New How to Rent Guide – March 2023

This latest version of the guide has been updated to reflect recent legal changes as well as some further guidance on tenant and landlord responsibilities.

Most notable revisions are:

• Approved use of Identity Service Providers for UK/Irish citizens under Right to Rent

• Changes to the Code of Practice on Right to Rent to Rent Civil Penalty Scheme for agents and their landlords

• Mandatory to have a Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms in a property where there is a combustible gas appliance (excluding a gas cooker) – read our guide here 

• Mandatory to provide evidence to tenants that smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are in working order at the start of the tenancy

• Mandatory to provide tenants with Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) showing the condition of the property’s electrical installations.

• Additional guidance on the use of smart meters and useful links

• Landlord’s responsibility to ensure the property is suitable for tenants with disabilities or to consider reasonable adjustments

It has been a legal requirement for landlords and letting agents in England to provide tenants with an up-to-date copy of the ‘How to Rent’ guide since the Deregulation Act in 2015. The most current version of the guide should be given to the tenant at the beginning of the tenancy and also at the time of renewal – if there has been an updated guide released.

A copy of the guide must be issued as a printed copy, or if the tenant agrees, via email as a PDF attachment.

Where agents have issued the existing 2021 ‘How to Rent’ guide in advance of a tenancy start date, it would be best practice to follow up by reissuing the new 2023 version, keeping evidence that it’s been issued (e.g copy of email sent with open/read receipt or reply)