Insurance News Archive
New regulations for buy-to-let
Buy-to-let investors will see a change to the way they run their properties as new government regulations are imposed.
Firstly, landlord licensing is expected to come into effect on April 6th, which will mean that the landlord and the property will be assessed, reports the Mail on Sunday.
If landlords are found to be avoiding the licence or the property is unfit for tenants, the landlord will be subject to fines of up to £20,000.
The problem for landlords may be figuring out the rules for whether they need a licence at all and a five-year licence will cost them around £100 a year per tenant.
"Balancing the books can be hard enough without having to pay a huge fine for breaking new rules you knew nothing about," buy-to-let investor Paul Littlewood told the Mail on Sunday.
A second change for landlords is the new Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), which covers how the condition of a building can affect your health.
A final change concerns the way that tenants' deposits are held and from October the government will require all deposits for tenancy agreements to be held in Tenancy Deposit Schemes. 
© Adfero Ltd
23 Mar 2006
