LANDLORDS – Are you up to date with recent legislation ?

CMP (Client Money Protection)

This was made mandatory for all Letting (Estate)  agents from the 1st April and must be displayed in an agents front window and on their websites. This has been a requirement for all Belvoir offices for many years but some other agents may still not have complied.

Deposits

From the 1st June the maximum deposit for any tenancy will be 5 weeks rent. Currently many will request 1.5x a months rent.  Also if a current tenancy is renewed for another fixed term after this date you will need to correct the deposit held to a maximum of 5 weeks. The other issue this will raise is where an extra pet deposit is taken in ‘Pet Friendly’ properties. As the deposit is now capped at 5 weeks rent it is likely that pet friendly properties will request a higher rent then the price advertised if there are pets.