Rights & Responsibilities

It is really important to understand what your rights and responsibilities are and these should be laid out in plain English in your tenancy agreement.

Here is a quick summary of tenant and landlord rights and responsibilities:

Tenant to live peacefully and safely in the property

As long as the tenant is paying the rent in full and on time, they have the right to enjoy the property without being disturbed by the landlord. As a landlord you have a responsibility to allow your tenant to live in the property peacefully. If you are the tenant and the landlord has requested access to the property, then you should allow them entry as long as they have given the level of notice required within the tenancy agreement.

It is also important that as a landlord you understand how to let your property legally. This includes things like gas safety certificates and making sure any furniture supplied isn't a fire risk. This ensures tenants' rights are met because they will be able to live in the property safely.

Fixing Problems

If you are the tenant and there is a problem with the property such as a leaky tap or the supplied vacuum cleaner has stopped working, you need to advise the landlord/letting agent. It is their responsibility to fix the problem for you, within a reasonable time frame.

Paying Rent/Bills

As a tenant, you must pay your bills on time, including your rent. At the end of the day you are staying in someone else's property and it's important that you pay for this service. From the landlord's perspective you need to appreciate that the tenant is paying you for somewhere safe to live and that if anything goes wrong, you must have the required insurance to have the problem put right quickly.

Deposit Protection

As a landlord, you have a legal duty to protect the tenant's deposit in one of the government backed schemes, and the tenant has the right to have their deposit protected. If you don't, then the tenant could take you to court and if found guilty, you could have to pay the tenant three times the deposit amount!

Taking care of the Property

As a tenant, you must take reasonable care of the property and not intentionally do anything that would cause any short term or long term damage. As a landlord, you must keep the property well maintained so that the tenant can enjoy hot water, heating and a secure home to live in.

Respecting the neighbours

Both tenant and landlord need to respect the neighbours. As tenants you shouldn't do anything untoward that would cause them stress and as a landlord if the tenant does, you should do something about it!