If you are a residential landlord your rented properties must meet health and safety standards designed to protect your tenants. Find out about regulations for gas and electrical safety, fire regulations and energy performance certificates.
Landlord and tenant responsibilities for health and safety
As a landlord, you must keep your rented properties safe and free from health hazards. You must make sure that all gas and electrical equipment in your properties has been safely installed and is maintained. You must also follow fire safety regulations – for example, by checking that tenants have access to escape routes at all times.
Under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), your local authority may inspect your property for health and safety hazards. If it finds serious problems, you will have to fix them. However, you can reduce the chance of this by carrying out your own checks for potential hazards, like damp. If you are a person licensed by a local authority to let out a property – a ‘licensor’ – you do not have the same health and safety responsibilities as landlords. However, you are still covered by the HHSRS. These standards are usually checked by your local authority’s environmental health team.
Your tenants have a duty to use the property in a responsible way – for example, by clearing kitchen sinks clogged of food waste to avoid blockages. They are also responsible for any damage caused by their family or friends.
Tenants should only carry out repairs to a property if they have agreed this with their landlord in their tenancy agreement.
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