Coming into effect on 1 December 2022, the Renting Homes (Wales) Act has been described as one of the biggest shake-ups of Welsh housing law.
It will introduce significant changes for letting agents, landlords and tenants to the way homes are rented, managed and lived in.
One of the main changes being the use of ‘occupation contracts’ in all private rented properties. Rather than the use of residential tenancies, creating a tenant and landlord relationship, tenants will now become known as ‘contract-holders’. These must be given to the tenant within two weeks of the occupation date, or the landlord will be given a penalty of up to two months rent. Any existing residential tenancies must be converted into occupation contracts within 6 months.
The methods of ending a tenancy are also changing. The ‘no fault’ eviction process, previously known as a Section 21 notice, is to increase for new tenants from two months to six months, and will then follow for all existing tenants on 1 June 2023. However, landlords must be seen as complying with all their requirements in order to validly issue a no-fault notice.
It will also no longer be possible to issue a notice to a tenant within the first 6 months of their tenancy, meaning a minimum of a 12 month tenancy will be granted at the start.
If a contract holder breaches any term of the occupation contract, the minimum notice a landlord can now give is one month. For serious rent arrears or anti-social behavior, this can be shortened even further.
A more onerous duty is to be placed on landlords to ensure their properties are fit for human habitation, this includes:
- Completing regular electrical safety checks;
- fitting working carbon monoxide alarms and smoke detectors;
- keeping water, gas and electricity supplies in working order; and
- keeping the structure and exterior of the property in good condition.
Although, a positive for landlords is that, if they increase the rent in a periodic contract using the notice procedure, the contract holders will no longer have the right to refer this to the First Tier Tribunal.