Any person that lives in private rented accommodation has tenants rights and the landlord has his/her own rights and responsibilities. When you choose to rent accommodation, your landlord must provide written terms of the tenancy; in fact failure to provide these is a criminal offence. In return, you’ll be expected to show the landlord that you have the right to live in the UK, for example by showing them your residence permit or passport. This rule also applies to any other adult you’ll be living with in the property.
Once the terms are agreed between you, you have the right to stay in your home for the agreed period as long as you keep to the terms. There are also other legal tenants rights including:
- for the accommodation to be kept in a reasonable state of repair
- to have your tenancy deposit protected
- for your spouse, civil partner or other partner to take over the tenancy in the event of your death (the right of ‘succession’)
- to be treated fairly regardless of any disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation
- if the tenancy agreement allows your landlord to increase the rent, it should contain information about when and how the rent can be increased
Of course, by Law, your landlord has a number of repairing and ‘keeping in working order’ responsibilities, in response to the first bullet point above:
- fixed heaters, fixed fires and water heaters
- the structure and exterior of the premises, including drains, gutters and pipes
- the water and gas pipes and electric wiring
- the basins, sinks, baths and toilets
Be aware though that different tenants rights apply for other types of tenancies;
- holiday rentals
- company lets
- there is a resident landlord
- rentals provided by an educational establishment such as a university
- private temporary accommodation in which you are housed because you are homeless
- free (no rent) accommodation