Rent Smart Wales – Are You Fully Compliant?
- Posted by Chris in blog, News, Tips & Advice
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The deadline has now passed for Rent Smart Wales. If you have not yet registered yourself as a landlord and do not have a license or managing agent in place for your property you may not only face the fixed penalties, but you will NOT be able to serve a valid notice to your tenants and could be subject to a rent stopping order.
As of today fixed penalties will be issued for any landlord not fully compliant with Rent Smart Wales. If you are found guilty of not registering there will be a fixed penalty of £100 or if taken to court up to £1000, a person found guilty of letting and managing a rental property without a license may be issued with a fixed penalty of £250, or if taken to a court could face an unlimited fine.
A landlord will not be able to serve a Section 21 to reclaim possession of their property for whatever reason without being fully compliant with the rent smart legislation. If your tenant defaulted on a rent payment and you have not registered as a landlord, it will not be valid and you would not be able to apply for possession.
There will be rent stopping orders and rent repayment orders in place for those that do not comply with Rent Smart. Without being registered your rent may stop or you will have to return payments back to the tenants. It is not just while you have tenants in a property that you could be affected, if your property is vacant and you have tenants due to move in, they will not be able to do so until your registration is complete.
There is now a public register where tenants are able to check that their landlord is fully compliant with Rent Smart and they offer a number of services for tenants and encourages them to use this.
Registration can be done on their website www.rentsmart.gov.wales and if you need further advice, give us a call 01633 265222!