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Landlord compliance and safety terms
Most landlord duties are about safety and paperwork: certificates that expire on their own cycles, licences that depend on the council, and notices that must reach the tenant in the right way.
Rules differ between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, so each term says where it applies. Sources are listed on every page with the date they were checked.
64 terms
- Additional licensing
Additional licensing is a scheme a council in England or Wales can set up to require licences for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) that fall outside mandatory licensing, usually smaller shared houses.
- Article 4 direction
An Article 4 direction is a council order that removes certain permitted development rights in an area.
- Asbestos in rented homes
Asbestos in rented homes is asbestos containing material in the fabric of a let property, most often in buildings built or refurbished before 2000.
- Awaab's Law
Awaab's Law sets time limits for landlords to investigate and fix serious hazards such as damp and mould.
- Banning order
A banning order is an order made by the First-tier Tribunal that bans a landlord or property agent from letting housing in England, doing letting agency work or doing property management work.
- Boiler service
A boiler service is routine maintenance in which a Gas Safe registered engineer examines, adjusts and tests a gas boiler so it keeps working safely and efficiently.
- Boiler Upgrade Scheme
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is a government grant that helps pay for replacing a fossil fuel heating system with a heat pump or biomass boiler.
- Building regulations
Building regulations are the national standards for construction and alteration work, separate from planning permission.
- Category 1 hazard
A Category 1 hazard is a serious hazard in a home that scores 1,000 or more under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS).
- Civil penalty
A civil penalty is a financial sanction a local housing authority can impose on a landlord as an alternative to prosecution for certain housing offences in England.
- Damp and mould
Damp and mould in a rented home means excess moisture in the building, from condensation, rain getting in, rising damp or leaks, and the mould growth that follows.
- Decent Homes Standard
The Decent Homes Standard is a minimum standard for the condition of homes: free of serious hazards, in reasonable repair, with reasonably modern facilities and adequate warmth.
- Deposit cap
The deposit cap is the legal limit on how much a landlord can ask for as a tenancy deposit in England.
- Deposit protection
Deposit protection means placing a tenant's deposit in a government approved tenancy deposit scheme.
- EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report)
An EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) is a report on the safety of a property's fixed electrical installation.
- EICR observation codes
EICR observation codes are the short labels an electrician gives each problem found during an Electrical Installation Condition Report.
- Electrical Safety Standards Regulations
The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 require private landlords in England to have the fixed electrical installation inspected and tested at least every five years by a competent person.
- Emergency remedial action
Emergency remedial action is action a local housing authority can take itself under section 40 of the Housing Act 2004 to remove an imminent risk of serious harm from a category 1 hazard on residential premises.
- Emergency repairs
Emergency repairs are urgent faults that could harm health or safety, such as faulty electrical wiring, a gas leak, or no heating or hot water, which a landlord should deal with straight away.
- Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rates a property's energy efficiency from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient).
- Energy performance certificate register
The energy performance certificate register is the official store of EPC data, and the GOV.UK service lets anyone search it for a property's certificate.
- EPC rating bands
EPC rating bands are the letter bands on an Energy Performance Certificate that show how energy efficient a property is.
- Fire doors
Fire doors are self-closing doors that hold back fire and smoke in a building.
- Fire risk assessment
A fire risk assessment is a review of the fire hazards in a building, the people at risk, and the precautions needed to keep them safe.
- Fit and proper person test
The fit and proper person test is the check a local housing authority applies when deciding whether someone may hold a licence for, or manage, a licensable house.
- Fitness for human habitation
Fitness for human habitation is a legal duty, implied into tenancies in England, to keep a home, including its common parts, fit to live in at the start of the tenancy and throughout it.
- Furniture fire safety regulations
The furniture fire safety regulations are the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988, which set fire resistance and labelling rules for upholstered furniture, and the reason GOV.UK says furniture and furnishings a landlord supplies must be fire safe.
- Gas Safe Register
The Gas Safe Register is the official list of businesses and engineers who are competent to work on gas appliances, fittings and flues.
- Gas safety certificate (CP12)
A gas safety certificate, often called a CP12, is the record of the annual safety check that landlords must arrange for every gas appliance, fitting and flue they provide.
- Gas safety renewal window
The gas safety renewal window is the two months before a landlord's annual gas safety check is due.
- Hazard awareness notice
A hazard awareness notice is a notice a local housing authority can serve under section 29 of the Housing Act 2004 telling a person that a category 2 hazard exists at residential premises because of a deficiency there.
