Landlord Compliance Checklist (UK)

Owned by the landlord or managing agent. Enter the year start date on the first task: for a new tenancy, the day it starts; for a later year of the same tenancy, the anniversary of that day. Checks before it count back in working days and the year’s renewals count forward in months. The first task also says whether a new tenancy starts and whether the home has gas, which decides the tasks that show.

• Set up the year: the home, the year start date and the people — the address, the year start date, whether a new tenancy starts and whether the home has gas appliances, and the people; later tasks are assigned from these fields and every due date counts from the year start date
• Gather the home’s compliance file — the last gas safety record, the electrical installation condition report, the EPC, any licence, the tenancy agreement or written terms, the deposit certificate, the Right to Rent copies, where the alarms are and the legionella risk assessment, kept together for the year

One register lists every certificate, check and registration with its date and its renewal date, so the year’s renewals can be planned. The answers here decide what shows later: an electrical report due before the year ends adds its renewal tasks, a council licence adds the licence task, and an HMO adds the HMO duties in Phase 6.

• Record every certificate and its renewal date in the register — each item with the date it was done or issued, the date it must be renewed by and where the record is kept; the law sets each deadline from the record, not from this checklist
• Check the electrical report and the date the next inspection is due — the date of the last inspection and test, the date the report gives for the next one, and any further investigative or remedial work it asks for
• Check the EPC, its rating and any exemption — the certificate on the Find an energy certificate service, its rating and the date it ends; a home let in England or Wales must be band E or above unless an exemption is registered
• Check whether the home is an HMO or needs a council licence — ask the council whether the home needs a mandatory HMO licence, an additional HMO licence or a selective licence, and whether it is an HMO even where no licence is needed
• Register the landlord and the home on the Register your rental property service — by the end date of the home’s region, with the gas, electrical and EPC evidence and the tenancy details added within 28 days of registering the home; the fee is £65 a property a year, reduced during the roll-out

The gas, electrical, alarm and water checks that must be in place on the year start date. For a new tenancy they are the checks the law asks for before it begins; for a later year they confirm nothing has lapsed. The gas task shows only when the home has gas appliances.

• Check the gas safety record covers the year start — every gas appliance and flue checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer in the 12 months before the year start, as the law asks before a new tenancy and at most every 12 months after, with the record on file; book a check if it will be out of date
• Check the electrical installation is inspected and any work is done — for a new tenancy, an inspection and test before it starts, or a report under 5 years old that asks for no further work; for a later year, the report in date; any remedial work done within 28 days and confirmed in writing
• Check the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are fitted and working — a smoke alarm on every storey with a room used as living accommodation, and a carbon monoxide alarm in every such room with a fixed combustion appliance other than a gas cooker; each one tested, with where it is
• Assess the legionella risk and flush the water system — a simple assessment of the hot and cold water system, kept under review; before a new tenancy, or after the home has stood empty, flush the system through

Owned by the tenancy contact. A new tenancy adds the Right to Rent checks, the written statement of terms before the tenancy is agreed, deposit protection and the records the tenant gets before moving in. A later year checks the same records for the tenancy already running instead.

• Do the Right to Rent checks for every adult who will live there — every tenant aged 18 and over, checked before the tenancy starts, in the 28 days before it for anyone whose permission to stay is time-limited; copies kept during the tenancy and for one year after
• Give the written statement of terms before the tenancy is agreed — the landlord’s name and an address in England or Wales for notices, the tenants, the address, the start date, the rent and when it is due, the rent increase statement, any bills, the deposit, the tenant’s notice and the rest of the information the 2026 regulations list, given before the tenancy is signed or agreed
• Protect the deposit and give the prescribed information within 30 days — the deposit placed in a government-approved scheme and the prescribed information given to the tenant and anyone who paid it, both within 30 days of receiving it
• Give the tenant the gas record, electrical report and EPC before they move in — a copy of the last gas safety record (where the home has gas), the most recent electrical report and the EPC, free of charge, before the tenant occupies the home, with the date and how each was given
• Check the tenant has the information the law requires — for a tenancy that began before 1 May 2026 with written terms, the Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026, due by 31 May 2026; for one agreed only verbally, the written terms by the same date; for one that began on or after 1 May 2026, the written statement given before it was agreed; where a section 21 or section 8 notice given before 1 May 2026 has stopped being valid or its court case has ended without possession, the Information Sheet within one month of that date
• Check the deposit is protected and the prescribed information was given — the scheme certificate on file and in date, the prescribed information on file, and the protection still in place for the year ahead
• Check the Right to Rent records and any follow-up date — copies of each tenant’s check on file, and the date of any follow-up check for a tenant whose permission to stay is time-limited

On a new tenancy the alarms are checked on the day the tenancy begins, a fixed date, so that task comes first and never waits for the sign-off. The compliance approver checks every record before the tenancy starts, and the checklist halts at that sign-off: nothing after it can be completed until it is approved, and Not approved keeps it halted and adds a task to put right what failed. A later year has no new tenancy to hold back, so the approver confirms the records instead and nothing halts.

