monoxide. We informed our contact at MHCLG of this and the guide has subsequently been updated.
Download the up to date copy of the guide here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-let
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