- HMO (House in Multiple Occupation)
An HMO, or house in multiple occupation, is a property let to three or more people who form more than one household and share facilities such as a kitchen or bathroom.
- HMO licence
An HMO licence is permission from the local council to let a house in multiple occupation.
- HMO licence conditions
Licence conditions are the requirements a local housing authority attaches to a licence for an HMO or other licensed house.
- HMO management regulations
The HMO management regulations are the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006, which set out the duties of the person managing an HMO in England and the duties of the people living there.
- HMO room sizes
HMO room sizes are the minimum floor areas for sleeping rooms that apply as a mandatory condition of a licensed HMO in England.
- Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)
The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) is the risk based method councils in England use to assess hazards to health and safety in homes, whether rented or owned.
- How to Rent guide
The How to Rent guide is a government booklet for tenants in England that landlords were required to give at the start of an assured shorthold tenancy.
- Improvement notice
An improvement notice is a formal notice from a council in England or Wales that requires a landlord to carry out specified work to remove or reduce a hazard in a home.
- Insured deposit scheme
An insured deposit scheme is a type of tenancy deposit protection in which the landlord or letting agent keeps the deposit and pays the scheme to insure it.
- Interlinked fire alarms
Interlinked fire alarms are alarms wired or wirelessly connected so that when one sounds, they all sound.
- Landlord association
A landlord association is a membership body for private landlords.
- Landlord ombudsman
The landlord ombudsman is a new independent service, created by the Renters' Rights Act, for resolving tenants' complaints about private landlords in England.
- Legionella risk assessment
A legionella risk assessment looks at whether the water system in a rented home could let legionella bacteria grow.
- Management order
A management order is an order under Part 4 of the Housing Act 2004 by which a local housing authority takes over the management of a house.
- Mandatory HMO licensing
Mandatory HMO licensing is the national rule that a house in multiple occupation needs a council licence if it is occupied by five or more people living in two or more separate households who share facilities such as a kitchen, bathroom or toilet.
- MEES (Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard)
MEES, the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard, sets the lowest EPC rating at which a private rented home in England and Wales can be let.
- PAT testing
PAT testing (portable appliance testing) is the inspection and testing of electrical appliances that plug in, such as kettles, toasters and lamps, to check they are safe to use.
- Prescribed information
Prescribed information is the set of details about a protected deposit that a landlord must give the tenant, and anyone who paid the deposit for them, within 30 days of receiving it.
- Prohibition order
A prohibition order is an order a local housing authority can make under section 20 of the Housing Act 2004 when it is satisfied that a category 1 hazard exists on residential premises.
- PRS database (landlord register)
The private rented sector (PRS) database is a national register of landlords and rented properties in England, created by the Renters' Rights Act.
- PRS Exemptions Register
The PRS Exemptions Register is the government register where a landlord records an exemption from the minimum energy efficiency standard.
- Rent repayment order
A rent repayment order (RRO) is an order from the First-tier Tribunal requiring a landlord in England to repay rent because the landlord committed certain housing offences.
- Rent Smart Wales
Rent Smart Wales is the registration and licensing scheme for private landlords and letting agents in Wales.
- Repairing standard
The repairing standard is the legal minimum condition that privately rented homes in Scotland must meet.
- Right to Rent
A Right to Rent check confirms that an adult tenant has the legal right to rent property in England.
- Scottish landlord register
The Scottish landlord register is the system that private landlords in Scotland must join before renting out a property.
- Section 11 repairs
Section 11 repairs are the repairing duties that section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 writes into covered residential tenancies in England and Wales.
- Section 257 HMO
A section 257 HMO is a converted block of flats treated as a house in multiple occupation under section 257 of the Housing Act 2004.
- Selective licensing
Selective licensing is a council scheme that requires landlords to license ordinary private rented homes, not just HMOs, within a designated area.
- Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
Landlords in England must fit a smoke alarm on every storey used as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance, apart from gas cookers.
- Temporary exemption notice
A temporary exemption notice is a notice a local housing authority may serve under section 62 of the Housing Act 2004 on a person controlling or managing a house that needs a licence but does not have one.
- Use Class C3
Use Class C3 is the planning use class for a dwellinghouse.
- Use Class C4
Use Class C4 is the planning use class for a dwellinghouse used by not more than six residents as a house in multiple occupation.