Research reveals shocking lack of awareness among tenants and landlords in UK

Millions of tenants and landlords across the UK are unaware of the laws governing the rental sector with landlords even unsure about responsibilities regarding being safe and fair, new research has found.

Some 37% of UK tenants and 16% of landlords do not know that renters must be given at least two months’ notice if a landlord wishes to evict them and 34%, or 5.8 million people, do not realise they have the right for their deposits to be placed in a Tenancy Deposit Protection scheme.

The research from online letting agent LetBritain, also found that 43% of tenants and 19% of landlords have no idea that tenants can challenge any excessive charges made by a landlord via an ombudsman while 28% of tenants did not know a landlord should provide 24 hours’ notice before entering their property.

Some 34% were unaware that a landlord must provide an Energy Performance Certificate and 50% of tenants are uninformed that the rent charged by a landlord should be comparable to similar properties in the area or can be challenged while 27% of landlords did not realise this either.

The firm says the lack of knowledge is worrying. The research also found that 14% of landlords do not realise it is their responsibility to arrange and pay for any repairs to the exterior of a property.

‘It is clear that a huge proportion of UK renters, a population growing in size, do not truly understand the legislation and regulation in place to protect them. Likewise, a concerning number of landlords are also in the dark about exactly what rights and responsibilities they have,’ said Fareed Nabir, chief executive officer of LetBritain.

‘Such a lack of awareness increases the risk of renters and landlords being exploited and it must be addressed and lettings agents certainly have a duty to better inform all their customers about the vital legislative framework governing the rental sector,’ he added.