What laws and regulations do I need to comply with if I'm a landlord
in the UK renting an entire house to a tenant. It's not a house of
multiple occupation.

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Request for Question Clarification by palitoy-ga on 12 Feb 2006 06:43 PST

Hello uklandlord-ga,

Thank-you for your question.

First of all I should direct you to the "Important Disclaimer" at the
bottom of this page.  "Answers provided on Google Answers are general
information, and are not intended to substitute for informed
professional [..] legal [..] or other professional advice."

What we can offer is our knowledge, experience and the ability to
direct you to links that discuss your queries.

There are a couple of excellent sites which will be able to answer
your question more fully than I can here:

"There are currently few general legal requirements that need to be
met when letting property in England and Wales. Most of these relate
to property standards but landlords also need to be aware of other
areas of legislation that can affect them and this information guide
seeks to identify the main areas that apply."
http://www.landlords-uk.net/guide_Landlord_Advice.asp

"Tenancy agreements are partly contractual, i.e. an agreement between
landlord and tenant which can be enforced by a court of law. And,
particularly with residential tenancies (as opposed to commercial or
business tenancies), they are partly governed by statutory (Act of
Parliament) rules which cannot be over-ridden by the contractual
rules."
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/residential_tenancies.htm
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/dir/landlord_associations.htm

Legal briefings:
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/legal_briefing.htm

The Office of Fair Trading also has several excellent leaflets and
brochures on being a landlord (simply enter the search term landlord
on their website below):
http://www.oft.gov.uk/

Similarly the Citizen's Advice bureau have excellent guides to
tenant's/landlord's rights:
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/n6w/index/family_parent/housing/tenancy_agreements.htm
http://www.citizensadvice.co.uk/

Is this information sufficient for an answer or do you require
something more?  Please let me know by responding to this question
clarification.

palitoy-ga

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Clarification of Question by uklandlord-ga on 12 Feb 2006 18:42 PST

Thanks for the links but I was hoping for a list of Acts or
Parliament, for example, the 1996 tenancy act or Fire and Safety
Rregulations (2002) - (or whatever they might be called I made these
up). Thanks.

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Request for Question Clarification by palitoy-ga on 13 Feb 2006 02:09 PST

The Acts/Laws you require are detailed in the links I sent to you and
give more information than simply a list.

Am I right in understanding that you would like a simple list of these
laws (without any further information) drawn from these sources? 
Would this be sufficient for your answer?

palitoy-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by palitoy-ga on 13 Feb 2006 03:32 PST

The main law/act you should be aware of is the Housing Act - it has
had several amendments over the years.

Details of this can be located here:
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1151898
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1150824
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1151897
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1151894

Further advice is available for free from:
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1151917#P524_71820

Let me know if these further sources answer your queries.  

As I sure you can appreciate this is a vast area (which is slightly
different for each part of the UK) and should you require further
assistance on this subject that I have not been able to locate for you
I would seriously consider either upping the value of the question or
contacting your local Citizen's Advice Bureau.

FYI: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=444738#a (As a
guideline, I have already spent over an hour researching this question
for you.)

Please let me know how you wish to proceed.


palitoy-ga

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Clarification of Question by uklandlord-ga on 13 Feb 2006 17:48 PST

Thank you for this information. Do you mark the question as answered
and then I can pay? (This is my first question)

thanks

Hello uklandlord-ga,

Thank-you for accepting my question clarifications as your answer and
welcome to Google Answers.

I will post the above information again to close this question and
mark it as answered.

First of all I should direct you to the "Important Disclaimer" at the
bottom of this page.  "Answers provided on Google Answers are general
information, and are not intended to substitute for informed
professional [..] legal [..] or other professional advice."

What we can offer is our knowledge, experience and the ability to
direct you to links that discuss your queries.

There are a couple of excellent sites which will be able to answer
your question more fully than I can here:

"There are currently few general legal requirements that need to be
met when letting property in England and Wales. Most of these relate
to property standards but landlords also need to be aware of other
areas of legislation that can affect them and this information guide
seeks to identify the main areas that apply."
http://www.landlords-uk.net/guide_Landlord_Advice.asp

"Tenancy agreements are partly contractual, i.e. an agreement between
landlord and tenant which can be enforced by a court of law. And,
particularly with residential tenancies (as opposed to commercial or
business tenancies), they are partly governed by statutory (Act of
Parliament) rules which cannot be over-ridden by the contractual
rules."
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/residential_tenancies.htm
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/dir/landlord_associations.htm

Legal briefings:
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/legal_briefing.htm

The Office of Fair Trading also has several excellent leaflets and
brochures on being a landlord (simply enter the search term landlord
on their website below):
http://www.oft.gov.uk/

Similarly the Citizen's Advice bureau have excellent guides to
tenant's/landlord's rights:
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/n6w/index/family_parent/housing/tenancy_agreements.htm
http://www.citizensadvice.co.uk/

The main law/act you should be aware of is the Housing Act - it has
had several amendments over the years.

Details of this can be located here:
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1151898
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1150824
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1151897
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1151894

Further advice is available for free from:
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1151917#P524_71820