• Check the alarms on the day the tenancy begins — each smoke and carbon monoxide alarm checked to be in proper working order on the day the tenancy begins, with who checked it; it sits above the sign-off because the law fixes the day, so do it on that day whatever the sign-off says
• Put right what the sign-off found — after a Not approved decision only: fix each item the approver recorded, then ask them to change the decision to Approved and complete the sign-off; if the tenancy start moves, change the year start date on the first task and every due date moves. The first-day alarm check and, in an HMO, the HMO duties still apply while the sign-off is open
• Approve the home as ready for the new tenancy — Approved or Not approved, recorded by the compliance approver alone after checking the gas record, the electrical report, the alarms, the EPC, the Right to Rent checks, the written statement and the deposit
• Confirm every record is in date for the year ahead — for a later year: the compliance approver confirms the gas, electrical, alarm, EPC, licence, deposit and register records are in date, and lists anything to put right with a date

Applies only when the home is a house in multiple occupation. The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 set the manager’s duties for the whole time the home is let, licensed or not. The fire risk assessment for the shared parts runs on the Fire Risk Assessment Checklist.

• Display the manager’s name, address and phone number — made available to each household and clearly displayed in a prominent position in the HMO, as regulation 3 asks
• Keep the escape routes clear and the fire alarms working — means of escape kept free of obstruction and in good repair, fire fighting equipment and fire alarms in good working order, and, where the HMO has more than four occupiers, the notices showing the escape routes clearly visible, as regulation 4 asks
• Review the fire risk assessment for the shared parts — the common areas of the HMO assessed by the responsible person (for common areas, the landlord, freeholder or managing agent, gov.uk says), with the actions done; run it on the Fire Risk Assessment Checklist
• Keep the common parts, fittings and lighting in repair — common parts in good and clean decorative repair, safe and working, with handrails, stair coverings, windows and lighting in repair and shared fixtures and appliances working, as regulation 7 asks; the latest gas record sent to the council within 7 days of a written request, as regulation 6 asks

Through the year the landlord keeps the home in repair and fit to live in, acts on what the tenant reports, and repairs or replaces any alarm reported faulty. The inspection visit itself runs on the Annual Property Inspection Checklist.

• Log repairs and hazards the tenant reports, and fix them — each report with the date, what was done and when, for the structure and exterior, the water, gas, electricity, sanitation, heating and hot water, and anything that makes the home unfit to live in
• Book the year’s inspection visit — a visit arranged with the tenant and run on the Annual Property Inspection Checklist, with anything it finds added to the repairs log
• Test the alarms during the year and fix any reported fault — each alarm tested at the visit, as this template’s choice, and any alarm the tenant reports as faulty checked and repaired or replaced as soon as reasonably practicable

The renewals the register shows for this year. The law’s deadline is the date on each record; this template’s due dates are a plan counted from the year start, so where a record’s date comes first, do the task by that date. The electrical tasks show when the report falls due this year, the gas tasks when the home has gas, and the licence task when the council requires a licence.

• Have the electrical installation inspected before the report’s date — a qualified person inspects and tests every installation by the date on the last report, and at most 5 years after it, and gives a report with the date of the next one
• Send the report and finish any remedial work within 28 days — a copy to the tenant within 28 days of the inspection, any further investigative or remedial work done within 28 days or sooner if the report says, the written confirmation sent to the tenant and the council within 28 days of the work, and the register updated
• Keep the licence conditions and renew it before it ends — the conditions the council set kept, the yearly gas record sent to the council where the licence asks for it, and a renewal applied for before the licence ends
• Book the yearly gas safety check before the deadline — a Gas Safe registered engineer booked for every appliance and flue before 12 months from the last check; a check in the 2 months before that deadline keeps the same deadline
• Have the gas safety check done and give the tenant the record within 28 days — the check done and the record made, a copy given to the tenant within 28 days of the check, the record kept until two further checks have been made, and the register updated
• Review the legionella risk assessment — checked at a routine visit such as the gas safety check, and reviewed again whenever the water system changes
• Do any follow-up Right to Rent check that falls due — for a tenant with time-limited permission, just before the later of the end of their permission and 12 months after the last check; tell the Home Office about a tenant who fails it, and mark this task not applicable when no tenant has a time limit

The year ends by carrying its lessons and any change in the law into next year’s run, starting that run about six weeks before the next year start, and renewing the register entry.

• Review the year: what was late and what to change — each renewal and check against its deadline, anything done late and why, and what to change in next year’s run
• Check what has changed in the law this year — the Renters’ Rights Act stages still to come, such as the landlord ombudsman, Awaab’s Law for private renting and register numbers in adverts, the Decent Homes Standard from 2035, the energy efficiency standard’s rise to band C from 1 October 2030 and any bill that changes it, and the council’s licensing schemes, with what changes for this home
• Start next year’s run for this home — a new run with the next year start date, started about six weeks before it, with the register carried forward
• Renew the register entry and pay the annual fee — by the register renewal date recorded in Phase 2, one year from the first home the landlord registered; if that date comes before this task’s due date, do it by then; the annual fee paid and every record on the register up to date